Materials For The Study of Variation Treated With Especial Regard To Discontinuity In The Origin of Species.

Large 8vo. [1] 598pp, 2pp, booklist. Bound in original publishers green cloth, with gilt lettering. Cloth very lightly rubbed, lightly bumped on head and tail of spine, spotting to outer page edges. Internally, occasional light spotting. Pages in very good clean condition. Numerous black and white illustrations in text. An excellent near-fine copy. William Bateson read the newly discovered paper [by Mendel] and recognized immediately its relevance to the unsolved problem expounded in his Materials for the Study of Variation variation is the cause of the evolution of species; but what causes variation, and how does it happen? Bateson was convinced that species evolve as the result of the accumulation of innumerable small changes. His view was that variations occur suddenly and discontinuously. Mendel's paper gave him the clue that he was seeking [Bateson] became the founder of the modern study of heredity and variation for which he adopted the term 'genetics'" (PMM). See Printing and the Mind of Man 356 (referring to Materials for the Study of Variation in a discussion of another work by Bateson). The Laws of Heredity (PMM).