LUTHER BURBANK THE BEARING 

 OF His WORK ON HUMAN LIFE 



ON IMPROVING THE HUMAN PLANT 



STUDENTS of heredity are becoming more 

 and more agreed that the same laws and 

 principles apply to the organisms of the 

 vegetable and animal worlds. This is quite what 

 might be expected, considering the fundamental 

 identity of protoplasm, which is the physical basis 

 of all life. But quite aside from any theoretical 

 deductions in the matter, a wide range of experi- 

 ments with many types of animals has brought 

 conclusive evidence that striking analogies are 

 everywhere to be found between the manner of 

 transmission of traits and characteristics in plants 

 and animals. 



Moreover observations of human genealogy 

 have shown that man himself is subject to pre- 

 cisely the same laws of heredity that apply to the 

 lowliest vegetable or animal organisms. We must 

 of course make allowance for differences incident 



[VOLUME XII CHAPTER V] 



