EVIDENCE FURNISHED BY SCIENCE OF LIKENESSES. 133 



stalked organ, as we have seen, and bears in its head or "anther," the 

 yellow pollen. This head seems to represent the folded blade of the 

 staminal leaf, but have we any proof that our conjecture is probable 

 or correct ? Let the facts of botany reply. Here is a Petunia, for 

 instance, in which the stamens are replaced by stalked leaves ; and 

 here a leaf (Fig. 58) degrading to become a mere scale. There 

 a white Water Lily (Fig. 57, B) and a Double-rose 

 (Fig. 57, A), in both of which cases we may observe 

 the transition stage whereby the stamen (4, 6) be- 

 comes a petal ; whilst the petal in the rose may 

 become in its turn a sepal (Fig. 57, A, i). So, too, 

 in the common tulip, the three parts of the pistil and 

 the six stamens may all be transformed into petals. 

 Nor does the central organ of all, the seed-produc- 

 ing pistil, escape these metamorphic changes. The 

 double-flowering Cherry (Fig. 59) shows its carpel in 

 the shape of a green leaf (b}. The willow flowers 

 show us gradations from the leaf-like carpel to the 

 altered stamen, and thence to the ordinary leaf; 

 and we may, lastly, find in some plants, as in the FlG - 59- DOUBLE- 



" . " c T\ i. /~i j.u j FLOWERING CHERRY. 



monstrous specimens of Dutch Clover, that every 

 part of the flower becomes a leaf. Goethe's own words regarding 

 the pistil succinctly express the true state of matters regarding its 

 abnormal history : " If we keep in view the observations which have 

 now been made, we shall not fail to recognise the leaf in all seed- 

 vessels, notwithstanding their manifold forms, their variable structure, 

 and different combinations." Thus Goethe's generalisation finds its 

 best proof in the facts of vegetable monstrosities. And the science 

 of likenesses, tracing nature in her bypaths of development, discovers 

 that, whatever may be said of the first beginnings of plant life on the 

 globe, the later development which has given us the flowering plants 

 has apparently been directed wholly, or in greater part, towards the 

 elaboration of the leaf. To the evolution of the leaf, as the science 

 of likeness proves, we owe the wondrous beauty of the flowers, 

 which, like the stars of the poet, brighten earth's otherwise dull 

 firmament. 



It is both interesting and important to note that some botanists 

 hold the view that the original organs of the flower consisted simply 

 of stamens and pistil, these organs being alone necessary for the 

 production of seeds. The petals are to be viewed as " flags," serving 

 to attract insects for fertilisation, as will hereafter be explained. The 

 petals are thus regarded as modified stamens, and yellow is consi- 

 dered to be the original colour of flowers. Unquestionably, the 

 most simple and least modified flowers are yellow, and we know that 

 stamens are extremely apt to develop into petals, or, at least, into 



