Was gene splicing ever documented before the 18th century?

Question

Are there any anceint accounts of gene splicing?

Answer 1

As far as I am aware, the concept of genes did not arise until Mendel did his breeding experiments in the mid-1800s, and his work did not become well known until after 1900.
The existence of introns and exons - the basis for RNA splicing - wasn't discovered until the 1970s, by Phil Sharp I believe.
Genetic engineering, as in the splicing of pieces of genes in vitro, wasn't done until at least the late 1960s, and possibly not until the 1970s.

I can't imagine anyone would have truly conceived of 'gene splicing' until genes had been described and the idea of splicing had developed its modern molecular biological meanings.

Answer 2

Nope. They didnt even know what genes where.