122 THEORY OF HEREDITY 



responsible for the production of the vast work 

 which bears his name, to find its pages the battle- 

 ground of two men of science. Such facts are, of 

 course, of much less value than those obtained in 

 the experimental garden or breeding-ground, but 

 that such divergence of opinion is possible, even 

 on such a series of observations, shows the diffi- 

 culty of coming to a final judgment on matters 

 of this kind. 



At least this must be said for Mendel's law or 

 theories. They have opened up new lines of in- 

 vestigation, and have so far as one can see 

 established new laws of relation between papseits 

 and offspring. And, not least, they have given to 

 breeders and agriculturists a hint as to the direc- 

 tion in which their pursuits may be most profitably 

 and successfully pursued. 



What is really wanting in this matter is an 

 abundance of carefully conducted observations. 

 When one considers the interest, not to say the 

 fascination, of the subject, and when one remem- 

 bers that it is in the power of anyone who has a 

 modest greenhouse, or even an ordinary garden, 

 to carry out such observations for him or herself, 

 it is somewhat wonderful that more has not been 

 done towards the elucidation of the remarkable 

 problems which, from the obscurity of his monas- 

 tery, the Augustinian abbot set to the world. 



