4 THE MENDEL JOURNAL 



popular. But the erection of the imposing Mendel 

 Monument was decided upon for other reasons. 



It is true that Mendel, first as priest and finally 

 (1868-1884) as Prelate of the Br (inner Augustine 

 foundation, did good work, and that as possessor of a 

 vote (Virilstimme) in the Moravian Parliament, he 

 was successfully active ; in his younger years also as 

 teacher at the newly-founded State School (Staats- 

 realschule) he instructed and trained grateful pupils in 

 Natural History ; but the greatest successes of his 

 work, which he himself with his natural modesty and 

 unselfishness hardly suspected, were of a very different 

 kind. At his death, about a quarter of a century 

 ago, many obituaries of him were published in 

 Moravia, where he worked, and in Silesia, where his 

 cradle stood. But they only spoke of the honoured 

 Master, of the good priest, and of his work in the 

 Moravian Parliament ; that in him a great naturalist 

 was carried to the grave, nobody who knew him even 

 suspected, and in the whole world all were ignorant 

 of the fact. And now not only Briinn but the biolo- 

 gists and botanists of the civilised world do homage 

 to him. This is shown by the history of the monu- 

 ment, which to-morrow will be unveiled. Even 

 though the Konigskloster contributed largely to the 

 erection of the monument, and also the land of 

 Moravia, the Ministry of Public Instruction, and 

 several large-hearted inhabitants of Briinn, yet the 

 contributions poured in from the whole world, not 

 only from all parts of Europe, but also from America 



