APHORISMS AND REFLECTIONS 139 



be represented as modifications of that type ; he 

 does, in fact, instinctively, what an architect, who 

 desires to demonstrate the community of plan in 

 certain ancient temples, does by the methodical 

 construction of plans, sections, and elevations, the 

 comparison of which will furnish him with the 

 " type " of such temples. 



Thus, what I may term the artistic fashion of 

 dealing with anatomy is not only perfectly legitimate, 

 but has been of great utility. The harm of it does 

 not begin until the attempt is made to get more out 

 of this visual projection of thought than it contains ; 

 until the origin of the action of "type" is forgotten 

 and the speculative philosopher deludes himself with 

 the supposition that the generalization suggested by 

 fact is an " Idea " of the Pure Reason, with which 

 fact must, somehow or other, be made to agree. 



CCLXXXVIII 



Flowers are the primers of the morphologist ; those 

 who run may read in them uniformity of type amidst 

 endless diversity, singleness of plan with complex 

 multiplicity of detail. As a musician might say, 

 every natural group of flowering plants is a sort 

 of visible fugue, wandering about a central theme 

 which is never forsaken, however it may, momen- 

 tarily, cease to be apparent. 



Like all the really great men of literature, Goethe 

 added some of the qualities of the man of science to 

 those of the artist, especially the habit of careful 



