388 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937 



of genetics, the science of heredity, have described and analyzed 

 several hundred mutations in maize and in so doing have advanced 

 our knowledge of how traits are transmitted from one generation to 

 another. By means of the maize plant they have solved many of the 

 problems of the cell mechanics involved in reproduction. 



Despite its importance in ancient and in modern times, nothing 

 certain is known as to the origin of corn. What little loiowledge we 

 possess of this subject results from studies in the diverse sciences of 

 morphology, genetics, and cytology. The attempts thus far made to 

 reconstruct the probable past of this perplexing cereal, to the satis- 

 faction of all students of the problem, have not met with success. 

 To a large extent the difl&culty of drawing a faultless picture of the 

 origin of maize results from the contradictory evidence supplied by 

 the plant itself. This can mean only that some of the essential pieces 

 of our puzzle are missing or perhaps are being overlooked. In any 

 event the lack of accord among corn experts is an indication of a sus- 

 tained and healthy interest which should lead eventually to a happy 

 ending. 



HISTORY 



In comparison with its antiquity as a domesticated plant the re- 

 corded liistory of corn is brief, being Uinited, of course, to the years 

 following the discovery of America. The first definite date in the 

 history of maize is November 5, 1492, when two Spaniards, dispatched 

 to the interior of Cuba on October 28 by Columbus, returned to report 

 that the ground was sown with "a sort of grain they call maize, which 

 was well tasted, bak'd, dry'd, and made into flour." No record has 

 been found of maize having reached the Old World previous to the 

 voyages of the Spaniards, and the botanical evidence is conclusive 

 that maize originated in the Western Hemisphere. After the voyages 

 of Columbus maize spread rapidly throughout the Old World, reaching 

 China probably early in the sixteenth centur5^ 



Corn, of course, is referred to in early colonial documents, all the 

 accounts showing it to be a completely domesticated plant nurtured 

 by the Indians. The Indians, whose welfare depended upon this 

 plant, attributed its origin to the gods, and some of these legends 

 orally preserved through the centuries have been recorded. Many 

 elaborate ceremonies were evolved to insure the welfare of tliis cereal, 

 but neither the legends nor the ceremonies afford any clues as to how 

 corn came to be the plant it is. 



The first written records, then, show that corn 400 years ago was as 

 it is today and the Indian accounts of its origin, though poetic, are 

 but fanciful myths. Fortunately, the archeological record is more 

 extensive and embraces a much longer period of tune than the printed 

 accounts. Excavations in Bohvia and in Peru have disclosed oars of 

 com perhaps 2,000 years old, and in our own country. Basket Maker 



