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A ITUiRIMAGE TO J51UNN 



the chapel is a row of bee-houses, long since unoccupied and fallen 

 into decay, in which Mendel was also attempting to carry on experi- 

 ments in heredity, but of which no detailed account has yet been 

 found. Near by is the shelter in which were kept the weather- 

 recording instruments so faithfully used almost up to the day of 

 Menders death, and so completely neglected during the quarter 

 century which has elapsed since. Below the terrace, but still in the 

 rear of the chapel, several pear trees were pointed out which were 

 selected seedlings of much merit, the selection having been made 

 Mendel. 



It was with much interest that I examined Mendel's micro- 

 scope, a small compound microscope without rack-and-pinion ad- 

 justment, but with a sliding tube to be simply operated by hand. A 

 number of microscopic slides made by Mendel were also carefully 

 examined to see whether possibly their maker might not have 

 known something more of modern microscopic methods than could 

 ordinarily be expected, for in recent years the development of micro- 

 scopic technique has enabled cytologists to discover bodies in the 

 cells of plants and animals, whose behavior in the germ-cells accords 

 exactly with the observed behavior of unit-characters in Mendelian 

 inheritance. It is now generallv believed that these bodies the 

 chromosomes are the producers of hereditary qualities. Not the 

 slightest evidence was found, however, that Mendel could have 

 anticipated the more recent discoveries regarding the structure of 

 the living cell, though his inferences from the breeding of peas give 

 an accurate picture of what has since been fully- demonstrated by 

 observation. His microscopic slides contained only the simplest 

 objects, such as the epidermis stripped from the stems of plants, 

 petals, trichomes, the feet and wings of a fly, etc. One could not 

 fail to be impressed while examining these simple objects, and the 

 modest instruments which Mendel had at his command, that great- 

 ness lies within the human spirit and not in elaborate equipment. 



In the parlor of the Abbey hangs a splendid life-sized oil paint- 

 ing of Mendel in his official robes, with miter and crosier beside 

 him. This painting is of such excellence that I secured the privilege 

 of taking a photographic copy of it. Mendel is shown here, as in 

 all the photographs of him which are extant, as a man of sturdy 

 physique, with strong, handsome, square-set face, firm but sensitive 

 mouth, a straight and shapely, rather pugnacious nose, strong but 

 not too large, a prominent forehead and brow, and very clear dark- 

 eyes that seem capable of penetrating to the very center of whatever 

 they look at. His was obviously a harmonious organization, char- 

 acterized by great strength both of intellect and will, with keen 

 )o\\ers of analysis, indomitable courage, and unswerving devotion 



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