METAMORPHOSIS IN PLANTS. 1 



WHEN I was invited to take part in these College 

 lectures, it was suggested to me that I might 

 advantageously take for my subject the Doctrine of Meta- 

 morphosis as illustrated by plants. 2 I have gladly adopted 

 this suggestion, not only because I hope to interest you by 

 a discussion of the methods and concepts of morphological 

 Botany, but also because there is a certain appropriateness 

 in addressing such an audience as this upon a subject to 

 the development of which at least two distinguished philo- 

 sophers and men of letters have largely contributed. 



The questions which naturally arise at the outset are, 

 What is the Doctrine of Metamorphosis? and To whom are 

 we indebted for it ? I think that I may well begin my 

 answer to the first question by giving you a very brief 

 sketch of the general morphology of a plant. You know 

 from your own observation, and you may see by means of 

 the diagrams and specimens now before you, that the body 

 of the more familiar higher plants consists, speaking gener- 

 ally, of certain distinct and easily recognised parts, root, 

 stem, leaves, flowers. The stem, or its branches, bears the 

 leaves and the flowers ; the root bears neither. Confining 

 our attention to the flowerless or vegetative region of the 



1 This lecture was delivered to members of Magdalen College, 

 Oxford, on 30th October, 1897. 



2 The following are some of the more important general works dealing 

 with this subject, of which use has been made in preparing this lecture : — 



Wigand, Kritik und Geschichte der Lehre von der Metamorphose der 

 Pftanze, Leipzig, 1846. 



Whewell, History of the Inductive Sciences, iii., 1857 (3rd ed.). 



Herbert Spencer, The Principles of Biology, 1864-67. 



Kirchhoff, Die Idee der Pflanzen- Metamorphose bei Wolff und bei 

 Goethe, Berlin, 1867. 



Lewes, Life of Goethe (3rd ed.), 1875. 



Sachs, Geschichte der Botanik, 1S75 (Engl. ed. 1890). 



Goebel, " Vergleichende Entwickelungsgeschichte der Pflanzenorgane/'" 

 in Schenk's Handbuch der Botanik, iii., 1883. 



