CHAPTER XXXV 
EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF HEREDITY 
468. Gregor Mendel. Two of the most important 
contributions ever made to biological science, namely, 
FIG. 405. Gregor Mendel, at the age of 40. His theory of alternate 
inheritance (Mendelism), based largely on experiments with the garden 
pea, is the most important and most fruitful contribution ever made to 
the study of inheritance. 
Mendel's laws of heredity, and his method of investigating 
them, were made by a teacher who studied plants as a pas- 
time because he loved to do it. This man was Gregor 
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