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Experiments in Plant Hybridization: The Genetic Heredity Demonstrated by Hybrids of Garden Peas
One of the most influential and important scientific works ever written, the 1865 paper Experiments in Plant Hybridisation was all but ignored in its day, and its author, Austrian priest and scientist Gregor Johann Mendel (1822 1884), died before seeing the dramatic long-term impact of his work, which was rediscovered at the turn of the 20th century and is now considered foundational to modern genetics. A simple, eloquent description of his 1856 1863 study of the inheritance of traits in pea plants Mendel analyzed 29,000 of them this is essential reading for biology students and readers of science history."
42 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1865
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1053 people want to read
About the author
Gregor Mendel
35 books36 followersThrough experiments with garden peas, Moravian botanist Gregor Johann Mendel determined the laws of heredity, the later foundation for the science of genetics.
William Bateson published the first English translation of his work in 1900.
This ethnic German joined the friars of the Order of Saint Augustine, who then gave his first name.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregor_...
Photo credit: Wellcome Library, London., Portrait of Mendel in oval., Life of Mendel, Iltis, Hugo. Published: Allen and Unwin 1932. Facing page 264, plate X.
William Bateson published the first English translation of his work in 1900.
This ethnic German joined the friars of the Order of Saint Augustine, who then gave his first name.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregor_...
Photo credit: Wellcome Library, London., Portrait of Mendel in oval., Life of Mendel, Iltis, Hugo. Published: Allen and Unwin 1932. Facing page 264, plate X.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
February 5, 2021
Mendel's posthumous recognition as the founder of modern genetics was based on this book. This short book, more of a scientific paper, was derived from an 8 year long experiment on artificial fertilization of different varieties of peas, beans, and other plants.
Experiments in Plant Hybridization (1865) was written by Gregor Johann Mendel (1822-1884) who was a mathematician, botanist and a Moravian monk who practically received no acknowledgement during his lifetime for his groundbreaking work.
Mendel uncovered the laws and pattern of inheritance in plant organisms, from the parents, to the offspring, and down to the following generations. Mendel believed that the genes inherited by the offspring come in discrete units and in pairs, one from each parent, where some inherited traits would appear dominant in the offspring and others recessive. This revolutionary and seminal discovery took place in his little monastery garden. Makes one wonder, where would science be without monks?
If you’re interested in genetics, I would highly recommend this succinct summary on the principles of heredity that can easily be read in one or two sittings.
Experiments in Plant Hybridization (1865) was written by Gregor Johann Mendel (1822-1884) who was a mathematician, botanist and a Moravian monk who practically received no acknowledgement during his lifetime for his groundbreaking work.
Mendel uncovered the laws and pattern of inheritance in plant organisms, from the parents, to the offspring, and down to the following generations. Mendel believed that the genes inherited by the offspring come in discrete units and in pairs, one from each parent, where some inherited traits would appear dominant in the offspring and others recessive. This revolutionary and seminal discovery took place in his little monastery garden. Makes one wonder, where would science be without monks?
If you’re interested in genetics, I would highly recommend this succinct summary on the principles of heredity that can easily be read in one or two sittings.
October 9, 2022
The Right Reverend Gregor Mendel. Is it true the father of modern genetics has a religious title? Why? Becouse he was Abbot of a Monastery and then also a scientist.
He focused his research on Heredity, also called inheritance or biological inheritance is the passing on of traits from parents to their offspring. I guess he read the start of the Bible about the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve and understood the point behind the "story". If you study the old testament rightly, you know that it is a genealogical tree with the traits of the humans and their Father and Son hereditary characteristics. Of course, as a scientist, you dont have the time of aeons to repeat the combinations mentioned there; thus, he used flowers and plants to do the same, in my view.
I have to note that many cultures have done selective breeding with arranged marriages. Others entrusted the stars and astrological signs (the Indian); the Jews, a bit more cleverly, had the local Rabi, that knew the families in the village from a young age, to suggest who was marrying whom. If you believe that some casts in India are super bright and that the Jews are constantly producing super intelligent people, look no further than the practice of selective breeding. Perhaps we could do it with a Tinder like application shortly as more and more people share their DNA in genetics databases, which is a highly probable scenario.
Of course, the topic is rather sensitive for humans, leading to eugenics if applied with force and not smoothly with culturally acceptable practices. Just imagine that they wanted to take back the Nobel from the guy that discovered that DNA/RNA code becouse he expressed similar thoughts a few years back.
Nevertheless, this book is about Mendelian traits, briefly the Mendelian paradox and covers in detail how to produce Dominance and recessive genes.
Highly recommended; it is a bit technical, but with the language used 100 years ago, thus easy to understand if you dont get bored listening to GATTACA type of codes.
He focused his research on Heredity, also called inheritance or biological inheritance is the passing on of traits from parents to their offspring. I guess he read the start of the Bible about the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve and understood the point behind the "story". If you study the old testament rightly, you know that it is a genealogical tree with the traits of the humans and their Father and Son hereditary characteristics. Of course, as a scientist, you dont have the time of aeons to repeat the combinations mentioned there; thus, he used flowers and plants to do the same, in my view.
I have to note that many cultures have done selective breeding with arranged marriages. Others entrusted the stars and astrological signs (the Indian); the Jews, a bit more cleverly, had the local Rabi, that knew the families in the village from a young age, to suggest who was marrying whom. If you believe that some casts in India are super bright and that the Jews are constantly producing super intelligent people, look no further than the practice of selective breeding. Perhaps we could do it with a Tinder like application shortly as more and more people share their DNA in genetics databases, which is a highly probable scenario.
Of course, the topic is rather sensitive for humans, leading to eugenics if applied with force and not smoothly with culturally acceptable practices. Just imagine that they wanted to take back the Nobel from the guy that discovered that DNA/RNA code becouse he expressed similar thoughts a few years back.
Nevertheless, this book is about Mendelian traits, briefly the Mendelian paradox and covers in detail how to produce Dominance and recessive genes.
Highly recommended; it is a bit technical, but with the language used 100 years ago, thus easy to understand if you dont get bored listening to GATTACA type of codes.
June 7, 2024
THE ORIGINAL PAPER WHICH FOUNDED THE SCIENCE OF GENETICS
Gregor Johann Mendel (1822-1884) was an Augustinian friar and abbot of St. Thomas’ Abbey in Moravia (now the Czech Republic), whose pea plant experiments between 1856 and 1863 have led to his posthumous recognition as the founder of the modern science of genetics. [NOTE: page numbers below refer to a 27-page edition.]
He begins this 1865 paper with the statement, “Experience of artificial fertilization, such as is effected with ornamental plants in order to obtain new variations in color, has led to the experiments which will here be discussed. The striking regularity with which the same hybrid forms always reappeared whenever fertilization took place between the same species included further experiments to be undertaken, the object of which was to follow the developments of the hybrids in their progeny.” (Pg. 1)
He observes, “It requires indeed some courage to undertake a labor or such far-reaching extent; this appears, however, to be the only right way by which we can finally reach the solution of a question the importance of which cannot be overestimated in connection with the history of the evolution of organic forms.” (Pg. 1)
He explains, “If two plants which differ constantly in one or several characters be crossed… the common characters are transmitted unchanged to the hybrids and their progeny; but each pair of differentiating characters, on the other hand, unite in the hybrid to form a new character, which in the progeny of the hybrid is usually variable. The object of the experiment was to observe these variations in the case of each pair of differentiating characters, and to deduce the law according to which they appear in successive generations.” (Pg. 2)
He notes, “Experiments… made with ornamental plants have already afforded evidence that the hybrids, as a rule, are not exactly intermediate between the parental species. With some of the most striking characters… the intermediate, indeed, is nearly always to be seen; in other cases, however, one of the two parental characters is so preponderant that it is difficult, or quite impossible, to detect the other in the hybrid… those characters which are transmitted entire, or almost unchanged in the hybridization, and therefore in themselves constitute the characters of the hybrid, are termed the DOMINANT, and those which become latent in the process RECESSIVE.” (Pg. 5)
Of the ‘First Generation from the Hybrids,’ he points out, “In this generation there reappear, together with the dominant characters, also the recessive ones with their peculiarities fully developed, and this occurs in the definitely expressed average proportion of 3:1, so that among each 4 plants of this generation 3 display the dominant character and one the recessive… Transitional forms were not observed in any experiment.” (Pg. 6) He summarizes, “If now the results of the whole of the experiments be brought together, there is found, as between the number of forms with the dominant and recessive characters, an average ratio of 2.98:1, or 3:1.” (Pg. 8)
Of the Second Generation, he explains, “Those forms which in the first generation exhibit the recessive character do not further vary in the second generation as regards this character; they remain CONSTANT in their offspring. It is otherwise with those which possess the dominant character in the first generation. Of these TWO-thirds yield offspring which display the dominant and recessive characters in the proportion of 3:1, and thereby show exactly the same ratio as the hybrid forms, while only ONE-third remains with the dominant character constant.” (Pg. 8) He adds, “of those forms which possess the dominant character in the first generation, two-thirds have the hybrid-character, while one-third remains constant with the dominant character… the hybrids form seeds having one or other of the two differentiating characters, and of these one-half develop again the hybrid form, while the other half yield plants which remain constant and receive the dominant or the recessive characters in equal numbers.” (Pg. 9)
He states, “The next task consisted in ascertaining whether the law of development discovered in these applied to each pair of differentiating characters when several diverse characters are united in the hybrid by crossing… the experiments showed throughout that this invariably more nearly approaches to that one of the two parental plants which possesses the greater number of dominant characters… Should one of the two parental types possess only dominant characters, then the hybrid is scarcely or not at all distinguishable from it.” (Pg. 10)
He notes, “the offspring of the hybrids in which several essentially different characters are combined exhibit the terms of a series of combinations, in which the developmental series for each pair of differentiating characters are united… the relation of each pair of different characters in hybrid union is independent of the other differences in the two original parental stocks.” (Pg. 13)
He summarizes, “The uniformity of behavior shown by the whole of the characters submitted to experiment permits, and fully justifies, the acceptance of the principle that a similar relation exists in the other characters which appear less sharply defined in plants.” (Pg. 14)
He observes, “It remains, therefore, purely a matter of chance which of the two sorts of pollen will become united with each separate egg cell. According, however, to the law of probability, it will always happen, on the average of many cases, that each pollen form ‘A’ and ‘a’ will unite equally often with each egg cell form ‘A’ and ‘a’… In individual flowers and in individual plants, however, the ratios in which the forms of the series are produced may suffer not inconsiderable fluctuations. Apart from the fact that the numbers in which both sorts of egg cells occur in the seed vessels can only be regarded as equal on the average, it remains purely a matter of chance which of the two sorts of pollen may fertilize each separate egg cell.” (Pg. 18-19)
He summarizes, “The law of combination of different characters which governs the development of the hybrids finds therefore its foundation and explanation in the principle enunciated, that the hybrids produce egg cells and pollen cells which in equal numbers represent all constant forms which result from the combinations of the characters brought together in fertilization.” (Pg. 19) Later, he adds, “Whoever studies the coloration which results in ornamental plants from similar fertilization can hardly escape the conviction that here also the development follows a definite law which possibly finds its expression in the combination of several independent color characters.” (Pg. 23)
He suggests, “It Pisum it is placed beyond doubt that for the formation of the new embryo a perfect union of the elements of both reproductive cells must take place. How could we otherwise explain that among the offspring of the hybrids both original types reappear in equal numbers and with all their peculiarities? If the influence of the egg cell upon the pollen cell were only external, if it fulfilled the role of a nurse only, then the result of each fertilization could be no other than that the developed hybrid should exactly resemble the pollen parent, or at any rate do so very closely… it is immaterial, as regards the form of the hybrid, which of the original species is the seed parent or which the pollen parent.” (Pg. 24-25)
Mendel’s original paper is indeed remarkable, and retains great interest for anyone studying genetics.
Gregor Johann Mendel (1822-1884) was an Augustinian friar and abbot of St. Thomas’ Abbey in Moravia (now the Czech Republic), whose pea plant experiments between 1856 and 1863 have led to his posthumous recognition as the founder of the modern science of genetics. [NOTE: page numbers below refer to a 27-page edition.]
He begins this 1865 paper with the statement, “Experience of artificial fertilization, such as is effected with ornamental plants in order to obtain new variations in color, has led to the experiments which will here be discussed. The striking regularity with which the same hybrid forms always reappeared whenever fertilization took place between the same species included further experiments to be undertaken, the object of which was to follow the developments of the hybrids in their progeny.” (Pg. 1)
He observes, “It requires indeed some courage to undertake a labor or such far-reaching extent; this appears, however, to be the only right way by which we can finally reach the solution of a question the importance of which cannot be overestimated in connection with the history of the evolution of organic forms.” (Pg. 1)
He explains, “If two plants which differ constantly in one or several characters be crossed… the common characters are transmitted unchanged to the hybrids and their progeny; but each pair of differentiating characters, on the other hand, unite in the hybrid to form a new character, which in the progeny of the hybrid is usually variable. The object of the experiment was to observe these variations in the case of each pair of differentiating characters, and to deduce the law according to which they appear in successive generations.” (Pg. 2)
He notes, “Experiments… made with ornamental plants have already afforded evidence that the hybrids, as a rule, are not exactly intermediate between the parental species. With some of the most striking characters… the intermediate, indeed, is nearly always to be seen; in other cases, however, one of the two parental characters is so preponderant that it is difficult, or quite impossible, to detect the other in the hybrid… those characters which are transmitted entire, or almost unchanged in the hybridization, and therefore in themselves constitute the characters of the hybrid, are termed the DOMINANT, and those which become latent in the process RECESSIVE.” (Pg. 5)
Of the ‘First Generation from the Hybrids,’ he points out, “In this generation there reappear, together with the dominant characters, also the recessive ones with their peculiarities fully developed, and this occurs in the definitely expressed average proportion of 3:1, so that among each 4 plants of this generation 3 display the dominant character and one the recessive… Transitional forms were not observed in any experiment.” (Pg. 6) He summarizes, “If now the results of the whole of the experiments be brought together, there is found, as between the number of forms with the dominant and recessive characters, an average ratio of 2.98:1, or 3:1.” (Pg. 8)
Of the Second Generation, he explains, “Those forms which in the first generation exhibit the recessive character do not further vary in the second generation as regards this character; they remain CONSTANT in their offspring. It is otherwise with those which possess the dominant character in the first generation. Of these TWO-thirds yield offspring which display the dominant and recessive characters in the proportion of 3:1, and thereby show exactly the same ratio as the hybrid forms, while only ONE-third remains with the dominant character constant.” (Pg. 8) He adds, “of those forms which possess the dominant character in the first generation, two-thirds have the hybrid-character, while one-third remains constant with the dominant character… the hybrids form seeds having one or other of the two differentiating characters, and of these one-half develop again the hybrid form, while the other half yield plants which remain constant and receive the dominant or the recessive characters in equal numbers.” (Pg. 9)
He states, “The next task consisted in ascertaining whether the law of development discovered in these applied to each pair of differentiating characters when several diverse characters are united in the hybrid by crossing… the experiments showed throughout that this invariably more nearly approaches to that one of the two parental plants which possesses the greater number of dominant characters… Should one of the two parental types possess only dominant characters, then the hybrid is scarcely or not at all distinguishable from it.” (Pg. 10)
He notes, “the offspring of the hybrids in which several essentially different characters are combined exhibit the terms of a series of combinations, in which the developmental series for each pair of differentiating characters are united… the relation of each pair of different characters in hybrid union is independent of the other differences in the two original parental stocks.” (Pg. 13)
He summarizes, “The uniformity of behavior shown by the whole of the characters submitted to experiment permits, and fully justifies, the acceptance of the principle that a similar relation exists in the other characters which appear less sharply defined in plants.” (Pg. 14)
He observes, “It remains, therefore, purely a matter of chance which of the two sorts of pollen will become united with each separate egg cell. According, however, to the law of probability, it will always happen, on the average of many cases, that each pollen form ‘A’ and ‘a’ will unite equally often with each egg cell form ‘A’ and ‘a’… In individual flowers and in individual plants, however, the ratios in which the forms of the series are produced may suffer not inconsiderable fluctuations. Apart from the fact that the numbers in which both sorts of egg cells occur in the seed vessels can only be regarded as equal on the average, it remains purely a matter of chance which of the two sorts of pollen may fertilize each separate egg cell.” (Pg. 18-19)
He summarizes, “The law of combination of different characters which governs the development of the hybrids finds therefore its foundation and explanation in the principle enunciated, that the hybrids produce egg cells and pollen cells which in equal numbers represent all constant forms which result from the combinations of the characters brought together in fertilization.” (Pg. 19) Later, he adds, “Whoever studies the coloration which results in ornamental plants from similar fertilization can hardly escape the conviction that here also the development follows a definite law which possibly finds its expression in the combination of several independent color characters.” (Pg. 23)
He suggests, “It Pisum it is placed beyond doubt that for the formation of the new embryo a perfect union of the elements of both reproductive cells must take place. How could we otherwise explain that among the offspring of the hybrids both original types reappear in equal numbers and with all their peculiarities? If the influence of the egg cell upon the pollen cell were only external, if it fulfilled the role of a nurse only, then the result of each fertilization could be no other than that the developed hybrid should exactly resemble the pollen parent, or at any rate do so very closely… it is immaterial, as regards the form of the hybrid, which of the original species is the seed parent or which the pollen parent.” (Pg. 24-25)
Mendel’s original paper is indeed remarkable, and retains great interest for anyone studying genetics.
March 3, 2017
Things Darwinian nihilists don't want you to know!! What he said at page 25 will shock you!
December 15, 2021
I need to remind myself not to listen to genetics audiobooks, because it phisically hurts when someone reads AA Aa aa to you.
Jokes aside, it really is brilliant how much work and dedication went into this. He was tracking several traits of peas by visual means only, and was able to come to the conclusions that we today see as the basis of genetics.
Jokes aside, it really is brilliant how much work and dedication went into this. He was tracking several traits of peas by visual means only, and was able to come to the conclusions that we today see as the basis of genetics.
June 17, 2025
Another excellent Librivox narration by Availle of William Bateson's translation. The book is a thorough description of his experiments with pea plants that established the properties of dominant and recessive hereditary traits and is still very readable and interesting.
October 9, 2017
Biết ông Mendel từ hồi học Sinh học năm cấp II. Nay mới có dịp đọc tường tận công trình nghiên cứu dày công của ông qua dịch phẩm khá hàm súc của tiến sĩ nông học Trang Quan Sen.
August 29, 2021
Paper excepcional que avanzaría la biología y sentaría las bases de la genética actual.
October 2, 2021
Toss your TOOS in the trash. . . . This is the book which made Darwin's seminal, 1859, "On the Origin of Species..." obsolete within only six years of its publication. But don't tell the diehard Darwinian dogmatists like Dawkins, or they'll call you names. The precise Mendel metric of quantum digital genetic data storage renders Darwin's vague and nebulous non-quantized analog data storage a mere Dickensian relic, along with its constant and continuous variation resulting in new "species" galore, which have all turned out to be only varieties. Never in the history of the "universe" has one species been proven to have evolved into another species. Quantum digital genetic data storage prevents this from occurring with absolute reliability. All reports of new species from old are unsupported surmises by religio-politically motivated charlatans. Where do new species come from? There are no new species so they don't come from anywhere. Where do species come from then? The same relativistic virtual continuum as everything else. The material mechanistic "universe", aka reality, is only an illusion.
Note: A challenge to Darwinists: Name a single, verifiable "new" species, not a variety, and I don't mean a newly discovered, but a newly evolved species. My search of the internet has come up with a grand total of zero. Darwin's finches have been proven to only be varieties, of course, since they've crossbred and produced fully reproductively fertile offspring i.e. the Large Cactus Finch and Medium Ground Finch crossbreeding (falsely called a hybridization, since animal (not plant) hybrids are infertile, except for introgression i.e. they cannot breed with each other, but only with their parent stock e.g. the mule) of 1981.
Note on the note: Behaving like a species isn't the same as being a species.
Note: A challenge to Darwinists: Name a single, verifiable "new" species, not a variety, and I don't mean a newly discovered, but a newly evolved species. My search of the internet has come up with a grand total of zero. Darwin's finches have been proven to only be varieties, of course, since they've crossbred and produced fully reproductively fertile offspring i.e. the Large Cactus Finch and Medium Ground Finch crossbreeding (falsely called a hybridization, since animal (not plant) hybrids are infertile, except for introgression i.e. they cannot breed with each other, but only with their parent stock e.g. the mule) of 1981.
Note on the note: Behaving like a species isn't the same as being a species.
December 11, 2015
Read this book in Latvian (from 'Avots' - Pagātnes Domātāju Darbi series, translated from Russian, published in 1979,with added commentary about Gregor Mendel's life and work). Commentary really helps, probably basic Latin knowledge is needed to completely understand the book as all the plants are mentioned only in Latin (or Google does just fine). Would recommend to anyone who is interested in basic genetic principles and history.
September 9, 2013
It goes without saying Mendel's work represents a revolutionary, world-changing study in inheritable traits, paving the way for the rise of our modern understanding of genetics. However, Experiments in Plant Hybridization is an incredibly boring read, and quite frankly may not even be worth the effort.
February 16, 2013
The world forgets the true father of genetics while they celebrate Darwin. Possible bias against his faith perhaps.
October 31, 2013
Genetics prime
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews