I trust what I have written has convinced the reader that we are,
as was said in opening, at last beginning to move. Professor Weldon
declares he has “no wish to belittle the importance of Mendel’s
achievement”; he desires “simply to call attention to a series of
facts which seem to him to suggest fruitful lines of inquiry.” In
this purpose I venture to assist him, for I am disposed to think that
unaided he is--to borrow Horace Walpole’s phrase--about as likely to
light a fire with a wet dish-clout as to kindle interest in Mendel’s
discoveries by his tempered appreciation. If I have helped a little in
this cause my time has not been wasted.
In these pages I have only touched the edge of that new country which
is stretching out before us, whence in ten years’ time we shall
look back on the present days of our captivity. Soon every science
that deals with animals and plants will be teeming with discovery,
made possible by Mendel’s work. The breeder, whether of plants or
of animals, no longer trudging in the old paths of tradition, will
be second only to the chemist in resource and in foresight. Each
conception of life in which heredity bears a part--and which of them is
exempt?--must change before the coming rush of facts.