The Fruitful Facets of Galton's Polyhedron 409
doubt or of controversy, of this one thing there is no doubt, that if the
problem of species is to be solved at all it must be by the study of variation
(1894, pp. 574-575).For biologists, 1900 marks far more than the arbitrary turning of a century (in
one mode of reckoning) because, in that year, the barrier that all evolutionists
recognized as the chief impediment to further insight—ignorance about the causal
basis of heredity—began to crumble with the rediscovery of Mendel's principles.
Bateson himself well understood the strict limits that necessarily impeded further
progress until the basis of heredity and variation could be established. He wrote
Materials as an empirical list, largely because he could propose no causal guide to
variation, and therefore hoped that a compendium might suggest some hints, or at
least prove useful faute de mieux. He expressed frustration about this missing key
at the end of Materials, and proposed that the basis of heredity be sought in
breeding experiments: "But beyond a general impression, in this, the most
fascinating part of the whole problem, there is still no guide. The only way in
which we may hope to get at the truth is by the organization of systematic
experiments in breeding, a class of research that calls perhaps for more patience
and more resources than any other form of biological inquiry. Sooner or later, such
investigations will be undertaken and then we shall begin to know" (1894, p. 574).
Bateson invented the word "genetics" (in 1905). He then fought for discrete
inheritance against the biometrical school of Pearson and Weldon, made many
important Mendelian discoveries during the first decade of the new science
(application to animals as well as plants, elucidation of the phenomena of epistasis
and linkage), founded the Journal of Genetics, and served as an effective
spokesman for the new world order. In a late address of 1924 (published in 1928),
he contrasted the Mendelian before and after, with special reference to Materials:
"Only those who remember the utter darkness before the Mendelian dawn can
appreciate what has happened. Stories, which then seemed mere fantasies, are now
common sense. When I was collecting examples of variation in 1890, I remember
well reading the fanciers' tales about dun tumbler pigeons being almost always
hens, and about the 'curious effects of crossing' with cinnamon canaries, but I
would never have dared to repeat them" (in Bateson, 1928, pp. 405-406).
In this light, the continuing saga of Bateson and evolutionary theory should
tell a tale of pleasure and progress. He should, like de Vries (see pp. 425-439),
posit an identity of his favored discontinuous variants with major Mendelian
mutations, argue that the riddle of evolution has been solved in his terms, and
proceed forward to greater discovery and satisfaction (at least until Fisher and
others inaugurate the Modern Synthesis by upholding the efficacy, and Mendelian
character, of small-scale continuous variation as well—a recognition that did not
dawn widely until after Bateson's death).