REPORT OF THE CONFERENCE ON GENETICS 9] 
beginning we naturally hoped, but of those who endured the heat of that 
stifling marquee, or inspected the plants exhibited in that tropical vinery, 
not one, I suppose, anticipated that in less than a decade we should have 
such extraordinary progress to record. The predominant note of our 
deliberations in 1899 was mystery. In 1906 we speak less of mystery 
than of order. 
When formerly we looked at a series of plants produced by hybridisa- 
tion we perceived little but bewildering complexity. We knew well enough 
that behind that complexity order and system were concealed. Glimpses 
indeed of pervading order were from time to time obtained, but they were 
transient and uncertain. As casual prospectors we picked up occasional 
stray nuggets in the sand, but we had not located the reef, nor had we any 
machinery for working it if discovered. 
Then came the revelation of Mendel’s clue, with all the manifold 
advances in knowledge to which it has led. The most Protean assem- 
blage of hybrid derivatives no longer menaces us as a hopeless enigma. 
We are sure that even the multitudinous shapes of the cucurbits, or the 
polychromatic hues of orchids—though they may range from one end of 
the spectrum to the other—would yield to our analysis. Methods for 
grappling even with these higher problems have been devised. The 
immediate difficulties are chiefiy of extension and application. Thus the 
study of hybridisation and plant-breeding, from being-a speculative 
pastime to be pursued without apparatus or technical equipment in the 
hope that something would turn up, has become a developed science, 
destined, as we believe, not merely to add new regions to man’s knowledge 
and power, but also to absorb and modify profoundly large tracts of the 
older sciences. 
Like other new crafts, we have been compelled to adopt a terminology, 
which, if somewhat deterrent to the novice, is so necessary a tool to the 
craftsman that it must be endured. But though these attributes of 
scientific activity are in evidence, the science itself is still nameless, and 
we can only describe our pursuit by cumbrous and often misleading 
periphrasis. To meet this difficulty I suggest for the consideration of this 
Congress the term Genetics, which sufficiently indicates that our labours 
are devoted to the elucidation of the phenomena of heredity and variation : 
in other words, to the physiology of Descent, with implied bearing on the 
theoretical problems of the evolutionist and the systematist, and applica- 
tion to the practical problems of breeders, whether of animals or plants. 
After more or less undirected wanderings we have thus a definite aim in 
view. 
The suggestive impulse to which this great progress is due came from 
without, but we take pleasure in the thought that the London Conference, 
and no less the second gathering at New York in 1902, did much to ensure 
the vigorous response which that long-awaited stimulus received. Of 
those who have taken a chief part in the advancement of Genetics 
several were with us then, and to the interchange of ideas which ensued 
may be ascribed much of the keenness and solidarity of Bee: with 
which the Mendelian clue was followed out. 
- Conferences, like other stimulants, are, I believe, beneficial if not 
indulged in to excess. There are, however, special considerations which 
