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.

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ++++ The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to ensure edition identification: ++++ Experiments in The Physiology Of Heredity] William Bateson, Edith Rebecca Saunders Harrison, 1902 Science; Life Sciences; Genetics & Genomics; Genetics; Heredity; Mendel's law; Science / Life Sciences / Genetics & Genomics