FEBRUARY, 1908.] THE ORCHID REVIEW. 61 
Heredity is an epitome of the phases through which an organism has 
passed. Fluctuations and variations are the materials upon which it 
works, and natural selection the controlling force. Fluctuations and varia- 
tions, unless retrogressive (t.e., mutuations), are due to the plasticity of 
organisms under the influence of changing conditions. Thus indiscrimin- 
ate variation is constantly controlled by natural selection, so long as that 
force can operate, and its cessation under human agency leads to all 
manner of remarkable developments, which are preserved because they 
minister to our wants or captivate our fancy. Albinism comes under the 
latter category, but we have seen that crossing, with the opportunity of 
escape from a too specialised existence which the blending of diverse 
elements affords, led to a return to the normal. The reversions mentioned 
at the beginning of this paper should now be self-fertilised, to see whether 
they break up according to the Mendelian formula. A proportion in the 
offspring of three coloured to one albino would, I suppose, lead to the 
explanation that colour was ‘‘ dominant’ and albinism “‘ recessive,” but 
albinism was present in both parents, and if it is recessive colour should 
not have returned at all. 
These remarks are devoted solely to Mendelism as a law of heredity, 
not to its utility to the breeder. Mr. Cookson failed to get the desired 
albino hybrid by crossing albino forms of the two species. Whether he 
would now succeed by self-fertilising the coloured hybrids with albino 
ancestry I cannot say, but the possibility of it might not have occurred to 
him without a knowledge of the phenomena of dissociation. The experi- 
ment should be well worth trying, and should add something to our 
knowledge of a very intricate subject. 
R. A. ROLFE. 
SELF-COLOURED PHOTOGRAPHY. 
THE afternoon lecture at the Royal Horticultural Society’s meeting held on 
January 28th was given by Mr. T. Ernest Waltham, and was entitled 
** Self-coloured Photography of Switzerland and the Swiss Flora,” and 
illustrated by some new and combined processes of his own invention for 
obtaining photographs in purely natural colours. The slides indicated by 
the title of the lecture were preceded by a number of others illustrating a 
beautiful series of life-like floral photographs in natural colours, including 
a few Orchids—Cattleyas, Dendrobiums, &c. The lecturer was unable to 
give details of his method of working, owing to impending patents, but it 
was understood that the process is not altogether automatic, the pictures 
being finally touched up by hand. The result, however, is very beautiful, 
and vastly superior to photographs in monochrome. We shall no doubt 
hear more of this process in the not far distant future. 
