BIOLOGY IN HUMAN AFFAIRS 



Near Newport, Rhode Island, Captain Green kept an 

 inn that was famous in Colonial times for its apple pies. 

 One of the important factors in the excellence of these 

 culinary delights was a tree that grew in the seedling 

 orchard nearby. As an especial favor Captain Green gave 

 his guests scions from this tree. Spread around New Eng- 

 land, Green's Inn apple became famous, and to-day the 

 Rhode Island Greening is one of the "New England Seven" 

 varieties of apples recommended for commercial planting. 



In this way have come many varieties of fruit and 

 quite a long list of vegetables and flowers. Conscious 

 selection has played an important part, for man, since 

 earliest times, has recognized the importance of heredity; 

 and, while often disappointed, he has learned that, in a 

 general way, "like produces like" and "to produce the 

 best, it is necessary to breed from the best." 



Seventy years ago Balzac wrote that "heredity is a sort 

 of maze in which science loses itself," and he was right. 

 Since that time biologists have learned much about in- 

 heritance, and mostly from one man, an Austrian monk. 

 Gregor Mendel, abbot of Briinn, showed how it was pos- 

 sible to take a dwarf green-seeded pea and a tall yellow- 

 seeded pea and by cross-fertilization to produce a dwarf 

 yellow and a tall green pea. Starting with two old varieties, 

 he now had two new varieties. Some of these new plants 

 bred true, and some did not. Mendel showed what was to 

 be expected from a cross of this kind in the following gener- 

 ations, what was the best procedure to bring together — 

 in the same individual — characters that had existed sepa- 

 rately before, and what to do to make these varieties 

 reproduce true to type. From this modest start, workers in 

 scientific laboratories have extended knowledge of heredity 

 to many animals and plants. They can tell why it is that cer- 

 tain characters disappear in one generation and reappear 

 in the next, why it is that the offspring have qualities 



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