An Early Reference to Mendel's Work

Abstract

THE rediscovery of Mendel's classic “Versuche über Pflanzen-Hybriden” must undoubtedly be attributed to the references made to it by Focke in his “Pflanzenmischlinge” (Berlin, 1881). As Dr. Iltis points out in his recent life of Mendel, the fresh movement towards crossing experiments at the end of last century inevitably sent workers to the “Pflanzenmischlinge”, where, unless they were either hasty or careless, they could scarcely fail to come across one or more of the half-dozen references to Mendel's name. But how came Focke to light upon a paper which was so securely buried? Apparently Dr. Iltis propounded this question to Focke himself, who replied that he had come across it in the literature of 1870, but could not then say where. (“Auf Mendels Arbeit bin ich durch die Literatur der 7oer Jahre aufmerksam geworden, kann aber nicht sagen, wo ich sie erwähnt gefunden habe” —Iltis' “Life of Mendel”, p. 204).