77 



as to the principle of natural classification for wliich I could find no support 

 in DARWIN, HAECKEL, EXGLER, H.ALLIER or others. In the following pages, it 

 is my desire to explain GOETHE'S "Metamorphose der Pflauzen," and to refer 

 to tlie principle of natural classification found, as I believe, in his work. To 

 understand his " Metamorphosenlehre " we must have a just and adequate idea 

 of his Matt which is as it were the hero of his work. The interpretation 

 of this Blatt is the principal subject of this paper. 



The " Metamorphose der Pflanzen," that celebrated work of the great poet, 

 when looked at from the point of view of modern scientific knowledge, certainly 

 contains many mistakes in minute details ; but the principal idea in it, viz., 

 that, although there are many kinds of vegetable organs, they are after all 

 modifications of one and the same organ - Elait wliich becomes, according to 

 different circumstances, a foliage leaf, or a sepal, or something else, i.e. "die 

 GoETHEsche Lelire von der Eiuheit aller Pflanzeugestaltung " is generally 

 considered to be on the whole a quasi-indisputable theory. Now, what is 

 that one and the same organ - Blo.it proposed by GOETHE ? To this question, 

 many authors have given varying answers. GREEN* says in his History of 

 Botany that " his (GcETHE's) idea were not put before his readers very clearly, 

 and left them sometimes uncertain whether he considered all leaves modifications 

 of some ideal or theoretical form, or whether he held that a structure com- 

 mencing its development in some particular direction might be actually diverted 

 into another, and become something quite different from what it would have 

 become, had its development not been interfered with." This is an interesting 

 problem, the solution of wliich will on the one hand lead us to see directly the 

 mutual relations of vegetable organs, and on the other will make us understand 

 indirectly the relationship between the species themselves. It is, therefore, not only 

 a question of morphology, but also an important problem of systematic botany. 



As far as my investigation into GOETHE'S studies extends, his methods are 

 generally not inductive, but often deductive, as can lie seen by the following 

 quotation**"". 



GREEN, J. R A History of Botany (1860-1900) 1909, p. 66. 

 ** COHN, F. Die Pflanzen (1896) p. 111. 

 *** BIELSCHOWSKY, A. Goethe, sein Leben imcl seine "Werke, II. p. 89. 



