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MENDELISM
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MENDELISM . To define what some biologists See also:call Mendelism briefly is not possible. Within See also:recent years there has come to biologists a new See also:idea of the nature of living things, a new conception of their potentialities and of their limitations; and for this we are primarily indebted to the See also:work of Gregor Mendel. See also:Peasant boy, See also: Thus on crossing a tall with a See also:dwarf and paying attention to this pair of characters alone, he found that the hybrids (or F1 See also:generation) were all tall and that no intermediates appeared. Accordingly he termed the tall See also:character dominant and the dwarf character recessive. On allowing these hybrids to fertilize themselves in the See also:ordinary way he obtained a further generation which on the See also:average was composed of three tails to one dwarf. Subsequent experi- ment showed that the T x D P dwarfs always bred true, as did also one out of every three tails; the two remaining tails behaved as the See also:original hybrids in D.. Fs giving three tails to one dwarf. Having regard to D F the characters, tallness { 3 and dwarfness, three and only three kinds of peas exist, viz. dwarfs which breed true, tails which breed true, and tails which give a fixed proportion of tails and dwarfs. The relation between these three forms may be briefly summarized in the subjoined See also:scheme, in which pure tall and dwarf are represented by T and D respectively, while [T] denotes the tails which do not breed true. Experiments were also made with several other pairs of characters, and the same mode of inheritance was shown to hold See also:good throughout. Unit-Characters.—As Mendel clearly perceived, these definite results See also:lead inevitably to a precise conception of the consti- tution of the reproductive cells, or gametes; and to appreciate fully the See also:change wrought in our point of view necessitates a brief digression into the essential features of the reproductive process. A sexual process (see See also:SEx) is almost universal among animals and See also:plants, and consists essentially of the See also:union of two gametes, of which one is produced by either See also:parent. Every gamete contains small definite bodies known as chromosomes, and the number of these is, with few known exceptions, See also:con- stant for the gametes of a given See also:species. On the See also:fusion of two gametes the resulting See also:cell or zygote has therefore a See also:double structure, for it contains an equal number of chromosomes brought in by the paternal and by the maternal gamete —in the See also:case of a plant by the See also:pollen See also:grain as well as by the ovule. By a process of re- peated See also:division the zygote gives rise to a plant (or an See also:animal) whose cells appar- ently retain the double structure throughout. Cer- See also:tain of the cells of such a zygote become the germ cells and are set apart, as it were, for the formation of gametes. See also:Histology has shown that when this occurs -the cells lose the double structure which they had hitherto possessed, and that as the result of a process known as the reduction e division gametes are formed ° in which the number of chromosomes is one See also:half of that which characterizes the cells of the zygote. It is generally acknowledged that the chromosomes See also:play an important See also:part in the hereditary process, and it is possible that the divisions which they undergo in gametogenesis are connected with the observed inheritance of characters. We shall refer later to the few observations which seem to connect the two sets of phenomena. Our conception of what occurs when a See also:cross is made between two individuals may be illustrated by the See also:diagram which forms fig. 2. Zygotes are here represented by squares and gametes by circles. The dominant and recessive characters are indicatedby small See also:plain and See also:black rectangles. Each zygote must contain two and each gamete but one of these unit-characters. Zygotes such as the original parents which breed true to a given character are said to be homozygous for that character, and from their nature such homozygotes must produce identical gametes. Consequently when a cross is made only one See also:kind of zygote can be formed, viz. that containing both the dominant and recessive unit-characters. When the germ-cells of such a heterozygote split to See also:form gametes, these, as indicated in fig. 2, will be of two sorts containing the dominant and recessive characters respectively, and will be produced in equal See also:numbers. If we are dealing with a hermaphrodite plant such as the pea the ovules will consist of one half bearing only the dominant character and one half bearing only the recessive character; and this will be true also of the pollen grains. Consequently each dominant ovule has an equal See also:chance of being fertilized by a dominant or by a recessive pollen grain, and the dominant ovules must therefore give rise to equal numbers of dominant homozygous and of heterozygous plants. Similarly the recessive ovules must give rise to equal numbers of recessive homozygotes and of heterozygotes. Hence of the See also:total offspring of such a plant one See also:quarter will be pure dominants, one quarter recessives, and one half heterozygotes as indicated in fig. 2. Where one character is completely dominant over the other, heterozygotes will be indistinguishable in See also:appearance from the homozygous dominant, and the Fs generation will be composed of three plants of the dominant form to each recessive. These are the proportions actually found by Mendel in the pea and by many other more recent observers in a number of plants and animals. The experimental facts are in accordance with the conception of unit characters and their transmission from zygote to gamete in the way outlined above; and the numerical results of breeding experiments are to be regarded as proving that in the formation of gametes from the heterozygote the unit-characters are treated as unblending entities separating cleanly, or segregating, from one another. From this it follows that any gamete can carry but one of a pair of unit-characters and must therefore be pure for that character. The principle of the segregation of characters in gametogenesis with its natural corollary, the purity of the gametes, is the essential part of Mendel's discoveries. The quite distinct phenomenon of dominance observed by him in Pisum occurs in many other cases, but, as will appear below, is by no means universal. Illustrations.—Mendelian inheritance in its simplest form, i.e. for a single pair of characters, has already been shown to occur in many species of animals and plants, and for many very diverse characters. In some cases See also:complete dominance of one of the pair of unit-characters occurs; in others the form of heterozygote is more or less intermediate. Fresh cases are continually being recorded and the following See also:short See also:list can but serve to give some idea of the variety of characters in which Mendelian inheritance has been demonstrated. A. Dominance. neatly or quite complete. (The dominant character is given first). Tall and dwarf See also:habit (pea, sweet pea). See also:Round See also:seed and wrinkled seed (pea). See also:Long pollen and round pollen (sweet pea). See also:Starch and See also:sugar endosperm (See also:maize). Hoariness and See also:absence of hairs (See also:stocks, Lychnis). Beardless and bearded See also:condition (See also:wheat). Prickliness and smoothness of fruits (Datura). See also:Palm and See also:fern See also:leaf (Primula).
See also:Purple and red See also:flowers (sweet pea, stocks, &c.).
Fertility and sterility of anthers (sweet pea). Susceptibility and See also:immunity to See also:rust (wheat). See also:Rose See also:comb and single comb (fowls).
Black and See also: Short and long " See also:Angora " coat (rabbits). Normal and waltzing habit (mice). Deformed See also:hand with but two phalanges in digits and normal hand (man). ----------------i T [X] [T] T T [-II LT. D Parents .0 Ft Zygote / \ ' Fa Zygotst FIG. 2. B. Absence of dominance, the heterozygote being more or less intermediate in form. Black and white splashed plumage (Andalusian fowls). Lax and dense ears (wheat). Six rowed and two rowed ears (See also:barley). Dominance.—The meaning of this phenomenon is at See also:present obscure, and we can make no See also:suggestion as to why it should be complete in one case, partial in another, and entirely absent in a third. When found it is as a See also:rule definite and orderly, but there are cases known where irregularity exists. The extra toe characteristic of certain breeds of fowls, such as Dorkings, behaves generally as a dominant character, but in certain cases it has been ascertained that a.See also:fowl without an extra toe may yet carry the extra toe character. It is possible that in 1lli some cases dominance may be conditioned by the presence of other features, and certain crosses in See also:sheep lend colour to the supposition that sex may be such a feature. A cross between the polled See also:Suffolk and the horned See also:Dorset breeds results in horned rams and polled ewes only, though in the See also:F2 generation both sexes appear with and without horns. At present the simplest See also:hypothesis which fits the facts is that horns are dominant in the male and recessive in the See also:female. It is important not to confuse cases of apparent reversal of dominance such as the above with cases in which a given visible character may be the result of two entirely different causes. One white See also:hen may give only colour chicks by a coloured See also:cock, whilst the same cock with another white hen, indistinguishable in appearance from the former, will give only white chickens containing a few dark See also:ticks. There is here no reversal of dominance, but, as has been abundantly proved by experiment, there are two entirely distinct classes of white fowls, of which one is dominant and the other recessive to colour. The Presence and Absence Hypothesis.—Whether the phenomenon of dominance occur or not, the unit-characters exist in pairs, of which the members are seemingly interchangeable. In virtue of this behaviour the unit-characters forming such a pair have been termed allelomorphic to one another, and the question arises as to what is the nature of the relation between two allelomorphs. The fact that such cases of heredity as have been fully worked out can all be formulated in terms of allelomorphic pairs is suggestive, and has led to what may be called the " presence and absence " hypothesis. An allelomorphic pair represents the only two possible states of any given unit-character in its relation to the gamete, viz. its presence or its absence. When the unit-character is present the quality for which it stands is manifested in the zygote: when it is absent some other quality previously concealed is able to appear. When the unit-character for yellowness is present in a pea the seeds are yellow, when it is absent the seeds are See also:green. The green character is underlying in all yellow seeds, but can only appear in the absence of the unit-character for yellowness, and greenness is allelomorphic to yellowness because it is the expression of absence of yellowness. Dihybridism.—The instances hitherto considered are all See also:simple cases in which the individuals crossed differ only in one pair of unit-characters. Mendel himself worked out cases in which the parents differed in more than one allelomorphic pair, and he pointed out that the principles involved were capable of indefinite extension. The inheritance of the various allelomorphic pairs is to be regarded as entirely See also:independent. For example, when two individuals AA and aa are crossed the See also:composition of the F2 generation must be AA + 2Aa +aa. If we suppose that the two parents differ also in the allelomorphic pair B–b, the composition of the F2 generation for this pair will be BB + 2Bb + bb. Hence of the zygotes which are homozygous for AA one quarter will carry also BB, one quarter bb, and one half Bb. And similarly for the zygotes which carry Aa or aa. The various combinations possible together with the relative frequencies of their occurrence may be gathered from fig. 3. Of the 16 zygotes there are: 9 containing A and B 3 containing B but not A 3 „ A but not B If neither A nor B In a case of dihybridism the Fl zygote must be heterozygous for the two allelomorphic pairs, i.e. must be of the constitution Aa Bb. It is obvious that such a result may be produced in two ways, either by the union of two gametes, Ab and aB, or of two gametes AB and ab. In the former case each parent must be homozygous for one dominant and one recessive character; in the latter case one parent must be homozygous for both the dominant and the other for both recessive characters. The results of a cross involving. dihybridism may be complicated in several ways by the reaction upon one another of the unit-characters belonging to the See also:separate allelomorphic pairs, and it will be convenient to consider the various possibilities apart. r. The simplest case is that in which the two allelomorphic pairs affect entirely distinct characters. In the pea tallness is dominant to dwarfness and yellow seeds are dominant to green. . When a yellow tall is crossed with a green dwarf the Fl generation consists entirely of tall yellows. Precisely the same result is obtained by crossing a tall green with a dwarf yellow. In either case all the four characters involved are visible in one or other of the parents. Of every i6 plants produced by the tall yellow Fl, co are tall yellows, 3 are tall greens, 3 are dwarf yellows, and r is a dwarf green. If we denote the tall and dwarf characters by A and a, and the yellow See also:WALNUT FIG.4. SI IV OL.E The four types of comb referred to in the See also:text are shown here. All the drawings were made from male birds. . In the hens the combs are smaller. All four types of comb are liable to a certain amount of See also:minor variation, and the walnut especially so. The presence of See also:minute bristles on its posterior portion, however, serves at once to distinguish it from any other comb. and green seed characters by B and b respectively, then the , constitution of the F2 generation can be readily gathered from fig. 3. 2. When the two allelomorphic pairs affect the same structure we may get the phenomenon of novelties appearing in Fl and F2. Certain breeds of fowls have a " rose " and others a " pea y' comb (fig. 4). On crossing the two a " walnut " comb results, and the offspring of such walnuts bred together consist of 9 walnuts, 3 See also:roses, 3 peas, and I single comb in every 16 birds. This case may be brought into See also:line with the scheme in fig. 3 if we consider the allelomorphic pairs concerned to AA AA Aa As.. BB Bb BB Bb SB bb bB bb aA aA as as BB Bb BB Bb bB b b bb bB b P E A be rose (A) and absence of rose (a), and pea (B) and absence of pea (b). The zygotic constitution of a rose is therefore AAbb, and of a pea aaBB. A zygote containing both rose and pea is a walnut: a zygote containing neither rose nor pea is a single. The See also:peculiar feature of such a case lies in the fact that absence of rose and absence of pea are the same thing, i.e. single; and this is doubtless owing to the fact that the characters rose and pea both affect the same structure, the comb. 3. Cases exist in which the characters due to one allelomorphic pair can only become See also:manifest in the presence of a particular member of the other pair. If in fig. 3 the characters due to B–b can only manifest themselves in the presence of A, it is obvious that this can happen in twelve cases out of sixteen, but not in the remaining four, which are homozygous for aa. An example of this is to be found in the inheritance of coat colour in rabbits, rats and mice where the allelomorphic pairs concerned are See also:wild grey colour (B) dominant to black (b) and pigmentation (A) dominant to albinism (a). Certain albinos (aaBB) crossed with blacks (AAbb) give only greys (AaBb), and when these are bred together they give 9 greys, 3 blacks and 4 albinos. Of the 4 albinos 3 carry the grey character and r does not, but in the absence of the pigmentation See also:factor (A) this is not visible. The ratio 9 : 3 : 4 must be regarded as a 9 : 3 : 3 : I ratio, in which the last two terms are visibly indistinguishable owing to the impossibility of telling by the See also:eye whether an See also:albino carries the character for grey' or not. 4. The appearance of a zygotic character may depend upon the coexistence in the zygote of two unit-characters belonging to different allelomorphic pairs. If in the scheme shown in fig. 3 the manifestation of a given character depends upon the simultaneous presence of A and B, it is obvious that 9 of the 16 zygotes will present this character, whilst the remaining 7 will be without it. This is shown graphically in fig. 5, where the 9 squares have been shaded and the 7 See also:left plain. The sweet pea offers an example of this phenomenon. White sweet peas breed true to whiteness, but when certain strains of whites are crossed the offspring are all coloured.. In the next generation (F2) these F1 plants give rise to 9 coloured and 7 whites in every 16 plants. Colour here is a See also:compound character whose manifestation depends upon the co-existence of two factors in the zygote, and each of the original parents was homozygous for one of the two factors necessary to the See also:production of colour. The ratio 9 : 7 is in reality a 9 : 3 : 3 : I ratio in which, owing to See also:special conditions,- the zygotes represented by the last three terms are indistinguishable from one another by the eye. The phenomena of dihybridism, as illustrated by the four examples given above, have been worked out in many other cases for plants and animals. Emphasis must be laid upon the fact that, although the unit-characters belonging to two pairs may react upon one another in the zygote and affect its character, their inheritance is yet entirely independent. Neither grey nor black can appear in the See also:rabbit unless the pigmentation factor is also present; nevertheless, gametic segregation of this pair of characters takes See also:place in the normal way among albino rabbits, though its effects are never visible until a suitable cross is made. In cases of trihybridism the Mendelian ratio for the forms appearing in F2 is 27 : 9 :.9 : 9: 3 : 3 : 3 : I, i.e. 27 showing dominance of three characters, three See also:groups of 9 each showing dominance of two characters, three groups of 3 each showing dominance of one character, and a single individual out of 64 which is homozygous for all three recessive characters. It is obvious that the See also:system can be indefinitely extended to embrace any number of allelomorphic pairs. Reversion.—Facts such as those just dealt with in connexion with certain cases of dihybridism throw an entirely new See also:light upon the phenomenon known as reversion on crossing. This is now seen to consist in the See also:meeting of factors which had in some way or other become separated in phylogeny. The albino rabbit when crossed with the black " reverts " to the wild grey colour, because each parent supplies one of the two factors upon which the manifestation of the wild colour depends. So also the wild purple sweet pea may come as a reversion on crossing two whites. In such cases the reversion appears in the Ft generation, because the two factors upon which it depends are the dominants of their respective allelomorphic pairs. Where the reversion depends upon the simultaneous absence of two characters it cannot appear until the F2 generation. When fowls with rose and pea combs are crossed the reversionary single comb characteristic of the wild See also:Gallus bankiva first appears in the F2 generation. Gametic Coupling.—In certain cases the See also:distribution of characters in heredity is complicated by the fact that particular unit-characters tend to become associated or coupled together during gametogenesis. In no case have we yet a complete explanation of the phenomenon, but in view of the important bearing which these facts must eventually have on our ideas of the gametogenic process an See also:illustration may be given. The case in which two white sweet peas gave a coloured on crossing has already been described, and it was seen that the production of colour was dependent upon the meeting of two factors, of which one was brought in by each parent. If the allelomorphic pairs be denoted by C–c and R–r, then the zygotic constitution of the two parents must have been CCrr and ccRR respectively. The F1 plant may be either purple or red, two characters which form an allelomorphic pair in which the former is dominant, and which may be denoted by the letters B–b. If B is brought in by one parent only the F1 plant will be heterozygous for all three allelomorphic pairs, and therefore of the constitution Cc Rr Bb. In the F2 generation the ratio of coloured to white must be 9 : 7, and of purple to red 3 I; and experiment has shown that this generation is composed on the average of 27 purples, 9 reds and 28 whites out of every 64 plants. The exact composition of such a See also:family may be gathered from the accompanying table (fig. 6). So far the case is perfectly smooth, and it is only on the introduction of another character that the phenomenon of partial coupling is witnessed. Two kinds of pollen grain occur in the sweet pea. In some plants they are oblong in shape, whilst in others they are round, the latter condition being recessive to the former. If the original white parents were homozygous for long and round respectively the Fl purple must be heterozygous, and in the F2 generation, as experiment has shown, the ratio of longs to rounds for the whole family is 3 : I. But among the purples there are about twelve longs to each round, the excess of longs here being balanced by the reds, where the proportion is t long to about 3.5 rounds. There is partial coupling of long pollen with the purple colour and a complementary coupling of the red colour with round pollen. This result would be brought about if it were supposed that seven out of every eight purple gametes produced by the Fl plant carried the long pollen character, and that seven out of every eight red gametes carried the round pollen character. The facts observed See also:fit in with the supposition that the gametes are produced in See also:series of sixteen, but how such result could be brought about is a question which for the present must remain open. See also:Spurious Allelomorphism.—Instances of association between characters are known in which the connection is between the dominant member of one pair and the recessive of another. In many sweet peas the See also:standard folds over towards the wings, and the See also:flower is said to be hooded. This " hooding " behaves as a recessive towards the erect standard. Red See also:sap colour is also recessive to purple. In families where purples and reds as well as erect and hooded See also:standards occur it has been found, as might be expected, that erect standards are to hooded ones, and that purples are to reds as 3:1. Were the case one of simple dihybridism the F2 generation should be composed of q erect purples, 3 hooded purples, 3 erect reds and i hooded red in every 16. Actually it is composed of 8 erect purples, 4 hooded purples and 4 erect reds. The See also:hood will not See also:associate with the red, but occurs only on the purples. Cases like this are best interpreted on the See also:assumption that during gametogenesis there is some form of repulsion between the members of the different pairs—in the present instance between the factor for purple and that for the erect standard—so that all the gametes which contain the purple factor are See also:free from the factor for the erect standard. To the process involved in this assumption the See also:term spurious allelomorphism has been applied. Sex.—On the existing evidence it is probable that the inheritance of sex runs upon the same determinate lines as that of other characters. Indeed, there occurs in the sweet pea what may be regarded as an instance of sex inheritance of the simplest kind. Most sweet peas are hermaphrodite, but some are found in which the anthers are sterile and the plants See also:function only as See also:females. This latter condition is recessive to the hermaphrodite one and segregates from it in the ordinary way. Most cases of sex inheritance, however, are complicated, and it is further possible that the phenomena may be of a different See also:order in plants and animals. Instructive in this connexion are certain cases in which one of the characters of an allelomorphic pair may be coupled with a particular sex. The See also:pale lacticolor variety of the See also:currant See also:moth (See also:Abraxas grossulariata) is recessive to, the normal form, and in families produced by heterozygous parents one quarter of the offspring are of the variety. Though the sexes occur in approximately equal numbers, all the lacticolor its such families are females; and the association of sex with a character exhibiting normal segregation is strongly suggestive of a similar process obtaining for sex also. See also:Castle has worked out similar cases in other See also:Lepidoptera and has put forward an hypothesis of sex inheritance on the basis of the Mendelian segregation of sex determinants. An ovum or spermatozoon can carry either the male or the female character, but it is essential to Castle's hypothesis that a male spermatozoon should fertilize only a female ovum and See also:vice versa, and consequently on his view all zygotes are heterozygous in respect of sex. Whether any such gametic selection as that postulated by Castle occurs here or elsewhere must for the present remain unanswered. Little evidence exists for it at present, but the possibility of its occurrence should not be ignored. More recently evidence has been brought forward by See also:Bateson and others (3) which supports the view that the inheritance of sex is on Mendelian lines. The See also:analysis of cases where there is a closer association between a Mendelian character and a particular sex has 'suggested that femaleness is here dominant to maleness, and that the latter sex is homozygous while the former is heterozygous. Chromosomes and Unit-Characters.—Breeding experiments have established the conception of definite unit-characters existing in the cells of an organism: in the cell histology has demonstrated the existence of small definite bodies—the chromosomes. During gametogenesis there takes place what many histologists regard as a differentiating division of the chromosomes: at the same See also:period occurs the segregation of the unit-characters. Is there a relation between the postulated unit-character and the visible chromosome, and if so what is this relation? The researches of E. B. See also: Heredity we now perceive to be a method of analysis, and the facts of heredity constitute a series of reactions which enable us to argue towards the constitution of living matter. And essential to any method of analysis is the recognition of the individuality of the individual. Constitutional See also:differences of a See also:radical nature may be concealed beneath apparent identity of See also:external form. Purple sweet peas from the same pod, indistinguishable in appearance and of identical ancestry, may yet be fundamentally different in their constitution. From one may come purples, reds and whites, from another only purples and reds, from another purples and whites alone, whilst a See also:fourth will breed true to purple. Any method of investigation which fails to take account of the radical differences in constitution which may underlie external similarity must necessarily be doomed to failure. Conversely, we realize to-day that individuals identical in constitution may yet have an entirely different ancestral See also:history. From the cross between two fowls with rose and pea combs, each of irreproachable See also:pedigree for generations, come single combs in the second generation, and these singles are precisely similar in their behaviour to singles bred from strains of unblemished ancestry. In the ancestry of the one is to be found no single over a long series of years, in the ancestry of the other nothing but singles occurred. The creature of given constitution may often be built up in many ways, but once formed it will behave like others of the same constittt tion. The one sure test of the constitution of a living thing lies in the nature of the gametes which it carries, and it is the analysis of these gametes which forms the See also:province of heredity. The clear cut and definite mode of transmission of characters first revealed by Mendel leads inevitably to the conception of a definite and clear-cut basis for those characters. Upon this structural basis, the unit-character, are grounded certain of the phenomena now termed variation. Varieties exist as such in virtue of differing in one or more unit-characters from what is conventionally termed the type; and since these unit- MENDELSSOHN, See also:MOSES (1729-1786), Jewish philosopher, was born in See also:Dessau in 1729. His See also:father's name was Mendel, and he was later on surnamed Mendelssohn (=son of Mendel). He was the foremost Jewish figure of the 18th See also:century, and to him is attributable the See also:renaissance of the See also:House of See also:Israel. With this third Moses (the other two being the Biblical lawgiver and Moses See also:Maimonides) a new era opens in the history of the Jewish See also:people. Mendel Dessau was a poor See also:scribe—a writer of scrolls—and his son Moses in his boyhood See also:developed curvature of the spine. His See also:early See also:education was cared for by his father and by the See also:local See also:rabbi, See also:David See also:Frankel. The latter, besides teaching him the See also:Bible and See also:Talmud, introduced to him the See also:philosophy of Maimonides (q.v.). Frankel received a call to See also:Berlin in 1743. Not many months later a weakly lad knocked at one of the See also:gates of Berlin. He was admitted after an altercation, and found a warm welcome at the hands of his former teacher. His See also:life at this period was a struggle against crushing poverty, but his scholarly ambition was never relaxed. A refugee See also:Pole, Zamosz, taught him See also:mathematics, and a See also:young Jewish physician was his See also:tutor in Latin. He was, however, mainly self-taught. " He learned to spell and to philosophize at the same time" (See also:Graetz). With his scanty earnings he bought a Latin copy of See also:Locke's See also:Essay concerning the Human Understanding, and mastered it with the aid of a Latin See also:dictionary. He then made the acquaintance of See also:Aaron See also:Solomon Gumperz, who taught him the elements of See also:French and See also:English. In 1750 he was appointed by a wealthy See also:silk-See also:merchant, See also:Isaac Bernhard, as teacher to his See also:children. Mendelssohn soon won the confidence of Bernhard, who made the young student successively his See also:book-keeper and his partner. Gumperz or See also:Hess rendered a conspicuous service to Mendelssohn and to the cause of enlightenment in 1754 by introducing him to See also:Lessing. Just as the latter afterwards makes Nathan the See also:Wise and See also:Saladin meet over the See also:chess-See also:board, so did Lessing and Mendelssohn actually come together as lovers of the See also:game. The Berlin of the day—the day of See also:Frederick the See also:Great—was in a moral and intellectual ferment. Lessing was the great liberator of the See also:German mind. He had already begun his work of See also:toleration, for he had recently produced a See also:drama (See also:Die Juden, 1749), the See also:motive of which was to prove that a See also:Jew can be possessed of See also:nobility of character. This notion was being generally ridiculed as untrue, when Lessing found in Mendelssohn the realization of his See also:dream. Within a few months of the same See also:age, the two became See also:brothers in intellectual and See also:artistic cameraderie. Mendelssohn owed his first introduction to the public to Lessing's admiration. The former had written in lucid German an attack on the See also:national negle,ct of native philosophers (principally See also:Leibnitz.), and See also:lent the See also:manuscript to Lessing. Without consulting the author, Lessing published anonymously Mendelssohn's Philosophical Conversations (Philosophische Gesprache) in 1755. In the same year there appeared in See also:Danzig an See also:anonymous See also:satire, See also:Pope a Metaphysician (Pope ein Metaphysiker), the authorship of which soon transpired. It was the See also:joint work of Lessing and Mendelssohn. From this time Mendelssohn's career was one of ever-increasing brilliance. He became (1756-1759) the leading spirit of See also:Nicolai's important See also:literary undertakings, the Bibliothek and the Literaturbriefe, and ran some See also:risk (which Frederick's good nature obviated) by somewhat freely criticizing the poems of the See also: In See also:October 1763 the king granted Mendelssohn the See also:privilege of Protected Jew (Schutz-See also:Jude)--which assured his right to undisturbed See also:residence in Berlin. As a result of his See also:correspondence with Abbt, Mendelssohn resolved to write on the See also:Immortality of the Soul. Materialistic views were at the time rampant and fashionable, and faith in immortality was at a See also:low ebb. At this favourable juncture appeared the Phddon (1767). Modelled on See also:Plato's See also:dialogue characters must from their behaviour in transmission be regarded as discontinuous in their nature, it follows that the variation must be discontinuous also. A present tendency of thought is to regard the discontinuous variation or mutation as the material upon which natural selection See also:works, and to consider that the process of See also:evolution takes place by definite steps. Darwin's opposition to this view rested partly upon the idea that the discontinuous variation or See also:sport would, from the rarity of its occurrence, be unable to maintain itself against the swamping effects of intercrossing with the normal form. Mendel's work has shown that this objection is not valid, and the precision of the mode of inheritance of the discontinuous variation leads us to inquire if the small or fluctuating variation can be shown to have an equally definite physiological basis before it is admitted to play any part in the production of species. Until this has been shown it is possible to consider the discontinuous variation as the unit in all evolutionary change, and to regard the fluctuating variation as the uninherited effect of environmental See also:accident. The Human Aspect.—In conclusion we may briefly allude to certain See also:practical aspects of Mendel's See also:discovery. Increased knowledge of heredity means increased See also:power of See also:control over the living thing, and as we come to understand more and more the See also:architecture of the plant or animal we realize what can and what cannot be done towards modification or improvement. The experiments of Biffen on the cereals have demonstrated what may be done with our present knowledge in establishing new, See also:stable and more profitable varieties of wheat and barley, and it is impossible to doubt that as this knowledge becomes more widely disseminated it will lead to considerable improvements in the methods of breeding animals and plants. It is not, however, in the economic See also: (4¢) R. H. Biffen, " Mendel's Laws of Inheritance and Wheat Breedings," Journ. Agr. See also:Soc., vol. i. (1905) (5) W. E. Castle, " The Heredity of Sex," See also:Bull. See also:Mus. Comp. Zool. (Harvard, 1903). (6) L. Cuenot, " L'H6r6dit6 de la pigmentation chef See also:les souris," See also:Arch. Zool. Exp. (19o3-19o4). (7) H. de Vries, Die Mutationstheorie (See also:Leipzig, 1901-1903). (8) L. See also:Doncaster and G. H. Raynor, " Breeding Experiments with Lepidoptera," Proc. Zool. Soc. (See also:London, 1906). (9) C. C. See also:Hurst, " Experimental Studies on Heredity in Rabbits," Journ. Linn. Soc. (1905). (to) G. J. Mendel, Versuche giber Pflanzen-Hybriden, Verh. natur. f. ver. in See also:Brunn, Bd. IV. (1865). (u) Reports to the Evolution See also:Committee of the Royal Society, vols. i.-iii. (London, 1902-1906, experiments by W. Bateson, E. R. Saunders, R. C. Punnett, C. C. Hurst and others). (12) E. B. Wilson, " Studies in Chromosomes," vols. i.-iii. Journ. Exp. Zool. (1905-1906). (13) T. B. See also:Wood, " See also:Note on the Inheritance of Horns and Fare Colour in Sheep," Journ. Agr. Soc. vol. i. (Nos). (R. C. P.) So far, Mendelssohn had devoted his talents to philosophy and See also:criticism; now, however, an incident turned the current, of his life in the direction of the cause of Judaism. See also:Lavater was one of the most ardent admirers of Mendelssohn. He described him as " a companionable, brilliant soul, with piercing eyes, the body of an See also:Aesop—a man of keen insight, exquisite See also:taste and wide erudition . See also:frank and open-hearted." Lavater was fired with the ambition to convert his friend to See also:Christianity. In the See also:preface to a German translation of See also:Bonnet's essay on See also:Christian Evidences, Lavater publicly challenged Mendelssohn to refute Bonnet or if he could not then to " do what See also:wisdom, the love of truth and honesty must bid him, what a See also:Socrates would have done if he had read the book and found it unanswerable." This See also:appeal produced a painful impression. Bonnet resented Lavater's See also:action, but Mendelssohn was See also:bound to reply, though opposed to religious controversy. As he put it: " Suppose there were living among my contemporaries a See also:Confucius or a See also:Solon, I could, according to the principles of my faith, love and admire the great man without falling into the ridiculous idea that I must convert a Solon or a Confucius." Here we see the germs of Mendelssohn's See also:Pragmatism, to use the now current term. He shared this with Lessing; in this case, at all events, it is probable that the latter was indebted to Mendelssohn. But before discussing this matter, we must follow out the consequences of Lavater's intrusion into Mendelssohn's affairs. The latter resolved to devote the See also:rest of his life to the emancipation of the See also:Jews. Among them See also:secular studies had been neglected, and Mendelssohn saw that he could best remedy the defect by attacking it on the religious See also:side. A great See also:chapter in the history of culture is filled by the influence of See also:translations of the Bible. Mendelssohn added a new See also:section to this chapter by his German translation of the See also:Pentateuch and other parts of the Bible. This work (1783) constituted Mendelssohn the See also:Luther of the German Jews. From it, the Jews learned the German See also:language; from it they imbibed culture; with it there was born a new See also:desire for German See also:nationality; as a result of its popularity was inaugurated a new system of Jewish education. Some of the conservatives among the Jews opposed these innovations, but the current of progress was too strong for them. Mendelssohn was the first great See also:champion of Jewish emancipation in the 18th century. He it was who induced C. W. Dohm to publish in 1781 his See also:epoch-making work, On the See also:Civil Amelioration of the Condition of the Jews, a memorial which played a great part in the See also:triumph of tolerance. Mendelssohn himself pgblished a German translation of the Vindiciae judaeorum by Menasseh See also:ben Israel. The excitement caused by these proceedings led Mendelssohn to publish his most important contribution to the problems connected with the position of Judaism in relation to the See also:general life. This work was the See also:Jerusalem (1783; Eng. trans. 1838 and 1852). It is a forcible plea for freedom of See also:conscience. Kant described it as " an irrefutable book." Its basic idea is that the See also:state had no right to interfere with the See also:religion of its citizens. As Kant put it, this was " the See also:proclamation of a great reform, which, however, will be slow in manifestation and in progress, and which will affect not only your people but others as well." Mendelssohn asserted the pragmatic principle of the possible See also:plurality of truths: that just as various nations need different constitutions—to one a See also:monarchy, to
another a See also:republic, may be the most congenial to the national See also:genius—so individuals may need different religions. The test of religion is its effect on conduct. This is the moral of Lessing's Nathan the Wise, the See also:hero of which is undoubtedly Mendelssohn. The See also:parable of the three rings is the See also:epitome of the pragmatic position. One See also:direct result of this pragmatism was unexpected. Having been taught that there is no absolutely true religion, Mendelssohn's own descendants—a brilliant circle, of which the musician See also:Felix was the most noted—left the See also:Synagogue for the See also: His Morgenstunden appeared in 1785, and he died as the result of a See also:cold contracted while carrying to his publishers in 1786 the manuscript of a vindication of his friend Lessing, who had predeceased him by five years.
Mendelssohn had six children. His sons were: See also:Joseph (founder of the Mendelssohn banking house, and a friend and benefactor of See also: On their return to Berlin they took lessons in thoroughbass and composition from Zelter, in See also:pianoforte-playing from Ludwig Berger, and in See also:violin-playing from Henning—the care of their general education being entrusted to the father of the novelist See also:Paul See also:Heyse. Felix first played in public on the 24th of October 1818, taking the pianoforte part in a trio by See also:Woelfl. On the 1th of See also:April 1819 he entered the Berlin Singakademie as an See also:alto, and in the following year began to compose with extraordinary rapidity. His earliest dated work is a See also:cantata, In K4/trend feierlichen Tonen, completed on the 13th of See also:January 1820. During that year alone he produced nearly sixty movements, including songs, pianoforte sonatas, a trio for pianoforte, violin and See also:violoncello, a See also:sonata for violin and pianoforte, pieces for the See also:organ, and even a little dramatic piece in three scenes. In 1821 he wrote five symphonies for stringed See also:instruments, each in three movements; motets for four voices, an MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY L21 See also:opera, in one See also:act, called Soldatenliebschaft; another, called Die beiden Padagogen; part of a third, called Die wandernden Comodianten; and an immense quantity of other music of different kinds, all showing the precocity of his genius. The original autograph copies of these early productions are preserved in the Berlin Library, where they form part of a collection which fills See also:forty-four large volumes, all written with See also:infinite neatness, and for the most part carefully dated—a sufficient See also:proof that the methodical habits which distinguished his later life were formed in early childhood. In 1821 Mendelssohn paid his first visit to See also:Goethe, with whom he spent sixteen days at See also:Weimar, in See also:company with Zelter. From this year also See also:dates his first acquaintance with See also:Weber, who was then in Berlin superintending the production of Der Freischut,z; and from the summer of 1822 his introduction, at See also:Cassel, to another of the greatest of his contemporaries, Ludwig See also:Spohr. During this year his See also:pen was even more prolific, producing, among other works, an opera, in three acts, entitled Die beiden See also:Neff en, See also:oder der Onkel aus See also:Boston, and a pianoforte See also:concerto, which he played in public at a See also:concert given by Frau See also:Anna Milder. It had long been a See also:custom with the Mendelssohn family to give musical performances on alternate See also:Sunday mornings in their dining-See also:room, with a small See also:orchestra, which Felix always conducted, even when he was not tall enough to be seen without See also:standing upon a See also:stool. For each of these occasions he produced some new work—playing the pianoforte pieces himself, or entrusting them to Fanny, while his sister Rebecka sang, and his See also:brother Paul played the violoncello. In this way Die beiden Neffen was first privately performed, on-the fifteenth anniversary of his birthday, the 3rd of February 1824. Between the 3rd and the 31st of See also: The temptations to See also:egoism by which he was surrounded would have rendered most See also:clever students intolerable. But the natural amiability of his disposition, and thehealthy influence of his happy home-life, counteracted all tendencies towards self-assertion. Soon after his return from Paris, Abraham Mendelssohn removed from his mother's residence to No. 3 Leipziger Strasse, a roomy, old-fashioned house, containing an excellent music-room, and in the grounds adjoining a " Gartenhaus " capable of accommodating several See also:hundred persons at the Sunday performances.' In the autumn of the following year this " garden-house " witnessed a memorable private performance of the work by means of which the greatness of Mendelssohn's genius was first revealed to the See also:outer world—the See also:overture to See also:Shakespeare's Midsummer See also:Night's Dream. The finished See also:score of this famous composition is dated " Berlin, August 6, 1826 "—its author was only seventeen and a half years old. Yet in no later work does he exhibit more originality of thought, more freshness of conception, or more perfect mastery over the details of technical construction, than in this delightful See also:inspiration. The overture was first publicly performed at See also:Stettin, in February 1827, under the direction of the young composer, who was at once accepted as the See also:leader of a new and highly characteristic manifestation of the spirit of progress. Henceforth we must speak of him, not as a student, but as a mature and experienced artist. Meanwhile Camacho's See also:Wedding had been submitted to See also:Spontini, with a view to its production at the opera. The libretto, founded upon an See also:episode in the history of See also:Don Quixote, was written by Klingemann, and Mendelssohn threw himself into the spirit of the See also:romance with a keen See also:perception of its peculiar See also:humour. The work was put into See also:rehearsal soon after the composer's return from Stettin, produced on the 29th of April 1827, -and received with great apparent See also:enthusiasm; but a See also:cabal was formed against it, and it never reached a second performance. The critics abused it mercilessly; yet it exhibits merits of a very high order. The See also:solemn passage for the trombones, which heralds the first appearance of the See also:knight of La See also:Mancha, is conceived in a spirit of reverent appreciation of the idea of Cervantes, which would have done See also:honour to a composer of lifelong experience.
Mendelssohn was annoyed at this injustice, and some time elapsed before his mind recovered its usual See also:bright See also:tone; but he continued to work diligently. Among other serious undertakings, he formed a See also:choir for the study of the choral works of See also:Sebastian See also:Bach, then unknown to the public; and, in spite of Zelter's opposition, he succeeded, in 1829, in inducing the Berlin Singakademie to give a public performance of the Passion according to St See also:Matthew, under his direction, with a See also:chorus of between three and four hundred voices. The scheme succeeded beyond his warmest hopes, and proved the means of restoring to the world great compositions which had never been heard since the death of Bach. But the obstructive party were offended; and at this period Mendelssohn was far from popular among the musicians of Berlin.
In April 1829 Mendelssohn paid his first visit to London. His reception was enthusiastic. He made his first appearance before an English See also:audience at one of the Philharmonic Society's concerts—then held in the See also:Argyll Rooms—on the 25th of May, conducting his symphony in C minor from the pianoforte, to which he was led by See also: orchestra. After the See also:close of the London See also:season he started with Klingemann on a tour through See also:Scotland, where he was inspired with the first idea of his overture to The Isles of Fingal, returning to Berlin at the end of See also:November. Except for an accident to his See also:knee, which lamed him for some time, his visit was highly successful and laid the foundation of many friendships and prosperous negotiations. The visit to See also:England formed the first division of a great scheme of travel which his father wished him to extend to all the most important See also:art centres in See also:Europe. After refusing the offer of a professorship at Berlin, he started again, in May 183o, for See also:Italy, pausing on his way at Weimar, where he spent a fortnight with Goethe, and reaching See also:Rome, after many pleasant interruptions, on the 1st of November. No excitement prevented him from devoting a certain time every day to composition; but he lost no opportunity of studying either the countless treasures which form the See also:chief See also:glory of the great See also:city or the See also:manners and customs of modern See also:Romans. He attended, with insatiable curiosity, the services in the Sistine See also:Chapel; and his keen power of observation enabled him to throw much interesting light upon them. His letters on this subject, however, lose much of their value through his incapacity to comprehend the close relation existing between the music of See also:Palestrina and his contemporaries and the See also:ritual of the See also:Roman Church. His Lutheran education kept him in See also:ignorance even of the first principles of ordinary chanting; and it is amusing to find him describing as enormities peculiar to the papal choir customs See also:familiar to every See also:village See also:singer in England, and as closely connected with the structure of the " See also:Anglican See also:chant " as with that of " Gregorian music." Still, though he could not agree in all points with See also:Baini, the greatest ecclesiastical musician then living, he shared his admiration for the Improperia, the See also:Miserere, and the cantus planus of the Lamentationes and the Exultet, the musical beauty of which he could understand, apart from their ritual significance. In passing through See also:Munich on his return in October 1831 he composed and played his pianoforte concerto in G minor, and accepted a See also:commission (never fulfilled) to compose an opera for the Munich See also:theatre. Pausing for a time at See also:Stuttgart, See also:Frankfort and See also:Dusseldorf he arrived in Paris in See also:December, and passed four pleasant months in the renewal of acquaintances formed in 1825, and in close intercourse with See also:Liszt and See also:Chopin. On the 19th of February 1832 the overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream was played at the See also:conservatoire, and many of his other compositions were brought before the public; but he did not See also:escape disappointments with regard to some of them, especially the See also:Reformation symphony, and the visit was brought to a premature close in March by an attack of See also:cholera, from which, however, he rapidly recovered. On the 23rd of April 1832 he was again in London, where he twice played his G minor concerto at the Philharmonic concerts, gave a performance on the organ at St Paul's, and published his first book of Lieder ohne Worte. He returned to Berlin in See also:July, and during the See also:winter he gave public performances of his Reformation symphony, his concerto in G minor, and his Walpurgisnacht. In the following See also:spring he paid a third visit to London for the purpose of conducting his See also:Italian symphony, which was played for the first time, by the Phil-See also:harmonic Society, on the 13th of May 1833. On the 26th of the same month he conducted the performances at the See also:Lower See also:Rhine festival at Dusseldorf with such brilliant effect that he was at once offered, and accepted, the See also:appointment of generalmusic-director to the See also:town, an See also:office which included the management of the music in the See also:principal churches, at the theatre, and at the rooms of two musical associations. Before entering upon his new duties, Mendelssohn paid a fourth visit to London, with his father, returning to Dusseldorf on the 27th of See also:September 1833. His influence produced an excellent effect upon the church music and in the concert-room; but his relations with the management of the theatre were not altogether pleasant; and it was probably this circumstance which first led him to forsake the cultivation of the opera for that of sacred music. At Dusseldorf he first designed his famous See also:oratorio St Paul, in response to an application from the Cacilien-Verein at Frankfort, composed his overture to Die schone Melusine, and planned some other works of importance. He liked his appointment, and would probably have retained it much longer had he not been invited to undertake the permanent direction of the Gewandhaus concerts at Leipzig, and thus raised to the highest position attainable in the German musical world. To this new See also:sphere of labour he removed in August 1835, opening the first concert at the Gewandhaus, on the 4th of October, with his overture Die Meeresstille, a work possessing great attractions, though by no means on a level with the Midsummer Night's Dream, The Isles of Fingal, or Melusine. Mendelssohn's reception in Leipzig was most enthusiastic; and under their new director the Gewandhaus concerts prospered exceedingly. Meanwhile-St Paul steadily progressed, and was first produced, with triumphant success, at the Lower Rhine festival at Dusseldorf, on the 22nd of May 1836. On the 3rd of October it was first sung in English, at See also:Liverpool, under the direction of See also:Sir See also:George See also:Smart; and on the 16th of March 1837 Mendelssohn again directed it at Leipzig. The next great event in Mendelssohn's life was his happy marriage, on the 28th of March 1837, to Cecile See also:Charlotte Sophie Jeanrenaud. The See also:honeymoon was scarcely over before he was again summoned to England to conduct St Paul, at the See also:Birmingham festival, on the loth of September. During this visit he played on the organ at St Paul's and at See also:Christ Church, Newgate See also:Street, with an effect which exercised a lasting influence upon English organists. It was here also that he first contemplated the production of his second oratorio, See also:Elijah. Passing over the composition of the Lobgesang in 184o, a See also:sixth visit to England in the same year, and his inauguration of a scheme for the erection of a See also:monument to Sebastian Bach, we find Mendelssohn in 1841 recalled to Berlin by the king of Prussia, with the See also:title of Kapellmeister. Though his appointment resulted in the production of See also:Antigone, See also:Oedipus Coloneus, Athalie, the incidental music to the Midsummer Night's Dream, and other great works, it proved an endless source of vexation, and certainly helped to shorten the composer's life. In 1842 he came to England for the seventh time, accompanied by his wife, conducted his Scotch symphony at the Philharmonic, again played the organ at St See also:Peter's, Cornhill, and Christ Church, Newgate Street, and was received with honour by the See also:queen and the See also:prince See also:consort. He did not, however, permit his new engagements to interfere with the direction of the Gewandhaus concerts; and in 1843 he founded in Leipzig the great conservatoire which soon became the best musical See also:college in Europe, opening it on the 3rd of April in the buildings of the Gewandhaus. In 1844 he conducted six of the Phil-harmonic concerts in London, producing his new Midsummer Night's Dream music, and playing Beethoven's pianoforte concerto in G with extraordinary effect. He returned to his duties at Berlin in September, but succeeded in persuading the king to free him from his most onerous engagements. After a brief residence in Franfort, Mendelssohn returned to Leipzig in September 1845, resuming his old duties at the Gewandhaus, and teaching regularly in the conservatoire. Here he remained, with little interruption, during the winter—introducing his friend Jenny See also:Lind, then at the height of her popularity, to the See also:critical frequenters of the Gewandhaus, and steadily working at Elijah, the first performance of wails he conducted at the Birmingham festival, on the 26th of August 1846. The reception of this great work was enthusiastic. Unhappily, the excitement attendant upon its production, added to the irritating effect of the worries at Berlin, made a serious inroad upon the composer's See also:health. On his return to Leipzig he worked on as usual, but it was clear that his health was seriously impaired. In 1847 he visited England for the tenth and last time, to conduct four performances of Elijah at See also:Exeter See also: He lingered for four weeks, and on the 4th of November he passed away, in the presence of his wife, his brother, and his three friends, Moscheles, Schleinitz, and See also: As a man of the world he was more than ordinarily accomplished—brilliant in conversation, and in his lighter moments overflowing with sparkling humour and ready pleasantry, loyal and unselfish in the more serious business of life, and never weary of working for the general good. As a friend he was unvaryingly kind, sympathetic and true. His earnestness as a Christian needs no stronger testimony than that afforded by his own delineation of the character of St Paul; but it is not too much to say that his See also:heart and life were pure as those of a little See also:child. (W. S. R.) This See also:article has the unique value of being the See also:record of an eminent musical See also:scholar who was an actual pupil of Mendelssohn. No change of reputation can alter the value of such a record of a man whom even his contemporaries knew to be greater than his works. Mendelssohn's aristocratic horror of self-See also:advertisement unfitted him for triumph in a period of revolution; he died, most inopportunely, when his own See also:powers, like See also:Handel's at the same age, were being wasted on pseudo-classical forms; the new art was not yet ripe; and in the early See also:Wagner-Liszt reign of terror his was the first reputation to be assassinated. That of the too modest and See also:gentle " Romantic " See also:pioneer See also:Schumann soon followed; but, as being more difficult to explain away, and more embarrassing to irreverence and conceit, it remains a subject of controversy. Meanwhile Mendelssohn's reputation, except as the composer of a few inexplicably beautiful and original orchestral pieces, has vanished and been replaced by a pure fiction known as the " Mendelssohn tradition " of orchestral conducting. This fiction is traceable to some characteristic remarks made by Wagner on his experiences of English orchestral playing, remarks which, though not very good-natured, do not See also:bear the full construction popularly imputed to them. If Beethoven had come and conducted in England, Mendelssohn's expostulations with careless players would have been met by references to the " Beethoven tradition "; and, if Wagner had shared Mendelssohn's reluctance to. putting on record remarks likely to See also:wound individual, professional and national sensibilities, it might not have been impossible that reproaches against slipshod and mechanical playing might nowadays be met by references to the " Wagner tradition, for Wagner also found himself compelled to concentrate his care on the See also:main items in the overloaded English orchestral programmes, to the detriment of the rest. Mendelssohn's influence on the early career of See also:Joachim is, next to his work in the rediscovery of Bach, his greatest See also:bequest to later musical history. Those many profound and sincere admirers to Joachim to whom the name of Mendelssohn calls up only the Widow in Elijah and the weaker Songs without Words, may find the idea See also:strange; but there is no doubt that. Joachim regarded the continuation of a true Mendelssohn tradition as identical with his own efforts to " uphold the dignity of art." (D. F. T.) MENDgS, CATULLE (1841-1909), French poet and man of letters, of Jewish extraction, was born at See also:Bordeaux on the 22nd of May 1841. He early established himself in Paris, attaining speedy notoriety by the publication in the Revue fantaisiste (1861) of his " Roman d'une nuit," for which he was condemned to a month's imprisonment and a fine of 500 francs. He was allied with the Parnassians from the beginning of the See also:movement, and displayed extraordinary metrical skill in his first See also:volume of poems, Philomela (1863). In later volumes—Poesies, le" serie (1876), which includes much of his earlier See also:verse, " Soirs moroses," Conies epiques, Philomela, &c; Poesies (7 vols., 1885), a new edition largely augmented; Les Poesies de Catutle Mendes (3 vols., 1892); La Grive des vignes (1895), &c.—his critics have noted that the elegant verse is distinguished rather by dexterous See also:imitation of different writers than by any marked originality. The versatility and fecundity of Mendes's talent is shown in a series of his critical and dramatic writings, and of novels and short stories, in the latter of which he continues the French tradition of the licentious conk. For the theatre he wrote: La Part du roi (1872), a one-act verse See also:comedy; Les Freres d'armes (1873), drama; See also:Justice (1877), in three acts, characterized by a hostile critic as a hymn in praise of See also:suicide; the libretto of a light opera, Le Capitaine Fracasse (1878), founded on See also:Theophile See also:Gautier's novel; La Femme de See also:Tabarin (1887); Medee (1898), in three acts and in verse; La Reine Fiammette (1898), a conk dramatique in six acts and in verse, the See also:scene of which is laid in the Italy of the Renaissance; Le Fils de l' Nolte (1904), the hero of which is See also:Bar-Cochebas; the Syrian pseudo-See also:Messiah, for the music of C. Erlanger; See also:Scarron (1905); Ariane (1906), for the music of See also:Massenet; and See also:Glatigny (1906). His critical work includes: See also:Richard Wagner (1886); L'Art au theatre (3 vols:, 1896-1900), a series of dramatic criticisms reprinted from See also:newspapers; and a See also:report addressed to the See also:minister of public instruction and of the fine arts on Le Mouvement poetique fran&ais de 186y d 1900 (new ed., 1903), which includes a See also:bibliographical and critical dictionary of the French poets of the 19th century. Perhaps the most famous of his novels are: Le Roi See also:vierge (1880) in which he introduces See also: Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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