I'h'AC'ncAL LAWS (>!■ I.IFK 



837 



to ie;ili/c what Meink-l has doiut lor tlic woild. A> \\'all<*r suin.> uj> tljr 

 ease: "Tims in a few generations at j>ro|i<'rly <lin>ct«'(l crosses there 

 can be obtainrd c-onihinations of characters united in one strain that 

 formerly were never obtained at all or were only hit iiimmi by merest 

 chance at lonj;' intervals. Herein lies the scientifi<- conti-ol of lienMlity 

 which the trinity of Mendelian i»rinci|iles, naniely, indejH-ndent unit 

 characters, se^Teijation, and doiuiiunice. has placed in human hantis." ' 



Historical. Mendel jtresented the re- 

 sults of his era-making experiments 

 before the Natural History Society in 

 Brilnn early in 1805, and they were 

 published in the Proceedings in 18<i0. 

 Neither the reading nor the ]»ublication 

 cansed a ripple of interest. No one un- 

 derstood its significance. Had Darwin 

 learned of ^Mendel's law in lS(i.'), tin* 

 history of human science, philosophy, 

 and even religion might have been 

 piished forward fifty years. Mendel died 

 January <>, 1884, bitterly disappointed 

 that no one could be found to share his 

 vision, and his discovery slumbered for 

 sixteen years longer. 



In 1900, three men, working inde[>end- 

 ently, rediscovered ^Mendel's hnv almost 

 at the same time. These were De Tries 

 in Holland, Correns in Germany, and 



Tschermak in Austria. The time was ripe for its appreciation, an«i it 

 immediately transformed the subject ami, from a matter of abstract 

 disquisitions, made heredity the most intensely practical concern of the 

 experimental breeding plot and pen, of the hunt for variations in nature, 

 and of even sociological analyses and surveys. " I'he practical breeder 

 of animals or plants, basing his methods on a determimition of th«' 

 Mendelian units and their properties, will in many of his operations 

 be able to proceed with confidence and rapidity. Lastly, those who as 

 evolutionists or sociologists are striving for wider views of the past or 

 of tlie future of living things may by the use of Mendelian analysis 

 attain to a new and as y<t. limitless hori/on."- 



1 Walter, Genetics, p. 141. 



2 Bateson. Mendel's rrinciples <.J lleri'dity. li>00. i>. 17. 



Fig. lOo. Diagram illustrating 



relation of germ plasm (straight 



lines) to somatopla.sm (circles) 



in bisexual reproduction 



