Genetic Prehistory in Selective Breeding: A Prelude to Mendel

by Roger J. Wood, Vïtezslav Orel

Overview

Long before Mendel's ground-breaking discoveries about heredity, sheep breeders in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were transforming the appearance and qualities of their livestock by combining various traits of body and wool into new patterns. Exploiting what were then novel procedures - individual trait selection, close inbreeding and progeny testing - they demonstrated inheritance from both sexes and showed how it could be stabilized. This remarkable book examines how sheep breeding contributed to the early knowledge of heredity and how the theory was pursued during the early nineteenth century in Brno, where Mendel would later define the basis of genetics. Drawing from extensive records and scientific and social literature, the authors tell the fascinating story of experimental sheep breeding from a pan-European perspective, stressing its progress through empirical discovery and the spread of Merino sheep into northern Europe and Australia. The book provides detailed coverage of the Brno Sheep Breeder's Society and its role in the development of ideas about heredity, a comprehensive review of Robert Bakewell's sheep breeding achievements, and the impact of this work on Mendel's own education and professional research. This profound and entertaining work is destined to be a classic for historians and students of science as well as practitioners in all areas of scientific study.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198505846
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	09/27/2001
Pages:	342
Product dimensions:	9.21(w) x 6.14(h) x 0.81(d)

About the Author

University of Manchester

Table of Contents

List of illustrationsAcknowledgements1. The elusive law2. The fleeces of SpainOrigin and development of the breedExport of Merino breeding stock beginsThe Merino enters northern Europe3. Sheep breeding sets new standardsBritish sheep breeders react to the changing situationThe matter of heredityLike begets likeThe wider movement of stockGeneration, degeneration and selective breedingCross-breeding as an aid to selectionBreeding larger sheepBreeding for other qualitiesThe question of incest4. The Bakewell systemRobert Bakewell and the management of his farm at DishleyStock improvement strategyThe origin of the Dishley sheepBreeding in-and-inTrait selectionProgeny testingDishley crossesBakewell's view of heredityChanges in breeding practice summarised5. Bakewell becomes a celebrityThe excitement of rising pricesVisitors to DishleyBakewell takes to the roadBakewell's cause and characterBakewell's criticsBankruptcy reveals the extent of Bakewell's supportBakewell and the scientific establishmentBakewell's influence widensBakewell's legacy6. Merinos in Sweden, France and Great BritainSwedenFranceGreat Britain7. Merinos in German speaking countries and AustraliaSaxonyPrussia including Prussian SilesiaAustrian EmpireAustralia8. Ferdinand Geisslern, the Moravian BakewellBreeding methodsGeisslern's reputationTransmission of Bakewell's ideas to Geisslern9. Towards a theory of hereditySheep breeding in Moravia progresses from art towards scienceThe Sheep Breeders' SocietyThe enigma of inbreeding'Genetic laws of nature'The Pomological and Oenological SocietyBreeding as an academic subject10. The sheep breeders' legacy to MendelHeredity as a subject for researchPhysiology and heredityHeredity remains a mystery to animal breedersPrelude to MendelOverviewReferencesIndex

Editorial Reviews

"[A] brand new picture of information about heredity before Mendel, not only for geneticists and breeders of animals or plants but also for philosophers and historians of science. ... Veterinarians can learn a lot from it ..."—Veterinařstvi

"Wood and Orel tell an important story about European sheep breeding. ... This book demonstrates that Alstr"omer, Bakewell, and Geisslern deserve our attention in their own right, and not merely as 'preludes' and 'prehistory.'"—Journal of the History of Biology

"This is a really useful and interesting book, well worth ordering for a college library" — "The Quarterly Review of Biology"

From the Publisher

Before Gregor Mendel (1822-84) ignited what would become the modern field of genetics, centuries of breeding plants, animals, and even human built up a solid, if often guarded, knowledge base and diffused an oral tradition. Wood (U. of Manchester) and Orel (Mendeleanum, Brno) focus on the period 1700-1860, just prior or the publication of Mendel's experiments, to explore the various views of practicing breeders and naturalists and other experts. They point out that theories never wandered more than one or two removes from actual observation. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR