GREGOR MENDEL 



413 



In 1883 a German named Boveri discovered that the chromo- 

 somes of the egg cell and of the sperm cell are at the time of ferti- 

 lization just half the number of those of the other cells (see page 

 383), so that Si fertilized egg is really a whole cell made up of two 

 half cells, one from each parent. The chromosomes, we remem- 

 ber, are believed to be the bearers of the hereditary qualities 

 handed down from parent to child. 



Applications to Plant and 

 Animal Breeding. — Turning to 

 the practical applications of 

 the scientific work on the 

 method of heredity, the name 

 of Gregor Mendel, an Austrian 

 monk, stands out most prom- 

 inently. Mendel was born in 

 1822. He early entered the 

 Monastery at Brunn, where he 

 lived until his death in 1884. 

 In 1865 after several years of 

 experimentation he published 

 the results of his work on in- 

 heritance in peas. But his work 

 created no interest at the time 

 and remained undiscovered 

 until the year 1900, when it 

 became world-famous. The 

 application of his methods to 

 plant and animal raising are 

 of the utmost importance in 

 assisting the breeder to develop the qualities he desires and breed 

 for those qualities only. Another name often mentioned with 

 reference to plant breeding is that of Hugo de Vries, the Dutch- 

 man who recently showed that in some cases new kinds of plants 

 arise by sudden and great variations known as mutations. Thomas 

 Hunt Morgan, a professor at Columbia University, has actually 

 produced new species of fruit flies as a result of his careful study 

 of mutants. His work, with that of scores of other workers in 

 heredity, is paving the way for the practical plant and animal 



Monument to Mendel at Brunn, 

 Czechoslovakia. The inscription in Ger- 

 man reads : "To the naturalist P. Gregor 

 Mendel, 1822-1884. Erected 1910 by 

 friends of science." 



