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William Bateson (1861 1926) began his academic career working on
variation in animals in the light of evolutionary theory. He was
inspired by the rediscovery in 1900 of the 1860s work on plant
hybridisation by the Austrian monk Gregor Mendel (included here as
an appendix) to pursue further experimental work in what he named
'genetics'. He realised that Mendel's results could help to solve
difficult biological questions and controversies and to challenge
the status quo in evolutionary studies. Annoyed by the 'apathetic'
stance of his evolutionist colleagues, and incensed by a scathing
critique of Mendel by the Oxford professor Raphael Weldon, Bateson
incorporated an English translation of Mendel's work into this 1902
book along with a defence of Mendel's statistical experiments and
the principles of heredity derived from them. His book is an
impassioned appeal for scientists to adopt this 'brilliant method'
which he felt could revolutionise both scholarship and industry.
Originally published in 1908, this book presents the content of an
inaugural lecture delivered by William Bateson upon taking up the
position of Professor of Biology at Cambridge University. This book
will be of value to anyone with an interest in genetics and the
history of science.
A key figure in the field of evolutionary biology, William Bateson
(1861 1926) revived Mendelian methods of analysis to develop
Darwin's theory of evolution, thereby pioneering the study of
genetics. In these lectures, published at Yale in 1913, Bateson
systematically chronicles the era's conflicting and developing
theories on taxonomy, speciation, variation and hybridisation, and
includes his own thoughts on continuous and discontinuous variation
and its causes. Drawing on the comparative physiology and anatomy
of species that he knew from his wide experience, citing detailed
examples from across the taxonomic kingdoms, Bateson brings to life
this exciting time in biology. Because the theories central to the
modern understanding of genetics, heredity and evolution were
formed at this time, this work remains valuable and relevant to
students of biology and the history of science.
Building on the work of Darwin and Mendel, the biologist William
Bateson (1861-1926) was the first scientist to combine the study of
variation, heredity and evolution, and to use the term 'genetics'.
This book was first published in 1894 after many years of
experimental and theoretical work - particularly in the embryology
of the acorn worm genus Balanoglossus - which had been guided by
the principle that embryonic developmental stages replay the
evolutionary transitions of adult forms of an organism's ancestors.
Bateson was the first to challenge this theory, which made him
unpopular among the scientific establishment of the time, but he
was proved right. Organising his material by anatomical sections,
Bateson explores speciation, phylogeny and discontinuous and
continuous variation among a wide range of species, including
vertebrates, invertebrates and plants. This pioneering work offers
great insight into how the study of genetics and inheritance itself
evolved.
This Is A New Release Of The Original 1913 Edition.
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