Abstract
IN a note on genetics in the U.S.S.R. (NATURE, 139, 185; Jan. 30, 1937), reference was made to the empirical work of Michurin on the hybridization of fruits, and his published work was said not to have been translated into any foreign language. Our attention had been directed to the fact that a transla tion, in an abridged form, is available for reference in the Bureau of Plant Genetics at Cambridge. The short published abstracts of the Bureau (Plant Breed ing Abstracts, 5, 56, 376 and 7, 122) make the char acter of Michurin's work fairly clear. Like the recent work of Burbank in the United States, it belongs to the period of Kolreuter. It uses the assumptions and deals with the problems that were in favour in the late eighteenth century. Indifference to the refine ments of later work has led Michurin, as it did Bur-bank, to somewhat fantastic conclusions in physio logy and genetics. The reason for Michurin's in difference, however, is peculiar and significant. He states that the Mendelian principles are not in accordance with the dialectic of Engels, and must therefore be disregarded. It seems that Aristotelianism is appearing in a new quarter under a new guise.
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Genetic Theory and Practice in the U.S.S.R.. Nature 139, 1048 (1937). https://doi.org/10.1038/1391048c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/1391048c0