Es ist daher auch auf experimentellem Wege die Annahme gerechtfertigt, dass die Erbsen-Hybriden Keim- und Pollenzellen bilden, welche ihrer Beschaffenheit nach in gleicher Anzahl allen constanten Formen entsprechen, welche aus der Combinirung der durch Befruchtung vereinigten Merkmale hervorgehen.
Also by way of experiment, the assumption has thus been justified that pea-hybrids form germ- and pollen cells which according to their constitution correspond in equal number to all the constant forms that emerge from the combination of the traits that were united by fertilisation.
This sentence is as muddled in German, as it is in our rather literal translation. What Mendel seems to be trying to say is that germinal constitutions not only correspond nummerically to all possible combinations of constant traits, but that constitutions and combinations also map onto each other in kind. At the very end of Section 9, in which this statement appears, it is invoked to explain the “law of combination of differing traits” (see p. 32, s. 2).
also = auch Bateson drops this from his translation. The highlighted clause reformulates the “assumption” presented at the outset of this section (see p. 24, s. 8). In the sentence immediately following on that one (p. 24, s. 9) Mendel explicitly states that it is possible to “demonstrate” that the assumption is valid “along theoretical lines”, but then goes on to say that he will “put” it to “test by way of experiment” (see p. 25, s. 1).
assumption = Annahme Bateson has “theory”. Mendel is referring to p. 24, s. 8.
constitution = Beschaffenheit See p. 24, s. 4.
quantity = Anzahl See p. 3, s. 8.
constant forms = constante Formen See p. 15, s. 7.
combination = Combinirung See p. 21, s. 2.
united = vereinigten See p. 41, s. 6.