THE RASPBERRY 239 



succeeding generations. A recognition of this 

 principle constituted my first very important 

 step toward the development of new forms of 

 plant life. 



I discovered, in connection with the raspberry 

 hybrids, that in the second and a few succeeding 

 generations different combinations were brought 

 out in the most wonderful variety ; and that from 

 these certain individuals could be selected hav- 

 ing almost any qualities of either parent com- 

 bined in almost all possible proportions, and 

 often greatly intensified. 



This was, as we now know, substantially the 

 discovery that Mendel had made almost twenty 

 years before. But no one heard of his discovery 

 till long afterward (about 1900), and at about 

 the time when I was independently learning the 

 same lesson Mendel himself died, quite unknown 

 to fame, without having been able to bring 

 his discovery to the attention of the scientific 

 world. 



Meantime, without formulating the principle 

 in precise terms as Mendel had done, and with- 

 out following up results with numerical exact- 

 ness, I came to full recognition of the principle 

 of blending of characters in the first filial gener- 

 ation and their reassortment and segregation in 

 the second and succeeding generations. 



