THEORY OF RESULTS 215 



certainly support the theory in question if this theory 

 were the foundation on which they were based. But 

 it is not. The basis on which these two types of 

 segregation, in the ratio 9:3:3:1 and 9:3:4, 

 rest is the phenomenon of segregation in the ratio 

 1:2:1, and not the theory by which it is sought 

 to explain this phenomenon. And the fact that the 

 predictions made from this basis are fulfilled is only 

 evidence of the reality of this basis, i.e. of the occur- 

 rence of the 1:2:1 ratio (about which, however, 

 there is no doubt), and it throws no light on the 

 theory put forward to account for this basis. 



I propose to deal now with the general biological 

 conclusions which have been derived from the 

 theoretical considerations set forth in this chapter. 



It will have been observed that we have dealt with 

 the interpretation of the mode of inheritance of only 

 two pairs of characters ; and, moreover, that these 

 two pairs of characters were entirely independent of 

 one another in their transmission. But it is obvious 

 that a very much larger number of characters is 

 concerned every time fertilisation takes place; and 

 it is a fact that distinct characters are not always 

 transmitted independently. Let us deal with the 

 general question of the number of characters first, and 

 with their relation to one another, whether indepen- 

 dent or otherwise, afterwards. 



In the opinion of those who accept Mendel's 

 theory as foreshadowing, if not as, in its present 

 state, actually constituting a valid theory of 

 heredity in general, the number of characters con- 



