40 GEOEGB JOHN EOMANES 1875- 



the 'beet ' case, but I could nowhere find any references 

 to it. Dr. Hooker told me that although he could 

 not then remember the man's name, he remembered 

 that the experimenter did not save the seed, but dug 

 up his roots for exhibition. I forget whether it was 

 Dr. Masters, Bentham, or Mr. Dyer who told me 

 that the experiment had been performed in Ireland, 

 although they could not remember by whom. But if 

 the experimenter did not save the seed, the mere fact 

 of his sticking two roots together would have no 

 bearing on Pangenesis, and so I did not take any 

 trouble to find out who the experimenter was. 



As you have heard about the Medusae, I fear you 

 will infer that they must have diverted my attention 

 from Pangenesis ; but although it is true that they 

 have consumed a great deal of time and energy, I 

 have done my best to keep Pangenesis in the fore- 

 ground. 



The proximate success of my grafting is all that I 

 can desire, although, of course, it is as yet too early 

 in the year to know what the ultimate success will 

 be. I mean that, although I cannot yet tell whether 

 the tissue of one variety is affecting that of the other, 

 I have obtained intimate adhesion in the great 

 majority of experiments. Potatoes, however, are an 

 exception, for at first I began with a method which I 

 thought very cunning, and which I still think would 

 have been successful but for one httle oversight. The 

 method was to punch out the eyes with an electro- 

 plated cork-borer, and replace them in a flat-bottomed 

 hole of a shghtly smaller size made with another 

 instrument in the other tuber. The fit, of course, 



