90 



those wlio ha\c been trained in the 

 rigorous diseiplinc of moq^liologv may 

 turn in increasing numbers to the more 

 d\namic aspeets of their subject. Es- 

 pecially let us hope that those younger 

 botanists and zoologists who choose to 

 devote themselves to the problems of 

 organic form may realize that these 

 cannot be set apart as a static compart- 

 ment of biological thought but must 



ANATOMY A>fD MORPHOLOGY 



touch and illuminate the whole. May 

 the\' help to resolve for us this funda- 

 mental paradox: that protoplasm, itself 

 liquid, formless and flowing, inevitably 

 builds those formed and coordinated 

 structures of cell, organ and bodv in 

 which it is housed. If dynamic mor- 

 phology can come to the center of this 

 problem, it will have brought us close 

 to the ultimate secret of life itself. 



QUESTIONS 



1. What phase of botany did Darwin call 3. What relationship exists between the 

 the "very soul" of natural history? form of plants and evolution? 



2. Morphologists have largely contented 

 themselves with the descriptive as- 

 pects. What side of morphology 

 should they seek to develop? 



4. What docs Dr. Sinnott have in mind 

 when he says botanists should pursue 

 the dynamic aspects of their subject? 



Aristotle 



On Plants 



Reprinted with the permission of Har\ard 

 University Press from Minor Works, translated 

 by W. S. Hett. 



Life is found in animals and plants. 

 But in animals it is patent and obvious, 

 whereas in plants it is hidden and not 

 clear. To establish its existence requires 

 considerable research. The question at 

 issue is whether plants have or have 

 not a soul, and a capacity for desire, 



pain, pleasure, and discrimination. 

 Anaxagoras and Empedocles maintain 

 that plants are moved by desire, and 

 they assert emphatically that they feel 

 and experience both pain and pleas- 

 ure, concluding this from the fall of 

 their leaves and from their growth. 



