IV 



PREFACE 



experiment as Mendel's is carried out, together with 

 the addresses of the seedsmen from whom peas 

 bearing one or more of the fourteen characters studied 

 by Mendel can be procured. 



But although I regard a thorough knowledge of 

 the Mendelian discovery as the proper foundation on 

 which the attempt to breed, in the light of it, should 

 be based, I have not limited myself to an attempt 

 to impart this knowledge. I have also indicated 

 the more important lessons which the practical 

 breeder can learn from this discovery, and dealt with 

 some of the more interesting biological questions 

 which it raises, or helps to answer. 



My endeavour, throughout, has been to eliminate 

 from my picture of the things described everything 

 with which these things have been invested by the 

 human imagination ; in other words, to make my 

 picture not the finished work of the post-impressionist, 

 but the untouched proof of the photographer. And 

 I hope that, in this way, I may do something, in my 

 own sphere of interest, to counteract the prevalent 

 tendency of that which is written, on any topic, to 

 bear but a remote relation to what can actually be 

 observed. This remoteness of words from actuality 

 is especially characteristic of much of the literature 

 on the subject of heredity which has accumulated 

 during recent years. The rational imagination, in its 



