8 THE MENDEL JOURNAL 



the seed, colour of the seed, &c. Mendel, in tracing 

 these relations, has got as far as it is possible to get, 

 as he solved the question quite generally, so that now 

 every single case, complicated as it may be, is already 

 decided by this general law, namely, can be calcu- 

 lated in advance.* Mendel's general law of Heredity 

 is as mathematically and accurately precise as, for 

 example, Newton's law of gravitation. One can 

 calculate in advance with the help of this general law 

 of Heredity and from the number of characters shown 

 by the crossing, the number of possible hybrid forms, 

 and the number of the descendants which will 

 remain constant. The discovery of laws expressed 

 with such mathematical exactness means the highest 

 step that can be reached in the investigation of Nature. 

 Mendel published the results of his long years of 

 patient researches in 1865, and yet almost through a 

 whole generation his works remained entirely ignored. 

 One must ask oneself how it is possible that Mendel's 

 discoveries, which to-day are declared classical and 

 epoch-making, could remain without having received 

 immediate recognition. 



We must in large measure ascribe it to the modesty 

 and retiring nature of Mendel. He published his 

 essays on " Heredity " in the Journal of the Society 

 of Natural Eesearch of Briinn, which, with all 

 deference to this Society, let it be said, was a poor 



* It is to be supposed that what Professor T. v. Wiesner desired 

 to expres^s here, was not that the study of inheritance was 

 finally settled, as the sentence might lead one to believe, but that 

 simply in all cases where it can be shown that the Mendelian law is 

 operating, the results can be certainly predicted. — Editor. 



