MIRACLES OF SCIENCE 



which species have slowly been developed in the state 

 of nature in the long periods of the past. 



Mr. Burbank has been known to speak of "taming 

 a wild plant, and training it so that it will break into 

 new habits and forms/' In such "training" he de- 

 pends in part upon the influence of changed environ- 

 ment and very largely upon introducing new tenden- 

 cies by cross fertilization. In the practical combining 

 or fixing of traits, adjusted now to the artificial envi- 

 ronment of man's creation, Mr. Burbank has had 

 wider experience, doubtless, than any other experi- 

 mentor. The net result of all his observations is to 

 fortify his conviction that Darwin's conception of 

 heredity was comprehensive and profound. And 

 with this conclusion authoritative biologists every- 

 where are in full accord. 



THE NEW THEORY OF MENDELISM 



There is, however, a new application of the laws 

 of heredity as applied to the mingling of divergent 

 races, with which Darwin was not familiar, and 

 which many biologists of to-day believe to be of 

 supreme importance. This is the theory which, after 

 the name of its promulgator, is known as Mendelism. 



Mendelism: the word is one to remember. No 

 other word is used quite so frequently by the biolog- 

 ical workers of our time. It is a word that promises 

 to vie with the word Darwinism in its bearing on the 

 doctrines of heredity as applied to the animal world, 

 including man himself. It has not yet had time to 

 make its way into the popular vocabulary, but it 

 promises soon to attain that distinction. 



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