Die nächste Aufgabe bestand darin, zu untersuchen, ob das gefundene Entwicklungs-Gesetz auch dann für je zwei differirende Merkmale gelte, wenn mehrere verschiedene Charactere durch Befruchtung in der Hybride vereinigt sind.
The next task consisted in investigating whether the developmental law that was found is also valid for two differing traits respectively in those cases where several different characteristics are united through fertilisation in the hybrid.
developmental law = Entwicklungs-Gesetz It is not so crystal clear which law Mendel is referring to here. The most likely candidate is the statement on p. 17, s. 1, where Mendel seems to formulate the “law of segregation”, since this statement is highlighted by spacing, and since on p. 7, s. 4 he announces that his goal will be to formulate a “law” governing “changes for two differing traits respectively”. It may also be, however, that he is referring to the generalized model presented in the table at the end of the previous section (see p. 18, s. 2). This sentence also shows that Mendel did not think that establishing the independent transmission of several character pairs would result in a second law, beyond that already “found”, but just extend its validity (see also p. 29, s. 6). Additional evidence for this is provided by the fact that Mendel uses the singular later on his paper when referring to the “developmental law” he has established (see p. 32, s. 4, and p. 34, s. 11) and that on these occasions he seems to refer back to the “law of combination of differing traits” that he is going to establish in the current section of his paper. As confusing as these various references to a “law” are in Mendel’s paper, two things seem clear: 1) that he believed that there was one law only that governed the development of hybrids, even if this law could be formulated in different ways, some of which approach what we today call “Mendel’s laws”; and 2) that he thought of “laws” as stating empirical regularities rather than explanatory principles (see p. 32, s. 2 for further discussion of this point). Whether Mendel actually formulated the laws that have been ascribed to him by twentieth-century geneticicsts has generated considerable debate among historians and philosophers of genetcis; see Floyd V. Monaghan and Alain F. Corcos, “The Real Objective of Mendel’s Paper”, Biology and Philosophy, 5 (1990), pp. 267–92, and Raphael Falk and Sahotra Sarkar, “The Real Objective of Mendel’s Paper: A Response to Monaghan and Corcos”, Biology and Philosophy, 6 (1991), pp. 447–451. See p. 3, s. 6 also on Mendel’s more general understanding of laws in biology.
two differing traits respectively = je zwei differirende Merkmale Bateson has “differentiating”. Mendel is speaking of character pairs; see p. 9, s. 1.
different characteristics = verschiedene Charactere Bateson has “diverse”. Charactere here refers to the various classes of traits (shape of seed, colour of albumen etc.) from which Mendel selected his character pairs. On the term Character, see p. 7, s. 8.
united = vereinigt See p. 41, s. 6.