16 



[Reprint from the February (1909) Number of The Chicago Medical Recorder.] 



STUDIES OF INHEEITANCE IN THE EVENING PEIM- 



EOSE.* 



By R. R. gates, Ph. D., 

 university of chicago. 



It might appear at first sight that the botanist could not con- 

 tribtite directly to the solution of the problems of heredity in man. 

 But I think you will realize that since all organisms have many 

 fundamental features in common, and since the processes of heredity 

 show a wonderful uniformity, both in mechanism and results, 

 throughout the plant and animal kingdoms, data derived from the 

 study of variability and inheritance in plants may be applied, with 

 the necessary minor corrections, to problems concerning man him- 

 self. While the special problems of Eugenics resulting from man's 

 civilization and social development are foreign to the plant breeder, 

 yet inasmuch as man is an organism, studies based on plants can 

 contribute to an understanding of the phenomena of heredity in man 

 equally with those based on animals. It is a well-known fact that 

 students of animal and plant breeding are wont to apply their 

 results to the solution of problems in each other's fields, and while 

 this practice may be carried too far, yet in general the results have 

 amply justified such a procedure. 



With these preliminary remarks I wish to bring to your atten- 

 tioa some remarkable facts of variation among certain of the Evening 

 Primroses. 



Professor Hugo De Vries, of Amsterdam, Holland, was the 

 first to make a prolonged study of the Evening Primrose. He found 

 it ^Owing wild near Amsterdam, where it had escaped from gardens, 

 having been introduced into Europe from America in a previous 

 century as a garden flower. The species concerned is called Oenoihera 

 Lamarckiana, and it showed a remarkable range of variability. Pro- 



♦Abstract of an address given before a joint meeting of the Physi- 

 cians' Club of Chicago and the Chicago Medical Society. January 27, 

 1909. 



