124 



THIRD BOOK. 

 MORPHOLOGY, 



65. MORPHOLOGY is the study of the forms of plants, and of their 

 several parts. It is divisible into a general branch, which elucidates 

 all that has reference to plants and their organs in general; and a 

 special branch, which treats of plants according to their principal 

 groups, as well as their individual organs : and this latter branch, 

 again, is separable into two parallel sections, namely, the delineation 

 of external form, and the delineation of internal structure, or of 

 the peculiar composition of plants and their parts from various 

 tissues. 



In my methodological introduction I have endeavoured to show that 

 the external morphology of plants is really the most important sec- 

 tion of Botany. A mere glance at the history of the science will con- 

 vince any one of the truth of this view, for it is truly wonderful to observe 

 how far it has succeeded, to the almost entire neglect of all other 

 scientific knowledge, in taking possession of the material by merely 

 examining its exterior, and arranging it in such a manner that the 

 systems which, in recent times, have taken another path I allude to the 

 anatomico-physiological have scarcely effected more than the introduc- 

 tion of extremely trifling changes, in some instances clearly untenable, 

 and others at best of very doubtful validity. The morphological method 

 of observation has certainly, from the origin of the science, been the 

 basis of all treatises on Botany ; but those who have thus pursued it have 

 been far from taking a strictly scientific view of the question, or seeking 

 in this way for the solution of its difficulties. This task is two-fold, at 

 once empirical and theoretical. In its first character, the study requires 

 us to examine into and characterise the fundamental forms which, us 

 types, or conceptions of generic and specific shapes, constitute the basis 

 of individual forms. In its second character, this study has to unfold 

 the natural laws according to which these types are formed, and which 

 control and explain the deviations that occur in individual forms from 

 their prototypes. For the first, or empirical part of our researches, we 

 may congratulate ourselves on having some little information, although of 

 a very fragmentary nature ; but in the second, or theoretical department, 

 we have scarcely even an indication to guide us. That the solution of the 

 difficulties must be sought by beginning from the simplest case is evident, 

 and here Schwann has certainly shown eminent acuteness in establishing 

 the analogy between the formation of crystals and that of cells ; but 

 unfortunately we have not yet brought the law of crystalline formation 

 into the dominion of science. Thus at the present time we can do no 

 more than specify the problem presented to Botany, the solution of which 



