DISCOVERY 



203 



a great number — probably thousands in the higher 

 animals — of unit-factors arranged in two single rows 

 or series inside the nucleus ; that this series is cut up 

 into what we see and call the chromosomes, for the 

 sake of convenience of handling at cell-division, etc. ; 

 and that the presence of one series — in other words, 

 of one set of unit-factors — is necessary for development 

 to occur and for characters to be handed on from 

 parent to offspring. A glance at the diagram on the 

 previous page will make the general principle clear. 



It will be seen that the observed fact of the chromo- 

 somes being present in pairs fits with the fact of 

 unit-factors being present in pairs, and that the 

 reduction of the chromosomes explains how only one 

 of each pair of imit-factors is present in any of the 

 reproductive cells. 



If the reader has had the patience to follow the 

 discussion till now, he will see that a new way of 

 looking at animals and plants is opened to our intellect. 

 We must think of them, in the first place, as being 

 produced by the interaction of a great number of 

 separate particles of U\-ing substance, the factors, 

 each one a separate unit in the original fertilised egg, 

 and each one capable of undergoing lasting alteration 

 (mutating) quite independently of the rest. Secondly, 

 we must think of ourseh-es and other organisms as 

 being essentially double, with a complete set of these 

 units from father and mother alike. Thirdly, since 

 these units can be inherited more or less independently 

 of each other, sexual reproduction means first a re- 

 shuffling of the factors, and then a recombination of 

 them in new arrangements. In other words, if a 

 useful variation in one detail has occurred in one 

 animal, and one in another point has occurred in 

 another, sexual reproduction gives the opportunity 

 for these two separate useful characters to be combined 

 in a single breed. In passing, it may be remarked 

 that this is probably the reason for the almost 

 universal occurrence of sexual reproduction both in 

 animals and plants. Fourthly, we know that these 

 mutations in single factors are constantly happening. 

 At present we do not know how to produce mutations ; 

 but the belief that we shall eventually be able to do 

 so underlies our work, and once we have discovered 

 the way, our knowledge of the laws of heredity will 

 enable us to build up improved races of animals and 

 plants as easily as the chemist now builds up every 

 sort and kind of substance in his laboratory'. In a 

 word, Mendehsm made it possible for us to represent 

 the hereditary composition of an organism by a 

 formula. More recent work is making it possible to 

 represent that composition by a structural formida. 



In the next section, we shall consider the inheritance 

 of sex. 



(For Books of Rejerer.ce, see p. 209.) 



The Change in the Legal 

 Status of Women 



By G. E. A. Bedwell 



Hon. Secretary of the Society 0/ Comparative Legislation 



On December 23, 1919, " An Act to amend the Law 

 with respect to disqualifications on account of sex " 

 received the Royal Assent. The operative section 

 enacted that " a person shall not be disqualified by 

 sex or marriage from the exercise of any public function, 

 or from being appointed to or holding any civil or 

 judicial office or post, or from entering or assmning or 

 carrj-ing on an 3' ci\-il profession or vocation, or for 

 admission to any incorporated society (whether 

 incorporated by Roj'al Charter or otherwise), and a 

 person shall not be exempted by sex or marriage from 

 the liability to serve as a juror." 



In order to open all occupations and positions to 

 women the Act (i) reverses what had been regarded as 

 the immemorial tradition embodied in the common law 

 of the country, {2) repeals any statutory enactments 

 which limited specific offices to men, and (3) removes 

 any barriers erected either by tradition or prejudice 

 against the admission of women to certain professions 

 and organisations. The chief exclusion now remaining 

 is a disqualification of peeresses sitting and voting in 

 the House of Lords. 



The position given to women by the common law of 

 the country is mainly a matter of history. Although 

 examples may be found here and there of women 

 occupying such positions as Sheriff or Lady of the Manor, 

 the result of historical inquiry is that " in the Middle 

 Ages women had in fact no civic position and did not 

 participate in person in local administration. However, 

 they were not debarred from serving as churchwardens, 

 and in this way other duties devolved upon them. In 

 the si.xteenth century, when the State used the officers 

 of the ecclesiastical parish for the discharge of civil 

 functions, the woman churchwarden became bound to 

 act as the coadjutor of the overseer ; no legislation was 

 passed to relieve women who were ' substantial 

 householders ' from filling the office of overseer, though 

 according to custom they might serve by deputy." ' 



The legal effect of the historical evidence was summed 

 up by Lord Esher in a weU-known judgment (Beres- 

 ford-Hope v. Lady Sandhurst (18S9), 23 Q.B.D. at 

 p. 95) " that by neither the common law nor the con- 

 stitution of this country from the beginning of the com- 

 mon law until now can a woman be entitled to exercise 

 any pubUc function." Mr. Justice Willes, in an earlier 



1 " The Civic Position of Women at Common Law before 

 1800." by Miss Rose Graham, F.R.Hist.S., Jonrn. Comparativt 

 Legislation, vol xvii., at p. 193. 



