At this, Brother Timothy pricked up his ears and allowed himself and internal smile; the only kind he allowed himself. When Mendel had returned from his short University experience, he had brought with him the beginnings of an idea concerning the mechanism of heredity and had asked Klacel and others about the best possible research material with which to test out his ideas. Remembering problems that he had encountered while trying to work with the genus Hieracium, Brother Timothy had slyly suggested to the enthusiastic monk that he try forming hybrids with these plants, knowing full well the difficulties and delays he would encounter.
Others in the Monastery had proposed experiments using mice, but the Abbot had vetoed the idea as being too close to idolatry and blasphemy against God. Plants were safe, and the common pea plant, which was Napp's choice, had no religious constituency. Eventually Mendel had diplomatically agreed with his Abbot and began his experiments using the common garden pea, but not before Brother Timothy had delayed him for a year or two.
"In all," said Mendel, "34 more or less distinct varieties of Peas were obtained from several seeds men and subjected to a two year's trial. In the case of one variety there were noticed, among a larger number of plants all alike, a few forms which were markedly different. These, however, did not vary in the following year, and agreed entirely with another variety obtained from the same seeds man; the seeds were therefore doubtless merely accidentally mixed." If he had expected sympathy at this result, he did not get it, so he continued, "All the other varieties yielded perfectly constant and similar offspring; at any rate, no essential difference was observed during two trial years." A smile, "For fertilization 22 of these were selected and cultivated during the whole period of the experiments. They remained constant without any exception." A key point that he wanted to emphasize. One of the reasons he felt that he had been successful, was the fact that the starting material for his experiments were some how "pure" and gave constant varieties of offspring during his hybridizations.
"Brother Gregory," interrupted Brother Timothy, smoothly between sentences. "To what species did this pea plants belong? Would that not be critical to your work?" It was rare for a presentation to be disturbed in this way, but Brother Timothy had prepared his own ground very carefully and knew that this point was the first weakness in Mendel's paper. In the seat next to him, he felt Abbot Napp stir, but he didn't take his eyes off Mendel. This was a critical moment. If the presenter hesitated, he knew he would have scored his first small victory, and also broken the monk's rhythm.
But Mendel, after getting over the shock of having his talk interrupted, simply shuffled some of his notes, and replied, "According to the opinion of experts, the majority of the plants I used, belong to the species Pisum sativum; while the rest are regarded and classed, some as sub-species of P. sativum, and some as independent species, such as P. quadratum, P. saccharatum, and P. umbellatum." He paused, adjusted his round glasses and stared over them directly at Brother Timothy. "The positions, however, which may be assigned to them in a classificatory system are quite immaterial for the purposes of the experiments in question. It has so far been found to be just as impossible to draw a sharp line between the hybrids of species and varieties as between species and varieties themselves."
A barely suppressed chuckle ran around the room, starting with snort of delight from Brother Matthew. It was not unusual for spirited debate to spring up between scientific antagonists, as the holders of one opinion tried to discredit the opinions of a contrary position. Most of the time, however, debating points were scored by those who either posed an impossible question, while making it seem eminently reasonable, or by those who could answer an impossible question with a straight face and without loosing their dignity. Loss of face was is only defeat that matters in science, a fact most professional practitioners recognize. It was good to see that Brother Gregory could give as well as he got. Rubbing their hands, not entirely to get them warm again, the audience settled down. Perhaps this talk was going to be better than expected.