28 THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA 



older boys who had gone away to the school at Leipnik fell in with 

 Mendel during their holidays, and excited his ambition, with the 

 result that he asked his parents to let him study, and eventually he 

 too was sent to Leipnik at eleven years old, though this involved 

 considerable sacrifice on the part of the family. Here he dis- 

 tinguished himself so much that it was decided to continue his edu- 

 cation at the gymnasium at Troppau, a course made possible 

 through the generosity of a younger sister, who voluntarily con- 

 tributed a part of her dowry for this purpose. In after years he 

 repaid her advance many times over, himself providing the edu- 

 cation of her three sons, his nephews." 



At the end of his study at the gymnasium Mendel became a 

 candidate for admission to the Koenigkloster in Bruenn. His appli- 

 cation was successful and he was selected with the expectation that 

 he would take part in the educational work of the institution. 

 His baptisimal name was Johann but on admission to the cloister 

 he became known as Gregor. He was ordained as priest in 1847 

 and was sent at the expense of the cloister to the University of 

 Vienna 1851-53 where his study was chiefly devoted to sciences. 

 After his election as abbott 1868 he hoped for better opportunity 

 for study and experiment, but his opportunity never came. The 

 government in 1872 imposed a tax on the properties of religious 

 houses. Mendel believed this tax unjust and set himself in opposi- 

 tion to it. This involved him in litigation and prolonged trouble, 

 so that the last ten years of his life were years of great disappoint- 

 ment. His cheerful, friendly, disposition was changed and he be- 

 came suspicious and embittered. He died January 6th, 1884, as a 

 result of chronic nephritis. It is of interest to record that the 

 government without debate removed the special tax on the proper- 

 ties of religious institutions a few years after his death. 



The estimates of Mendel as a scientist have not been ex- 

 clusively laudatory. By some few Mendel has been regarded as a 

 scientific accident, a man whose results have become of great 

 significance but not of himself to be recognized as a truly great 

 experimenter. It is hardly probable that this estimate of Mendel 

 will be borne out by future developments for his discovery wa.« 

 by no means a chance one. Plant hybridization was 

 an old story long before Mendel's experiments. If one searches 

 through the writings of pre-Mendelian students he is conscious of 

 a feeling of disappointment. Their investigations had been seri- 

 ous and a vast amount of valuable observations had been recorded, 

 but they missed the clue which would bring order out of a jumble 

 of contradictions. Mendel on the other hand had proceded in a 



