540 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVII. No. 954 



of the science of genetics; then the tre- 

 mendous possibilities thus opened out to the 

 practical breeder, who in the near future 

 will be able to soar from this scientific 

 foundation to realms of wealth and power 

 in the community hitherto possible only to 

 the predatory classes; nevertheless, in a 

 meek and humble spirit of gratitude en- 

 gendered by the blessings which have been 

 poured at his feet, he in turn contributes to 

 the great cause of science by placing at the 

 disposal of the geneticist the wonderful 

 stores of experience he has accumulated ; at 

 the end should come an impassioned plea 

 for "getting together" for the good of 

 agriculture, humanity and sundry other 

 things, which should, if well done, so titil- 

 late the emotions as to send everybody home 

 uplifted, and, in general, determined to 

 lead a better life. 



I have sketched this little picture, which, 

 if necessarily impressionistic, is essentially 

 true, only to bring into sharp relief the in- 

 tellectual junction point, at which we shall 

 alight and change cars. Just because there 

 has been so much perfervid oratory, loose 

 thinking and cheap advertising of the 

 achievements of men and institutions based 

 on the ideal or assumed mutual interrela- 

 tionship of the science of genetics and the 

 breeders' art, it seems worth while to make 

 a careful objective analysis of the actually 

 existing relations between these adjoining 

 fields of human endeavor. Such an analy- 

 sis will be attempted in what follows. Spe- 

 cifically the question to which attention is 

 invited is : What essential and fundamental 

 contributions has genetics made to the prac- 

 tise of the breeders' art? Or, to put the 

 matter in another way, what particular 

 things does the most highly successful prac- 

 tical animal breeder do now which he did 

 not do, or performed differently, before 

 Mendelism was rediscovered or Darwin 

 wrote ? 



It is generally agreed that during the 

 past fifteen years there has been a great 

 advance in our knowledge of the funda- 

 mental laws of heredity. Indeed, it may 

 fairly be said that more has been gained in 

 this regard within this period than in the 

 entire pi'evious history of this field of 

 knowledge. The new method of investigat- 

 ing heredity which was given by Mendel's 

 work has for the first time made a real 

 analysis of genetic phenomena possible. It 

 was a truly imposing array of organisms 

 and characters which Major Hurst was 

 able to list at the meeting in commemora- 

 tion of Mendel at Brunn, as comprising 

 those attributes of organisms about the in- 

 heritance of which something definite is 

 known. 



There is a very widespread assumption 

 that coincident with this advance in our 

 knowledge of the fundamental laws of in- 

 heritance there has been an equal advance 

 in the practical art of breeding. This has 

 perhaps resulted from the somewhat over- 

 enthusiastic prophecies of the early Mende- 

 lian workers. Many will remember the 

 glittering possibilities set forth to the prac- 

 tical breeders in the early meetings of this 

 association. They were told in effect that 

 at last the key to the genetic riddle had 

 been found; that by the application of 

 these simple Mendelian laws existing races 

 of animals could be brought up to desired 

 ideals with more certainty and despatch 

 than had hitherto been possible, and that 

 new races could be created which would 

 surpass in usefulness anything now exist- 

 ing. There was, of course, an element of 

 truth in all this. But it raised unwar- 

 ranted hopes in the minds of many laymen. 

 The apparent failure of these prophecies to 

 be realized has probably done real harm to 

 the cause of science in the minds of some 

 practical men — representatives of the class 

 to which in last analysis science must look 



