54 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
PEOBLEMS OF HEREDITY AS A SUBJECT FOR 
HORTICULTURAL INVESTIGATION. 
By Mr. W. Bateson, M.A., F.R.S., Fellow of St. John's College, 
Cambridge. 
[May 8, 1900.] 
An exact determination of the laws of heredity will probably work more 
change in man's outlook on the world, and in his power over nature, 
than any other advance in natural knowledge that can be foreseen. 
There is no doubt whatever that these laws can be determined. In 
comparison with the labour that has been needed for other great dis- 
coveries it is even likely that the necessary effort will be small. It is 
rather remarkable that while in other branches of physiology such great 
progress has of late been made, our knowledge of the phenomena of 
heredity has increased but little ; though that these phenomena 
constitute the basis of all evolutionary science and the very central 
problem of natural history is admitted by all. Nor is this due to the 
special difficulty of such inquiries so much as to general neglect of the 
subject. 
It is in the hope of inducing others to pursue these lines of investiga- 
tion that I take the problems of heredity as the subject of this lecture to 
the Royal Horticultural Society. 
No one has better opportunities of pursuing such work than horti- 
culturists. They are daily witnesses of the phenomena of heredity. 
Their success depends also largely on a knowledge of its laws, and 
obviously every increase in that knowledge is of direct and special 
importance to them. 
The want of systematic study of heredity is due chiefly to misappre- 
hension. It is supposed that such work requires a lifetime. But though 
for adequate study of the complex phenomena of inheritance long periods 
of time must be necessary, yet in our present state of deep ignorance 
almost of the outline of the facts, observations carefully planned and 
faithfully carried out for even a few years may produce results of great 
value. In fact, by far the most appreciable and definite additions to our 
knowledge of these matters have been thus obtained. 
There is besides some misapprehension as to the kind of knowledge 
which is especially wanted at this time, and as to the modes by which 
we may expect to obtain it. The present paper is written in the hope 
that it may in some degree help to clear the ground of these difficulties 
by a preliminary consideration of the question, How far have we got 
towards an exact knowledge of heredity, and how can we get further ? 
Now this is pre-eminently a subject in which we must distinguish 
what we cmi do from what we want to do. We loant to know the whole 
truth of the matter ; we want to know the physical basis, the inward and 
essential nature, " the causes," as they are sometimes called, of 
heredity. We want also to know the laws which the outward and visible 
phenomena obey. 
