370 



GOETHE S VIEWS. 



[BOOK i. 



within which every form must absolutely, and without excep- 

 tion, fall. This inquiry would, perhaps, be less important, 

 if the structure of the pistil were regular and uniform ; but 

 its numberless anomalies render it one of the most difficult 

 but essential subjects for a student to investigate. 



In the days of Linnaeus and Gsertner, and even in those of 

 the celebrated L. C. Richard, nothing whatever was known 

 of this matter, and consequently the writings of those carpo- 

 logists are a tissue of ingenious misconceptions. Nor did 

 the subject become at all intelligible, notwithstanding the 

 writings of Wolff, until the admirable treatise upon Vege- 

 table Metamorphosis, which had been published by Goethe 

 in 1790, but which had long been neglected, was again 

 brought into notice, and illustrated by the skilful demon- 

 strations of De Candolle, Turpin, Du Petit Thouars, and 

 others. 



122 



According to these writers, the pistil is either the modifi- 

 cation of a single leaf (fig. 122.), or of one or more whorls of 

 such leaves (fig. 121.), which are technically called carpels. 

 Each carpel has its own ovary, style, and stigma, and is 

 formed by a folded leaf, the upper surface of which is turned 

 inwards, the lower outwards, and the two margins of which 

 develope one or a greater number of buds, which are in a 

 rudimentary state, and are called the ovules. 



A clear idea of the manner in which this occurs may be 

 obtained from the carpel of a double cherry, in which the 



