THE METAMORPHOSES OF PLANTS 8i 



leaves to foliagfe-leaves ; Cesalpini has a common name 

 for all (folium). 



At the very time when Linnaeus was occupied with 

 his fanciful analogies, a young" student of medicine 

 named Caspar Friedrich Wolff, who was destined to 

 become a biologist of great note, published a thesis 

 which he called Theoria Generatiojiis (Halle, 1759). 

 This thesis marks an epoch in the history of animal 

 embryology, but what concerns us here is that Wolff 

 examined the growing shoot, and there studied the 

 development of leaf and flower. He found that in early 

 stages foliage-leaves and floral-leaves may be much 

 alike, and thought that he could trace both to a soft or 

 even fluid substance, which is afterwards converted into 

 a mass of cells. It seemed to him possible to resolve 

 the flowering shoot into stem and leaves only. Wolff's 

 thesis, or at least that part of it which dealt with the 

 plant, was little read and soon forgotten ; his studies 

 of the development of animals were carried further and 

 became famous. 



Goethe in 1790 revived Wolff's theory of the flower, 

 without suspicion that he had been anticipated. It is 

 only our ignorance, he said, when the fact came to his 

 knowledge, that ever deludes us into believing that we 

 have put forth an original view. As soon as he realised 

 the true state of the case, he spared no pains to do 

 Wolff full justice. 



The aim of Goethe's Metamorphoses of Plants was to 

 determine the Idea or theoretical conception of the plant, 

 and also to trace the modifications which the Idea 

 undergoes in nature. These two inquiries constituted 

 what he called the Morphology of the plant, a useful, 

 nay, indispensable term, which is still in daily use. He 

 thought that he could discover in the endless variety of 



