Um diese Voraussetzungen auf experimentellem Wege einer Prüfung zu unterziehen, wurden folgende Versuche ausgewählt: Zwei Formen, welche in der Gestalt der Samen und in der Färbung des Albumens constant verschieden waren, wurden durch Befruchtung verbunden.
In order to put these presuppositions to test by way of experiment, the following trials were selected: Two forms that were constantly different with respect to seed shape and colouration of the albumen were conjoined through fertilisation.
presuppositions = Voraussetzungen Bateson has assumptions, Sherwood “this hypothesis”. The use of plural shows that Mendel apparently thought of the two assumptions formulated in the preceding — the assumption that as many kinds of gametes are formed as constant combinations of traits are possible (what we would call the “law of independent assortment” today) and the assumption that these different kinds of gametes tend to be produced in equal numbers — were logically independent of each other.
put to test = einer Prüfung zu unterziehen Bateson has “bring … to an experimental proof”.
trials = Versuche See p. 3, s. 6. The meaning of the plural is unclear, since the sentence following on the colon grammatically describes one experiment only.
selected = ausgewählt Bateson has “designed”. Mendel’s statement suggests that he worked retrospectively from experimental records of a larger number of experiments performed.
forms = Formen See p. 3, s. 8.
constantly different = constant verschieden See p. 7, s. 3.
colouration = Färbung See p. 7, s. 6.
albumen = Albumen See p. 8, s. 3.
conjoined = verbunden Bateson has “united”, Sherwood “combined”; see p. 10, s. 14.