FOREWORD 



The Intracellulare Pangenesis, of Hugo de Vries, was 

 such a source of stimulation to me at the time of its ap- 

 pearance that I feel greatly indebted to its author. By 

 creative imagination Hugo de Vries predicted much in 

 his book that gained a material basis only through the 

 histological research of the following decades. That is 

 what makes the study of his book to-day as interesting 

 as it is instructive. 



In his paper, entitled Befruchtung und Bastardirung, 

 a translation of which is included in this volume, de Vries 

 has shown the same faculty of utilizing our present 

 knowledge from every point of view, and of looking 

 prophetically into the future. For in this paper also, on 

 the ground of theoretical considerations, he predicted 

 phenomena which were to furnish the basis for our con- 

 ceptions of fertilization and heredity, but which have be- 

 come actually known to us only through later works on 

 the most intimate processes of nuclear division. 



Therefore I gladly comply with the wish of the trans- 

 lator to introduce his translation with a few words. I 

 say expressly "to introduce/' for works of Hugo de 

 Vries do not need a recommendation. 



Bonn, . E. STRASBURGER. 



June, 1908. 



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