VI 



THEORIES OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION 

 GOETHE AND THE METAMORPHOSIS OF PARTS 



WHEN Coleridge said of Humphry Davy that he 

 might have been the greatest poet of his time 

 had he not chosen rather to be the greatest chemist, it 

 is possible that the enthusiasm of the friend outweighed 

 the caution of the critic. But however that may be, 

 it is beyond dispute that the man who actually was the 

 greatest poet of that time might easily have taken the 

 very highest rank as a scientist had not the muse dis- 

 tracted his attention. Indeed, despite these distrac- 

 tions, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe achieved successes 

 in the field of pure science that would insure perma- 

 nent recognition for his name had he never written a 

 stanza of poetry. Such is the versatility that marks 

 the highest genius. 



It was in 1790 that Goethe published the work that 

 laid the foundations of his scientific reputation the 

 work on the Metamorphoses of Plants, in which he ad- 

 vanced the novel doctrine that all parts of the flower 

 are modified or metamorphosed leaves. 



41 Every one who observes the growth of plants, even 

 superficially," wrote Goethe, "will notice that certain 

 external parts of them become transformed at times 

 and go over into the forms of the contiguous parts, 



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