BATESON ON 'FLUCTUATIONS' 269 



report in the Times. While Dr. Shipley's words, 

 quoted on p. 49, are perhaps a little more precise 

 than those of Mr. Punnett,i Professor Bateson's 

 statement is more definite still : — 



' For the first time he [de Vries] pointed out the clear 

 distinction between the impermanent and non-transmissible 

 variations which he speaks of as fluctuations, and the per- 

 manent and transmissible variations which he calls 

 mutations.' ' 



Professor Bateson and Mr. Punnett are the 

 chief exponents of de Vries in this country. It 

 may be assumed, I think, that de Vries reaches 

 the British public through the 85 pages of 

 Mr. Punnett's booklet rather than through the 

 847 pages of the only volume by the Dutch 

 botanist which has until now appeared in the 

 English language.^ The unfortunate misrepre- 

 sentation of de Vries is therefore certain to have 

 led, and, in spite of this correction, is still, I fear, 

 certain to lead, to utter confusion of thought in 

 a subject only too Ukely to become obscure 

 without adventitious assistance. 



The extent of this unintentional, but very 

 serious, misrepresentation of an authority by his 

 exponent, can be most clearly shown by printing 

 together passages by de Vries and Bateson from 



1 < I 



' Of the inheritance of mutations there is no doubt. Of the 

 transmission of fluctuations there is no very strong evidence. It is 

 therefore reasonable to regard the mutation as the main, if not 

 the only, basis of evolution.' (p. 72.) 

 " Mendel's Principles of Heredity, Cambridge (1909), 287. 

 ^ Species and Varieties : their Origin by Mutation, Chicago and 

 London. Second edit., 1906. 



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