In Pursuit of the Gene

88 ¨ MENDEL
younger Mendel having proved himself at the preparatory school, the following
year Rosine and Johann prevailed over the objections of Anton,
who hoped his son would take over the family farm, and the 12-year-old
Mendel was permitted to enroll at the Troppau Gymnasium.
For his first four years at Gymnasium, Mendel’s parents paid his board
and half rations, but in his fifth year at school his father suffered a bad
farming accident that significantly diminished his earning capacity and, at
the age of 16 with two years of Gymnasium left to complete, Mendel was
forced to earn his own way. 2 Supporting himself on the meager income he
earned from private tutoring proved to be difficult going. He had to return
home in late May 1839 after suffering a nervous collapse, but he returned
again to Troppau in September, finally graduating from Gymnasium in August
1840. 3
When Mendel returned home, his father, who was now in poor health,
renewed the pressure on his only son to take over the family farm, but
Mendel steadfastly declined. Instead, he moved to Olmütz, which was the
nearest place where he could complete the two years of post-Gymnasium
coursework required to enter university. Without friends or references in
the mostly Czech-speaking city, Mendel was unable to find tutoring work,
and once again he suffered a nervous breakdown. “Distress at the prostration
of his hopes,” he wrote in a third-person autobiographical statement,
“and the gloomy outlook upon the future, had so marked an effect upon
him that he fell sick.” This time he ended up spending a year at home. 4
In August 1841, Mendel’s mother and now-infirm father sold the family
farm to Mendel’s older sister and her husband. In the sales agreement it
was stipulated that Mendel would be provided with a small annual income
to support his studies, but the sum was not nearly enough to cover the expenses
of his education, and once again Mendel despaired of ever realizing
his hopes. But his younger sister, who had always been sympathetic to his
plight, came to his rescue, turning over a portion of her dowry to support
him, an act of generosity he would never forget. 5
With the help of his sister’s money, he returned to Olmütz in 1841 and
over the next two years completed the training in the natural sciences that
was required for admission to university. 6 But the years of struggle had