52 
MENDEL’S PRINCIPLES OF HEREDITY 
MENDEL’S PRINCIPLES OF HEREDITY 
By A. H. Marsh, M.D. 
In considering this subject I must first disclaim any in- 
tention of contributing anything more than a ‘ causerie ’ — 
thoughts of a serious student — with the object of arousing 
a general interest amongst local biologists and students of 
genetics, in the hope that it may be possible by collective 
investigation to work out results of real scientific value in 
the large and exceptionally fruitful field presented by our 
local livestock. 
Gregor Johann Mendel was born on July 22, 1822, in 
Austrian Silesia. His early education and home surroundings 
seem to have been calculated to develop an inherited taste 
for botanical research. He was admitted to the Augustinian 
home of St. Thomas of Brunn — an institution generally spoken 
of as the ‘ Konigskloster ’ — mainly with the view of taking 
part in the educational work of that institution. In 1847 he 
was ordained a priest, and was sent to Vienna by the cloister 
for a three years’ course of mathematics, physics, and natural 
science ; finally, in 1868 he was elected Abbot, or pralat, of the 
Konigskloster. His experiments were all carried out in the 
garden of the cloister (Bateson). One cannot help being 
struck by the evidence in all his work of careful, prolonged 
and exact investigation. His results were not arrived at 
by any brilliant Hash of genius, yet conforming to the best 
definition of true genius, ‘ An infinite capacity for taking 
pains.’ 
And then the sadness of it all ! He died in 1884, broken 
in mind, body, and estate, with his life’s work entirely un- 
recognised and unrewarded, still confident to the last that 
his time would come. 
Mendel’s published researches were all botanical, but 
it is known that he made extensive investigations into the 
heredity of bees, although his notes are not to be found. 
‘ It is one of the greatest tragedies in science that Mendel’s 
“ Experiments with Plant Hybrids,” which was published by 
