832 GOETHE ON THE METAMORPHOSIS OF PLANTS. 
the light and air that they are indebted for their increased perfection in 
form, and for the delicacy of their tissue. "The cotyledons which ‘are 
produced beneath the covering of the seed, are charged as it were with 
nothing but a crude kind of sap, are scarcely at all, or but rudely or- 
ganized and undefined; in the same way the leaves of plants which 
grow under water are more rudely organized than others which are ex- 
posed to the air; nay, even the same kind of plant will develope 
"smoother and more imperfectly formed leaves when growing iu low, 
damp situations, than it will if transplanted to a higher region, where, 
on the contrary, the leaves will be rough, hairy, and more delicately 
nished. H 
~ 85. So also the anastomosis of the vessels which arise from the 
ribs, and continually tend to inosculate at their extremities (by which 
also the cuticle (Blatthdutchen) of the leaf is formed), is, if not en- 
tirely produced by subtile gases, at least greatly accelerated by them.* 
The reason why the leaves of many plants which grow under water 
are capillaceous, is owing to an imperfect anastomosis. This is clearly 
shown in Ranunculus aquatilis, where the aquatic leaves consist of 
capillaceous veins, whilst in the aerial leaves the anastomosis is com- 
plete, and a connected surface is formed. "P 
. 26. Experiments have shown that leaves absorb different kinds of 
gases, and combine them with their sap; these juices are returned in a 
more refined state into the stem, and thereby eminently promote the 
formation of the adjacent buds. Gases disengaged from the leaves e 
hollow stems of different plants have been analysed, and afford the 
most convincing evidence of this. $ 
27. We observe in many plants that one node arises from another. 
In the jointed stems of the cereals, grasses and reeds, this is obvious ; 
but it is not so obvious in plants whose centre is either hollow th 
aud in the 
rough 
f lace-work ; 
produced by m 
e mos 
