GOETHE ON THE METAMORPHOSIS OF PLANTS. 329 
gladly avail myself of any suggestions from those of my contemporaries 
rho are skilled in this noble science, to whom I present and dedicate 
_ these pages. 
I. Of the Seed-leaves. 
10. Having undertaken to observe the successive steps in the growth 
. ofa plant, let us first direct our attention to it when it begins to germi- 
nate. We can, at this stage, easily and exactly distinguish its compo- 
nent parts. Its coverings (which we will not now stay to examine) re- 
. main more or less concealed in the soil, and (in many instances) the 
. root is established before the plant exhibits those first organs of its up- 
—. ward growth, which were previously hidden in the seed. 
ll. These organs are called cotyledons, and also seed-lobes, seed- 
leaves, etc., from their different forms. 
2. They are often unshapely, charged as it were with a crude sub- 
stance, and very thick in proportion to their breadth ; their vessels are 
not recognizable, being scarcely distinguishable from the general mass ; 
they have, moreover, very little resemblance to leaves, and we are in 
danger of being led to regard them erroneously as distinct organs. 
13. Yet in many plants they nearly approach the form of a leaf; they 
become flatter, and, on being exposed to light and air, they assume à 
deeper green ; the vessels become recognizable and more like the veins 
A4. At length they assume the appearance of true leaves, the vessels 
are perfectly developed, and their similarity to the leaves, subsequently 
produced, show that they are not distinct organs, but simply the first 
leaves of the stem.t 
15. Now, as we cannot realize the idea of aleaf apart from the node 
out of which it springs, nor of a node without a bud, we may venture 
to infer that the point at which the cotyledons are attached, is the first 
true node of the plant. This view is confirmed by those plants, which 
mre TEM 
* Th i i rally in inverse relation 
50 ledons are very generally 1 
nsistence and size of the coty M. nam same the ne 
stomata, etc., like other 
leaves, and as they a i ir, form the same funetions as 
S re exposed to light and air, they perforr 
leaves de ; ‘while Abe thick fleshy cotyledons remain below the surface of 
S the soil, and seem to serve the purpose of storehouses, whence the young plant may 
ds à «rive nutriment, i 
i F Poliaceous cotyledons may be well seen in the seeds of the Lime, Sycamore, 
p T A Ricinus, ete. $ : } ; 
