Volume 7, Number 2 · August 18, 1966
What Mendel Knew
By Gavin de Beer
Fundamenta Genetica: The Revised Edition of Mendel's Classic Paper with a Collection of Twenty-seven Original Papers Published During the Rediscovery Era in Brno in 1865. Moravian Museum. Anthropological Publications (Oosterhout, The Netherlands); also Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences (Prague)
Selection and Commentary by Jaroslav Krizenecky, with an Introduction by Bohumil Nemec
Published for the Celebration of the Centenary of Mendel's Discoveries, 400 pp.
The old adage that a prophet is not without honor save in his own country has had two innings in the case of Gregor Mendel. It was in 1865 that that remarkable man founded the science of genetics, for nothing less by way of expression is adequate to describe the way in which he enunciated its principles, the basic correctness of which has been confirmed in every branch of experimental science that has been and can be brought to bear on the subject. Like Athena, sprung fullyarmed from the brow of Zeus, genetics came out of the mind of Mendel after eight years of experimental breeding of peas, and as everything is important that relates to mental acts of creation, it is of interest to consider Mendel's case.
Review, 2489 words
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