832 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXV. No. 647 



by which these various color varieties were 

 originally produced. The original character 

 was compound and the new variety was pro- 

 duced by the loss of one or more of the com.- 

 ponents. In other words these varieties are 

 retrogressive. Beginning, for instance, with a 

 purple mottled bean, one variety was formed 

 by the loss of the mottling, another by the 

 loss of the pigment, and another by the loss 

 of the pigment-changer. Then by hybridiza- 

 tion every possible combination of these three 

 characters became the constant characteristics 

 of distinct strains. When these varieties are 

 crossed together the original variety may be 

 reproduced by bringing together the several 

 component parts of the original compound 

 character. 



There are still many mysteries regarding 

 latent characters or qualities, but I believe the 

 considerations here presented bring a large 

 number of otherwise anomalous phenomena 

 into perfect harmony with typical Mendelian 

 cases of alternative inheritance. It appears to 

 me certain that this conception of latent char- 

 acters as invisible ones, which has already 

 been used by Oorrens" to interpret in part the 

 behavior of Mirabilis hybrids, can be extended 

 to clear up his remaining difficulties, and that 

 Bateson wiU find in the same conception an 

 explanation of the complex behavior of his 

 sweet peas and stocks without resort to the 

 inexplicable synthesis and resolution of sup- 

 posed hypallelomorphs. 



George Harrison Shull 



Station fob Experimental Evolution, 

 Cold Spbinq Haebob, Lono Island, 

 December, 1905 



QUOTATIONS 



THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD 



This appeal is now made on behalf of Ox- 

 ford by the Chancellor and Vice- Chancellor 

 of that University, and it is to be enforced at 

 a public meeting of all persons interested in 

 the subject to be held in London on Thursday, 

 May 16, with the Chancellor of the University 



" Correns, 0., ' ' Zur Kenntniss der scheinbar 

 neuen Merkmale der Bastarde. Zweite Mittheil- 

 ung liber Bastardirungsversuche mit Mirabllia 

 Sippen,' Ber. d. d. Bot. Ges., 23: 70-85, 1905. 



in the chair, supported by many men of light 

 and leading from among those whom the Uni- 

 versity has already trained for the high station 

 they adorn in Church and State. The appeal, 

 however, is not made to old Oxford men alone ; 

 it is addressed to " all who are interested in 

 the continued wellbeing and usefulness of the 

 oldest University in the Empire." Nor is it 

 in its present form and purpose an appeal for 

 the complete equipment of the University with 

 all the appliances, institutions, and endow- 

 ments which would enable Oxford to hold her 

 own in the coming time among the leaders in 

 all departments of letters, learning, science, 

 and the arts. That is an ideal which would 

 require millions for its effective and practical 

 realization. Cambridge has already asked for 

 something like a million and a half and 

 could probably find plenty of use for as much 

 again. American Universities are almost 

 daily being endowed on this hitherto unprece- 

 dented but by no means extravagant scale. 

 Oxford is, for the present, less ambitious and 

 perhaps more practical. She recognizes that 

 even for Universities it is true that non omnia 

 possumus omnes. The days are gone by, per- 

 haps, when any University, even a multi- 

 millionaire University, can profitably do as 

 Bacon did when he aspired to take all knowl- 

 edge for his province. Hence such new en- 

 dowments as Oxford now hopes to obtain — 

 £250,000 is all that is asked for at present, 

 merely a paltry million dollars as American 

 founders and benefactors might regard it — 

 are to be directed into certain definite chan- 

 nels. Largely at the instance of Mr. T. A. 

 Brassey, who has already set a goodly example 

 by his active exertions and personal munifi- 

 cence, a scheme has been prepared which had 

 received the hearty approval of the late Chan- 

 cellor, Lord Goschen, before his death, and is 

 supported by many high academical authori- 

 ties and by a number of old Oxford men of the 

 highest capacity and experience in many walks 

 of lifa An outline of this scheme will be 

 found in the letter of the Chancellor and 

 Vice-Chancellor. It includes provision for the 

 promotion of modem studies, literary and 

 scientific, such as modem languages, electrical 

 research, the scientific basis of the training of 



