Garden of Inheritance - Life of Gregor Mendel

what are you doing? was that a wild mouse you put in there? yes. is something worrying you father Rambersack? I believe breeding experiment. it is a breeding experiment. do you really think that's a suitable occupation for an Augustinian friar? ah you feel we should leave that kind of thing to the Franciscans. I don't understand what you mean. St. Francis spent hours on end observing the behavior of animals. he never felt the kind of disgust they seem to inspire in you. don't try to reduce it to a matter of personal preferences. you know it's more fundamental than that. there are those of us who believe that this monastery was built as a house of prayer and worship to the glory of God and should confine itself to that. some people are trying to degrade it into a kind of imitation of a secular university. really? in which of those factions would you place father Abbott? my only criticism of the abbot is that he's too weak. he tries to please both sides. I doubt that he sees them as incompatible. but there's nothing particularly unchristian about the hunger for knowledge. and now if you don't mind. you know how strongly the bishop feels about these things? yes. and you're ignoring his wishes? he's making a fuss about nothing. then I regard it as my duty to report this. I know nobody who gets more satisfaction out of doing his duty. and Jacob took green rods of poplar and the palm of his hand and peeled them in part. when the bath was taken off, in the parts that were peeled, there appeared whiteness. but the parts that were whole remained green. and by this means the color was diverse. and he put them in the troughs where the water was poured out. that when the flock should come to drink, might have the rods before their eyes, and the sight of them might conceive. and it came to pass that in the very heat of coition, the sheep beheld the rods and brought forth spotted and of diverse colors and speckled. and Jacob separated the flock and put the rods in the troughs before the eyes of the rams. and all the white and the black were Laban's, and the rest were Jacob's when the flocks were separated one from the other. all I'm saying is, you can't produce striped lambs by putting up white sticks in front of the ewes. how do you know? have you ever tried? look, it's nonsense. it's like saying if men and women make love in a cornfield, their children will have yellow hair. you seem to be close to denying the truth of holy writ. no, father Ramoseck, he never said that. I never said Jacob didn't peel those sticks. I didn't say his sheep didn't have speckled lambs. I'm only saying that if they did, it was either coincidence or divine intervention. perhaps God made a miracle for him. or would you call that heresy to say it was a miracle? perhaps not heresy, but I would call it sophistry. I'm quite sure the bishop wouldn't appreciate your fine distinctions. no, I don't suppose he would. this tree's showing a good crop. yes, much better than last year. you see, all the muscadines have taken beautifully, but three failings of the style varieties. they might do better with a whip and tongue graft. yes, or raise them from seeds. yes, then we could try crossing. we might get a good new variety like Sedlicek. I'd like to widen our range. a nice rosé, for instance, may fetch a good price. so, it's tomorrow you're off to Vienna. that's right. should get back on Wednesday after Compline. how do you feel about your exam? he should pass. he's worked hard enough. I saw your headmaster last week. he said even if you don't get your teacher's certificate, he'd be very happy to keep you on, on supply. did he? well, good luck. thank you. sit down, please, father Gregor. I've had a visit from the bishop. apparently he's heard some reports about you, which he finds disturbing. it's the experiments that worry him. if he'd been brought up on a farm, father Abbott, he'd know that selective breeding's been going on for thousands of years. father Keller is out there cross-breeding grapes to improve the wine. is he interfering with God's purpose? father Klutzow's doing experiments in hybridization. you even gave him a special plot where he could carry them out. yes, yes, yes, but it's the idea of animals that seems to bother the bishop. he's not very logical, is he? why does he think God is happy for man to breed a hybrid fruit, but angry if he breeds a mule? you know it's not a question of logic, Gregor. let me explain my position. I, personally, don't agree with the bishop. I'm very proud of St. Thomas's reputation for research and scholarship in science, no less than in theology, literature, or music. I'm prepared to take issue with his logic over important questions, such as his proposal to restrict the teaching of natural history at the Philosophical Institute. I fought hard over that. it was seven years before he gave in. this is an important question, you know that. you once said so yourself. and I still say so. and if you can assure me that the mice can teach you things you can discover in no other way, I'll defend your right to breed them. but in the present political climate, I prefer to avoid a clash if there's a tactful and honorable way out of it. I should have thought that the basic mechanism of heredity, which is what you're searching for, must operate in very much the same way in both animals and plants. very well, father Abbott. I'll stick to plants from now on. thank you, my son. and now to a different matter. about that examination. I've had a letter from one of the examiners, professor Baumgartner. I'm very pleased with your geology paper. he says of you, let me see, ah yes. he writes simply, plainly, and clearly. his method of exposition being orderly and lucid. it is plain as he is devoid neither of industry nor of talent. but it would seem that he must have lacked access to the necessary means of study. he advises me to send you to study for two years at the University of Vienna. the university? is that possible? why not? I know it wouldn't be easy. you'd be several years older than the other students. you'd be learning physics from professor Doppler, biology from professor Unger, and I'm not sure who's in charge of mathematics there now, but I know you'd do well and be a credit to St. Thomas's. see, these are the stomata. look, don't wait till next time. please see your slides all labeled before you put them away. good, much improved. your language is still too woolly. good, accurate work, Mr. Narvey, as usual. handwriting needs improvement. thank you, professor Unger. now this was a very interesting paper. did you read about the experiment with Ficaria? I didn't read it. I did that experiment myself. I think Lamarck is on the wrong track. so do I. tell me, Mr. Mendel, since when have you been so interested in hybrids? since I was nine or ten. oh come, that would be a very strange hobby for a nine-year-old. sir, my father was a peasant. when you live off the land, the pedigree of your crops and livestock isn't exactly a hobby. I had a good teacher, too. father Schreiber, our priest. where are you from? I live in Brno now. ah, they tell me that's quite a hive of plant breeding activity nowadays. you know Diebel, perhaps? or Knapp? Diebel was my teacher. Knapp is our abbot at St. Thomas's Abbey. right. well now, before you start experimenting, you must fill in on your reading. there's no point in covering ground. others have trod before you. I'd better give you some references. I see you quoted Gertner, quite the best monograph on plant hybridization, but there were also Seton and Goss, two Englishmen, did some of the spade work. of course, you will have to read Schleiden's masterpiece, Principles of Scientific Botany, but for heaven's sake, don't swallow him whole. especially his explanation of the origin of the embryo. oh, and, um, Unger. little paper I wrote last year. I'll god. and have you heard about Unger? he's in hot water now. surely not. what's he ever done to upset anybody? excuse me, was it professor Franz Unger you were talking about? that's right. have you heard anything? careful. why do you want to know? just wondered what's happened, that's all. he's been a naughty boy. he'll have to recant or lose his job. he admitted in black and white that he doesn't believe in the fixity of species. I don't either. what's wrong with that? I don't know what it's like in the provinces, but around here, my friend, if you're wise, you don't admit anything. the government have been scared waitless since the 48th revolution, and after the riots last October. what have you done with the pamphlets? I've got a room two streets away. we misjudged him, Carl. yes, he's not a bad sort, considering. considering what? considering you're a priest. considering you're of German stock. rubbish. you can't go around putting people into slots like that. anyway, it's border country I come from. hardly anybody's a pure-blooded anything. ah, no wonder you're so interested in hybrids. alright, some hybrids are very tough specimens, remember? I'll tell you something else, too. you talk a lot in here about feudalism. how much do you know about peasants? have you ever toiled three days a week in the landlord's fields for nothing? I've done it many a time. my father did it every week of his life till he got crippled. but you people don't know you're born. have you ever... calm down, my friend. you've established your credentials. for a priest you made quite an impression on Unger. he's brilliant, isn't he? I'm just beginning to realize how much I didn't know. like seeing a new world opening up. look, you know this controversy about the fertilization process in plants? yes, I can't believe it's just the pollen, too. I agree. and what's more, I think I can prove that fertilization in plants requires only one pollen grain. I've proved it with algae, anyway. you take a female germ cell and just one single male cell. you can watch it under a microscope. it'll develop into a totally independent organism. you've done this yourself? yes, but it's not just me who's done it. others have done it, too. but you must write it up. I will, soon. what you still haven't told us is why you're a monk. just a sheer stroke of luck. one of my old schoolmasters recommended me. did you call that luck? I certainly did. I was sick and tired of being cold and hungry all the time. looking for tutoring jobs, couldn't find them. no money. I was getting really ill. and then a chance of getting into St. Thomas's. nothing to pay, nice warm bed, all the food you can eat, all the books you can read, lovely music. well, of course, I jumped at it. were you on your own, then? I was on my own from 16. my brother-in-law took over the farm. my father had no money to send to me. my little sister even sent me her dowry money. that kept me going for a little while. now, that's what I call a sacrifice. wasn't she afraid of ending up a spinster? well, she isn't going to. next week is her wedding, and I am going home. so, it's got to be cells. all that old stuff about the life force was just... didn't mean anything. so, a male cell and a female cell, just one of each, agreed? yes. now, that's been proved. and the two cells make equal contributions. we know that from Cole Reuter. he was first. hey, it's not the male cell transmitting the pattern and the egg cell just nourishing it. both contribute. yes, it's equal. right, then. they've got these two cells. no, wait a minute, wait a minute. let's see it in terms of chemistry. whatever it is that transmits heredity, it doesn't behave like a liquid. it behaves like particles. and it's not like a compound. it's more like a... a mixture. suppose you've got two lots of separate solid particles, say, like sand and sugar. well, you mix them together, but they don't combine. it's the same with heredity. a characteristic can go on down the generations. it can get covered up, but it's still there. it can come back. i don't see it. where are these particles you're talking about? inside the cell. they must be. little, tiny, separate, some kind of unit. inside the cell. i can't picture that. well, it's like... like... here you are. well, it's original. i'll say that for it. botanical monk claims sex is like the rosary. so, in any single cell, you've got a whole cluster of particles. and then, let's suppose you could separate them out. like that. they'd each stand for different things. let's suppose this one says tall, and this one says early blooming, and this one says white petals. and then, when it's fertilized? well, then it's two cells coming together. and the second one may be different. short. red petals, late blooming. so, either short or tall has got to... well, not vanish. they don't vanish. it's got to stand down. give way. but what decides which it'll be? chance? no. it's not that simple. do you think there are rules to govern it, or what? well, that's the whole problem, isn't it? well, we'll have to wait now till after the exams. are you ready for the Weiber? well, i should be all right this time. the great thing is, Unger'll be there. he knows my work is good. besides, i know the sort of answers he's looking for. are you sure he's going to be there? someone told me he was going off to a lecture in Paris. about the fertilization in Phanerogams, mr. Mendor. yes, professor Penzel. you don't seem to be abreast of the latest developments. you take no account of the theories of professor Schleiden. sir, i have studied professor Schleiden's work very closely, but i can't agree with him. you cannot agree with him? are you challenging his facts? no. i think he was misinterpreting them. i accept, of course, that the pollen tube does penetrate the embryo sac, but that of itself doesn't prove that the sac is merely an incubator. professor Unger showed us. that is to say, i understand there are two schools of thought. it would be more accurate to say that there are some people who are slow to accept a scientific truth, even when it's revealed to them. as for this last section of yours, you seem to have taken off into the realm of fantasy. pure speculation. who is your authority for all this? many people. Hofmeister, for example. but i was also advancing a hypothesis of my own. i gave my reasons. are you sure you've read it all through? excuse me, but i think you must have missed out pages 8 and 9. those are crucial if you want to follow the argument. here. you see where i've listed... mr. Mendor! kindly resume your seat. sorry. yes, of course. i'm sorry, sir. i... have you seen father gregor? no, father. are you looking for something? yes. what's going on here? this shelf used to be full of science books. you have been away quite a while, father gregor. you must expect to find changes. there were four volumes of zoonomia by rasmus darwin. i was asked to recatalog the library. and i... what have you done? are you aware that those books are on the people index? that doesn't preclude me from reading them. i'm not a layman. i'm keeping the indexed books separate. up there. it may help to remind us that they're in a special category. i understand that you are resuming your position at the as supply teacher? if you absorb too many heretical ideas, some of them may get passed on. not deliberately, perhaps, and corrupt the minds of the young. my son, all things are part of great design. well, ultimately. but it would be too easy to blame all the mistakes we make on the will of god. i could kick myself now. i could have passed even without that paper. but what do you regret most about having failed? father abbott, i'm afraid of losing my teaching job. you see, my sister needs support. she's having a great struggle these days. two young gibbies, and last year a disastrous crop failure. father, i owe her a debt of honor. and i don't see now how i'm ever going to repay it. i've let her down as well as myself. gregor, these aren't easy times for any of us. not everyone in the order thinks alike, and i... well, i've been looking forward to your support. you were always so full of hope and enthusiasm. you put heart into all of us. i'm sorry. maybe hope is not enough. what about the garden? garden? that experimental plot that clucks will hand it over to. and what's been happening to it? well, nothing yet. it's been waiting for your return. but joseph's been dropping stray hints that it'll make a good cabbage patch. cabbage patch? he can't do that. well, no one else wants it. and he says you haven't been near it since your return. i thought perhaps you'd lost interest or run out of ideas. oh no, that's not it. i haven't run out of ideas. just before the exams, i thought of an entirely new way of approaching the problem. what problem? inheritance, of course. the one you challenged us to solve. are you working on it? i can't. it's hopeless. it needs a mathematical approach. it's to do with the mathematics of probability, and you can't see that on a small scale. to get anywhere near the answer, you'd need to record masses and masses of details of thousands of specimens. i couldn't do that. who could do it? a university could do it. they've got the resources. what chance have i got of persuading them? it would take years of work. they'd never listen. years of work, you say? you're not short of time, gregor. no, short of space. well, thousands of specimens. but of what? i didn't get that far. if they were small plants and close together. yes, but i mean i'd need a glass house. no point in contemplating it otherwise. father gregor, i'll build you a glass house. you many of us could be wrong, my son. but if it'll pull you out of that slough of despondency you're in and get you back to work again, it'll be cheap at the price. what are you going to cross? tall and short? not just that. this is the beauty of peas. so many variants. once i've established which characteristics breed true, i can run six or eight experiments side by side in a single season. here, crossing tall and short. here, round seeds and wrinkled seeds. here, smooth pods and constricted pods. and here, axial flowers and terminal flowers. now, the thing about peas, the reproductive parts are all hidden away inside this little pocket. the keel of the flower. so first we must remove it. how do you know when the flower's ready? well it must still be closed, like this one. and you must check that the anthers haven't yet shed their pollen. now, remove the ten stamens. that's to prevent self-pollination of course. and then you get the pollen from the other one? that's right. so we've got to look for a flower that's a little more developed than that. this looks good. and in here, the anthers should have shed their pollen. there. now, just dust the pollen onto the stigma. like that. nothing to it? look joseph, there must be no mistakes. i want absolute accuracy. it takes a steady hand. don't ever attempt this unless you're stone cold sober. if you say so father. is that it then? not quite. it's still possible that some grains of other pollen might get in there from somewhere else. a bee or a weevil or even the wind. so we've got to stop that from happening. at least until the seeds have set. i see father grego got a second for his fusion. nobody'll ever get a first while he's in town. guess who this is. you've heard me talk of johann navi who was in vienna with me when he's come to work here in bruno. jan twerdy. delighted to meet you. i've only been here a month and i've heard several people singing your praises. i hope you're finding our town to your liking mr. navi. i hope so too. otherwise he'll set about changing it right away. he's that sort of fellow. good. we can do with a few of those. what's the verdict so far? only one thing i'd like to change. that meeting of the natural science. something or other. everyone seems so tame and cautious. who's running that thing gregor? it's a section of the agricultural society. and who runs the agricultural society? well it's quite a powerful body. does some good practical work. abbott knapp is on the committee actually. who runs it? the landowners? i thought so. well i think we should start one of our own. less mealy-mouthed. really scientific. what do you say? i say it's high time. mr. twerdy you're a man after my own heart. i've got it all worked out johan. i'll be doing one more seed count but i don't think there's any more room for doubt. i know exactly exactly what happens. i was right about the separate particles. and it's quite true that when they come together in the progeny they remain distinct. they don't fuse. they don't affect one another at all and then in the next generation they separate out again. cross a plant with a yellow seed color and a round seed shape with a plant with a green seed color and wrinkled seed shape. and the hybrid has round yellow seeds. but in the next generation they seem to combine at random within all possible combinations. but i can predict it johan. given a big enough sample it conforms to simple straightforward statistical laws. so you get nine of these three of these three of these and one of these. anyone can do it and get the same result. no one will be able to challenge it. when are you going to publish? publish? you can't keep a thing like this to yourself gregor. it's revolutionary. what you must do is write a paper and read it to the natural science society. your ideas will stagger them. i'm not ready yet. i need one more seed count. come on i'll show you. my dear johan. without your friendship and guidance i could never have got this far. father gregor. yes my son. i sometimes get the impression when we're counting like this. yes. that you know what the answers are going to be. do you? i've got a pretty good idea. so why do you keep on doing it? well it's no good just having a good idea. you've got to be able to prove it beyond doubt or nobody's going to listen. would you say these were round or wrinkled or just plain shriveled? oh dear it's hard to tell. when in doubt throw them out. which would you like them to be? that is not at all a proper question. no i'm sorry father. if you think they're wrinkled. i think it has taken some strength of will to attempt the detailed experiments required to formulate such a law. a final decision can only be reached when the results of equally detailed experiments on plants of the most diverse form become available. but the precise numerical relationships which have now been demonstrated with peas must be regarded as being highly significant. thank you mr Mendel for that extremely detailed account of what has obviously been a lengthy and painstaking piece of research. if there are any questions on points you would like to raise i know mr Mendel is prepared to deal with them. of course. if you feel there is anything that needs further clarification. mr president. yes professor makovsky. at our last meeting we discussed darwin's origin of species. we agreed that the evolutionary question has been solved in a brilliant manner once and for all. so i should like to ask mr Mendel if he rejects mr darwin and if so why? and if he doesn't reject him why was he looking for a different explanation? i do not reject mr darwin. when i embarked on this research his book hadn't been published. i have since studied it in detail. i find it very impressive. but you still went on with your own theory. mr darwin and i. mr president in using that phrase i'm in no way implying. i'm trying to make the point that mr darwin and i were asking different questions. so there is nothing incompatible between his answers and mine. he says himself. written it down somewhere. he says the law's governing inheritance are for the most part unknown. he was dealing with the process of natural selection. that is why certain characteristics are passed on from one generation to another. i have been dealing with something more elementary. namely the mechanism by which they are passed on. not why but how. that's all gregor. it was rather a lot to take in. but the thing is next year society will print it won't they? it'll be sent abroad to other societies to universities. you'll get letters from all over the world. on the other hand i may not. if only johan had still been with us he would have understood. good night young. poor old alouis. he's so venturesome. he's a fine boy theresia. does he know yet what he wants to be? he wants to be a doctor. tried to tell him he can't. it costs too much. far more than we could ever lay hands on. he takes after you. those paragraphs that leo sent me. tell him the quaglich is doing very well indeed. i'll be sorry he missed you. he wanted to ask you about that scientific paper you wrote. ah yes. last time i was here i just sent it to professor negley. i thought if anyone was going to understand it he would. what did he say? oh i don't think he ever read it. i've written to him a couple of times. he always takes months to reply. he said i'd made a promising beginning and advised me to persevere. well you must do what the man says then johan. what persevere? i kept detailed records of nearly 13 000 individual specimens and i proved what i set out to prove. i don't call that a beginning. besides i may not have the use of my plot for much longer. why is that? the abbot is very ill. it's only a matter of time. depends on who's going to succeed him. wouldn't it be nice if it's you? it won't be me. father knapp is a great theologian. they'll want to carry on in the same tradition. perhaps that's what i should have been aiming at all along. cultivating piety instead of peace. yes it's from the boys at school. when they heard i was leaving they made a collection. i've always thought it would be good to endow a few scholarships. you'll be able to do it? i'll be able to do all kinds of things now. it's an extraordinary feeling. have you seen your present from mr twerdy? a new fuchsia. he's called it the prelate mendel. and how is ferdinand? very well thank you uncle. studying hard for his anatomy exam. he sends you his love. there'll be no holding your mother when you've both qualified. my son the doctor. it will never outrank my brother the abbot. she still finds that hard to believe. you know she tells us tales of how when you were at one school you came home and you were so thin that she cried. she still worries about you. she thinks you do too much. st thomas is a big place to run. there are all the estates to administer and all the extras. honorary functions committee meetings supervising arbitrating finance budgeting and relations with the bishop's office. i'm not an administrator alois. you never heard any more about your heredity paper? no never. that must have been disappointing. yes at first. but you know it really doesn't matter. my time will come. people will see it one day. it doesn't matter that i won't be here. how long have i got? how long? months? weeks? is this why you asked me to come here? you spoke to the doctor. it's heart and kidneys isn't it? well he won't give me an answer but it would be more convenient to know. perhaps a month. perhaps more. i'll have time to go through my papers then and get things in order. are those the last father clements? yes father habit. perhaps the natural science society would like to have them. some of them might be important. important? no i hardly think so. take them away. give them to joseph. tell him tell him to burn them on his bonfire. in the deceased the poor have lost a benefactor and mankind a most noble character. to us in the bruno natural science society his passing is an irreplaceable loss. i particularly recall how every spare moment afforded by his fortunate position was spent on detailed natural scientific studies. father mendel displayed a totally independent and special way of thinking. all his studies took on practical significance. he did not confine himself to lifeless words but efficaciously intervened at each opportunity in the agricultural affairs of moravia. much credit is due to him for his work on the breeding of fruit trees flowers. his experiments in plant hybridization were no less than epoch making. next week on nova