SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVIII. No. 707 



brought into expression. The Mendelian 

 hypothesis of alternative transmission in- 

 volves the idea of exclusion, of the forma- 

 tion of germ-cells which are " pure," in the 

 sense tjiat the protoplasmic rudiments of 

 some of the parental characters are supposed 

 to be omitted from some of the germ-cells. 

 For the existence of such incomplete germ- 

 cells only arithmetical reasons have been ad- 

 vanced. 



If Mendel could have read the works of 

 Darwin the hypothesis of alternative trans- 

 mission might have been spared. His facts 

 could have been associated with the many 

 other instances of alternative expression 

 enumerated by Darwin. Mendelism, as a 

 theory of alternative transmission of char- 

 acters, is still as lacking in a biological basis 

 as in the days of Darwin. The conception 

 of alternative expression of characters accom- 

 modates the facts better than the Mendelian 

 conception of alternative transmission. 



To represent the theories of mutation and 

 Mendelism as emendations of Darwinism 

 necessitated by the discovery of new facts is 

 misleading. In reality these doctrines are 

 fundamentally opposed to the Darwinian con- 

 ception of evolution by gradual change in the 

 characters of species. Darwinians have often 

 gone too far in claiming that natural selection 

 is the cause of evolution, but the theory of 

 mutation departs as far from the truth in the 

 opposite direction, in ascribing evolution to 

 sudden jumps from one species to another, 

 without any relation to selection. 



There is no reason to suppose that sudden 

 individual variations in uniform varieties 

 represent new characters, except as symptoms 

 of degeneration. Uniform varieties are spe- 

 cial products of artificial selection or of isola- 

 tion in nature. A series of mutants arising 

 from the same uniform stock shows a range 

 of individual diversity corresponding to that 

 of the members of a natural, broad-bred 

 species, though the mutants differ from the 

 members of a normal species in frequent evi- 

 dences of degeneration. Thus the mutations 

 of a narrow-bred variety can be imderstood as 

 representing the return to expression of char- 



acters transmitted from ancestors of much, 

 greater and more normal diversity. 



O. P. Cook 

 Washington, 

 April 24, 1908 



BIOTTPES OF CORN 



To THE Editor of Science: In my recent 

 article. Science, June 5, I stated that Dr. 

 Shull, in his investigations of the elementary 

 species of corn, had been led to think that no 

 biotype of corn had twelve rows, but that he 

 had found those which tended to produce ten 

 and fourteen rows. I further stated that Dr. 

 East had been led, from his investigations, to 

 believe that a type existed having twelve rows. 

 This statement was made after having heard a 

 fragmentary discussion between these gentle- 

 men at the recent meeting of the American 

 Breeders' Association. 



Recent correspondence with both of these 

 gentlemen shows that the point of discussion 

 between them was as follows : Dr. East, in 

 discussing Dr. Shull's paper, stated that he 

 thinks there is a physiological reason for the 

 ideal number of rows in corn biotypes to be 

 in multiples of 4; and that therefore more 

 biotypes will be found having 8, 12, 16, etc., 

 rows than those having 10, 14, 18, etc., rows. 

 Dr. Shull replied that in his work he had 

 found no evidence that the multiples of 4 

 are more favored than the other multiples 

 of 2. 



W. J. Spillman 



U. S. DePAETMENT of AQBICULTmBE 



QUOTATIONS 



THE college grindstone 



The recently published " Life and Letters 

 of Sir Eichard Jebb " must fill the occupants 

 of academic chairs in America with envious 

 despair. This picture of the life of a college 

 professor in Great Britain is far different 

 from that of the college professor in America. 

 It is different, of course, from that of the 

 average university teacher in England; for 

 Jebb was a man of exceptional parts; he was 

 able to do large amounts of various kinds of 

 work — teaching, investigating, lectviring and 



