Treasure Your Exceptions : The Science and Life of William Bateson

Alan Cock

ISBN 10: 0387756876 / ISBN 13: 9780387756875

Published by Springer, Berlin, Springer, 2008

About this Item

Druck auf Anfrage Neuware - Printed after ordering - While aware of the works of various evolutionists in their dotage (Galton, Wallace, Weismann), initially Bateson is likely to have overlooked Hugo de Vries' Intracellular Pangenesis. De Vries modified Darwin's hypothesis of 'pangenesis,' according the 'elements,' or 'pangens' that corresponded to individual characters, attributes that we now know to be those of genes. Darwin thought a character acquired during an individual's life time, could, by virtue of the transfer of the corresponding educated pangens (gemmules), be passed on to its children. However, experiments by Galton and Heape d- proved his belief that the pangens could move from normal tissue cells to - nadal cells. Like Weismann, Galton saw the potentially immortal germ-line (stored in the ovary or testis) as distinct from the soma (the mortal remainder of the body). Since gametes remained the same size from generation to g- eration, then each parent could on average only transmit half its elements to a child, the other half being lost. This meant that there might be competition between elements for representation in future generations. 'Ancestral' ch- acters that disappeared and later reappeared were due to 'latent' (hidden) elements. These were distinguished from the 'patent' (overt) elements that determined characters regularly seen in the offspring. Both elements were in the gametes as 'primary elements. ' The latent elements constituted a 're- due' that remained after separation of 'patent elements' from the primary elements. Galton downplayed the role of Darwin's natural selection.

Seller Inventory # 9780387756875

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Treasure Your Exceptions : The Science and Life of William Bateson
• Publisher: Springer, Berlin, Springer
• Publication Date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0387756876
• ISBN 13: 9780387756875
• Binding: Buch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 235W x 155H x 45D millimeters 235 millimeters width by 155 millimeters height by 45 millimeters depth
• Weight: 1339 grams

About this title

Synopsis

This biography provides an understanding of William Bateson as well as a reconciliation of diverging views (e.g. the hierarchical thinking of Gould and the genocentrism of George Williams and Richard Dawkins). Evolutionists may thus, at long last, present a unified front to their creationist opponents. The pressing need for this text is apparent from the high percentages reported not to believe in evolution and the growth of the so-called "intelligent design" movement.

From the Back Cover

William Bateson brought the work of Mendel (and much more) to the attention of the English-speaking world. He commanded the biological sciences in the decades after Darwin's death in 1882. To understand these years we must first understand Bateson. Through examination of the life of a major contributor to the turn-of-the-century revolution in biology, the authors of this volume reconcile the genocentrism of George Williams and Richard Dawkins with the hierarchical thinking of Richard Goldschmidt and Stephen Jay Gould. The anti-Darwinian arguments of Bateson are only now, a century later, gaining recognition. At last, Evolutionists can present a unified front to their creationist opponents.