Sir, - The best part of William Reville's Science Today column of September 22nd is its title, "The humble garden pea held secrets of genetics". The Mendel story is, of course, one of the more intriguing in the history of scientific breakthroughs. The version given in my old undergraduate college biology text is comprehensible and stimulating. Unfortunately, however, Dr Reville managed to make it difficult and tedious.
On a minor note, I note Dr Reville states that Mendel was born "in Moravia (now part of Czechoslovakia)". Presumably he meant to write part of former Czechoslovakia. Better still, he might have told us which part - the Czech Republic or Slovakia. According to the COD (ninth edition 1995), Moravia is part of the Czech Republic. - Yours, etc., Myles Crowe,
Tobernea Terrace,
Seapoint,
Co Dublin.