In Pursuit of the Gene

18 ¨ VIVA PANGENESIS
that posed the threat. “Well, my labor has not been in vain,” Galton concludes
on an upbeat note, “it is something to have established the fact that
there are no hyenas in the plain, and I think I see my way to a good position
for a look out for leopards among the branches of the trees. In the
meantime, Viva Pangenesis,” wrote Galton, acknowledging for the first
time that it was the death of pangenesis as Darwin had conceived it that
was at stake.
Although pangenesis had escaped the fatal blow, it had been badly
wounded. It soon received another damaging blow from Dr. Lionel Beale, a
well-respected scientist, doctor, and inventor. In another letter to the editor
of Nature, Beale praised Galton’s “numerous,” “well-devised,” “difficult,”
“laborious,” and “honest” tests of Darwin’s hypothesis. “If such a wellthought
out and well-executed series of experiments had no effect,” Beale
wrote, “I do not believe it possible to obtain a series of experimental results
which would lead the supporters of Pangenesis to abandon the hypothesis,”
he wrote. Pangenesis was, in Beale’s estimation, based “upon the fictions of
the fancy.” 54
Ever mindful of Darwin and manipulating events to his advantage,
Galton hastened to disassociate himself from the critical letter and commiserated
with Darwin over the rough handling he’d had, assuring him that
he did not “in any way share the animus of the letter.” 55 Thecontentof
Beale’s letter, with which Galton was in perfect accord, was not mentioned.
But Galton showed a new self-assurance, deliberately dispelling any hope
that he might be won back to the cause. “My new experiments are not
hopeful—alas!” he wrote in a postscript. “I hope Pangenesis will get well
discussed now.”
It is a testament to Darwin’s forgiving and genial character and Galton’s
deep attachment to him that their conflict over pangenesis did not
cause a permanent rupture in their personal relationship. In fact, both men
continued on as if nothing much had happened. Despite the fact that they
now both agreed that the gemmules weren’t likely in the blood, and that
perhaps they ought not to have been looking for them there in the first
place, the blood transfusion experiments continued. It wasn’t Galton’s style
to force a confrontation. Instead, he gradually and quietly withdrew. He