89 



Here " diese Krafb der Natur " should have the same meanmg as I have 

 indicated alx)ve. Also in § 38, Goethe treats of the nnity of a sepal and 

 otlier organs. The section runs as foUows : — 



§ 38. Die Natar bildet also im Kdch kein neues Oignn, sondem sie verbindet 

 Tind modificirt niir die Tins schon bekannt gewordenen Organe, xmd bereitet sich 

 dadurch eine Stiife nilher ziim Ziel. 



It explains that the calyx is not at all a new thing ; it is only a modification 



of what we had abeady been considering. In other words, it is a diflferent 



combination of the genes which we had seen before. It means, in the end, 



that the tliings which exist existed originally ; there is no such thing a^ the 



creation of au absolutely new thing. 



In §§41, 42, 4.3 and 44, he says that a patal is also the same as a 



foliage leaf and that there are transitional forms between the one aud the 



other. He states also that a foUage leaf passes over into a p^tal, without 



passing through the calyx stage. According to my opinion, this does not 



mean that a leaf changes into a petal, but it explaing that there exists 



a tmnsition between the patal and the leaf, just as there is unity in the 



two. In §§46 and 47, he goes on to discuss ths unity of a petal and a 



stamen and speaks of the transitional forms between the two. In § 47, he 



says : — 



^ 47. Die Natur zeigt uns in einigen Fallen diesen Ubergang (der Kronenbljttter 

 und Staubblsttter) regelmassig, z. B. bei der Canna, und mehreren Pflanzen dieser 

 Familie. Ein wahres, wenig verandertes Kronenblatt zieht sich am obern Kande zusam- 

 men, imd es zeigt sich ein Staubbeutel, bei welchem das iibrige Blatt die Stelle des 

 Staubfadens vertritt. 



As to the stameus of the Gama, it is stated, according to the cuirent opinion*, 

 that the greater number of the organs which ai-e to be originally stamens 

 turns into pataloidal ones (staminodes) of an ornamental character, but only 

 one of them retains imperfectly (one haK) its original shape. In this, I do 

 not concur. According to my idea, it should not be said in this case that 

 organs which are originally destined to Ije stamens tum into pataloidal organs 

 (i.e. staminodes) ; but it would be con*ecfc to regard the real entities (of the 

 oi^ans), which are to turn into any form wliatever according to the causal 



* EiCHi,EB, A. W. — Bluthendiagramme (Leipzig, 1875) p. 174. 



ScHUMANN, K. — Praktikum fiir moriihologische \md systematische Botanik. (1904) pp. 

 545-6iC. 



