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Authors: Catherine Shaw
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chatting quietly with her sister-in-law during this conversation and Professor Bates was standing at the sideboard together with the two Professors Darwin. Mrs Bates, seated on the same sofa as myself, was following our conversation without participating.
Professor Correns settled into an armchair that he drew up nearer the sofa. I took advantage of his proximity to examine him more closely.
He looked no older than Arthur, and his eyes were of a bright Teutonic blue with a merry twinkle. He seemed to be playing at a very entertaining game, yet there was an air of melancholy behind his laughter. I found him an intriguing and attractive personality, but my desire to know about his science was stronger than my desire to draw him out.
‘Well then,’ I said, ‘let us see if you can possibly explain the secrets of heredity to an ignorant being such as myself.’
He sat back and smiled.
‘Part of the secret of heredity is beyond my own knowledge,’ he said, ‘and another part must always remain mysterious to us humans because it is dependent on no other laws than the laws of chance, which as you know are unpredictable. I don’t know if you are aware that the laws of chance give precise predictions only over very large numbers, but never over a single occurrence of some event. For example, if I flip a die, I cannot make any prediction about which number will come up, but if I flip it six thousand times, I can predict that the number of times that a one will appear will be quite close to one thousand. Do you see?’
‘Yes, I do see,’ I said. ‘I see it for a die, because there are only six possibilities and we know them all and we know that there is an equal chance for any of them to occur. But it doesn’t seem possible that those simple rules could apply to a situation as complex as that of heredity in living beings, where it would seem that the number of possibilities are absolutely endless and impossible to enumerate.’
‘Very true, for complex living beings like humans. But there are much simpler living beings whose study has allowed us to understand the grand discovery, namely that the rules of chance governing the dice are the same identical rules which govern heredity; it is simply the number of possible combinations which is infinitely greater.’
I paused to think for a moment.
‘Well,’ I said, ‘I can conceive somehow that such a thing might be true. It seems to us that the possibilities for two human beings to create another one are endless, but perhaps, as you say, they are really only in the many millions and that seems like an infinite number to us because we cannot tell the difference. Theoretically, I can see that what you are saying might be the case. But I must admit that I have not the faintest idea of how, even having conceived of this theory, it could possibly ever be proven.’
‘It takes a genius, madam,’ said the German professor with a sudden ponderousness, and I glanced at him in surprise, wondering if he could possibly be using this term in reference to himself. But no. This sudden earnestness was of that which is inspired by the contemplation of an extraordinary phenomenon.
‘I will tell you how it was done,’ he explained, ‘but I must first tell you by
whom
it was done. It is a surprising story, and a sad one. The story is about a monk in a monastery in Brünn who, some thirty-five years ago, published a paper which was misunderstood and utterly ignored and forgotten, until I myself discovered it barely one year ago – and it has changed my life, so that I now consider my scientific mission to be the bringing of this seminal work to the light of day!
‘The story is about a monk who asked himself the same question that you are asking about the secret of heredity, and who actually devised a way to make a scientific investigation of the answer, by studying plants in the monastery garden! It is the story of a monk who spent years making the most extraordinary, intelligent
Professor Correns settled into an armchair that he drew up nearer the sofa. I took advantage of his proximity to examine him more closely.
He looked no older than Arthur, and his eyes were of a bright Teutonic blue with a merry twinkle. He seemed to be playing at a very entertaining game, yet there was an air of melancholy behind his laughter. I found him an intriguing and attractive personality, but my desire to know about his science was stronger than my desire to draw him out.
‘Well then,’ I said, ‘let us see if you can possibly explain the secrets of heredity to an ignorant being such as myself.’
He sat back and smiled.
‘Part of the secret of heredity is beyond my own knowledge,’ he said, ‘and another part must always remain mysterious to us humans because it is dependent on no other laws than the laws of chance, which as you know are unpredictable. I don’t know if you are aware that the laws of chance give precise predictions only over very large numbers, but never over a single occurrence of some event. For example, if I flip a die, I cannot make any prediction about which number will come up, but if I flip it six thousand times, I can predict that the number of times that a one will appear will be quite close to one thousand. Do you see?’
‘Yes, I do see,’ I said. ‘I see it for a die, because there are only six possibilities and we know them all and we know that there is an equal chance for any of them to occur. But it doesn’t seem possible that those simple rules could apply to a situation as complex as that of heredity in living beings, where it would seem that the number of possibilities are absolutely endless and impossible to enumerate.’
‘Very true, for complex living beings like humans. But there are much simpler living beings whose study has allowed us to understand the grand discovery, namely that the rules of chance governing the dice are the same identical rules which govern heredity; it is simply the number of possible combinations which is infinitely greater.’
I paused to think for a moment.
‘Well,’ I said, ‘I can conceive somehow that such a thing might be true. It seems to us that the possibilities for two human beings to create another one are endless, but perhaps, as you say, they are really only in the many millions and that seems like an infinite number to us because we cannot tell the difference. Theoretically, I can see that what you are saying might be the case. But I must admit that I have not the faintest idea of how, even having conceived of this theory, it could possibly ever be proven.’
‘It takes a genius, madam,’ said the German professor with a sudden ponderousness, and I glanced at him in surprise, wondering if he could possibly be using this term in reference to himself. But no. This sudden earnestness was of that which is inspired by the contemplation of an extraordinary phenomenon.
‘I will tell you how it was done,’ he explained, ‘but I must first tell you by
whom
it was done. It is a surprising story, and a sad one. The story is about a monk in a monastery in Brünn who, some thirty-five years ago, published a paper which was misunderstood and utterly ignored and forgotten, until I myself discovered it barely one year ago – and it has changed my life, so that I now consider my scientific mission to be the bringing of this seminal work to the light of day!
‘The story is about a monk who asked himself the same question that you are asking about the secret of heredity, and who actually devised a way to make a scientific investigation of the answer, by studying plants in the monastery garden! It is the story of a monk who spent years making the most extraordinary, intelligent
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