CONSIDERATIONS 



PHENOMENON 



REJUVENESCENCE IN NATURE, 



ESPECIALLY IN 



THE LIFE AND DEVELOPMENT OF PLANTS. 



SCIENTIFIC investigation of the laws of Organic Nature 

 advances, in our times, in two distinct directions, one of 

 which may be called the physiological, the other the 

 morphological. Each, followed in a one-sided manner, 

 has led to multiplied contradiction in theory, which 

 can only be solved by a more profound biological method 

 of contemplation. Both directions hasten towards a pro- 

 founder comprehension of this kind ; the former in a 

 negative manner, since, considering vital phenomena only 

 in their external physical conditions, it is led, at the 

 conclusion of every investigation, to a ground of the 

 phenomenon inexplicable on this side ; the latter in the 

 positive way, since, regarding the forms, in connexion 

 with the history of development, as becoming, changing 

 and passing away, it must recognise a specific and indi- 

 vidual vital unity, running through all the changes of 

 form, unless the temporary products of development are 

 to dissolve away into inessential appearance, and to lose 

 all internal connexion. The investigation of development, 

 in the smallest as in the largest circle, is, therefore, the 

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