THE PROBLEMS OF HEREDITY AND
THEIR SOLUTION[1].
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 clearly foreseen.
There is no doubt whatever that these laws can be determined. In comparison with the labour that has been needed for other great discoveries we may even expect 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.
- ↑ The first half of this paper is reprinted with additions and modifications from the Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society, 1900, vol. xxv., parts 1 and 2. Written almost immediately after the rediscovery of Mendel, it will be seen to be already in some measure out of date, but it may thus serve to show the relation of the new conceptions to the old.
