130 



SCIENCE 



[YoL. VI., No. 132. 



hands of the principal librarian of the British 

 museum to the newl}' appointed superintendent, 

 who is styled director. The names of the 

 keepers of the several sections are so well 

 known as scarcely- to need repetition. The 

 staff, as now constituted, is as follows : — 



Prof. W. H. Flower, director ; Dr. Albert 

 Giinther, keeper of zoolog}^ ; Arthur Gl. But- 

 ler, Esq., assistant keeper of zoology ; Dr. H. 

 Woodward, keeper of geology ; R. Etheridge, 

 Esq. , assistant keeper of geology ; L. Fletcher, 

 Esq., keeper of mineralogy; W. Carruthers, 

 keeper of botan3\ Frederick W. True. 



VEGETABLE MORPHOLOGY A CENTURY 

 AGO. — Goethe. 



In a previous article we have seen the con- 

 clusions reached in matters morphological by 

 Linne and his contemporaries. Thirty years 

 from the time of Wolff and Linne had passed 

 away, when the appearance of Goethe's treat- 

 ise on metamorphosis gave to the world once 

 for all the true solution of Nature's problem, 

 and, as becomes more and more apparent, de- 

 termined for the nineteenth century the trend 

 of its scientific thought. Goethe approached 

 and stated the whole question anew ; worked 

 it out in his own persistent wa}^ ; set forth with 

 clearness the truths dimly hinted by Liune, b}' 

 Wolff vainl}^ declared ; and by the splendor of 

 his genius, and his attainments in matters 

 purel}'^ literary, compelled the recognition of 

 the world. 



Goethe's discover}- was a wonder to men of 

 his day, is a wonder still. It is thought that 

 the truth came to him by strange intuition, b}" 

 special inspiration of some mysterious sort. 

 His mind so surpassed that of ordinary- men of 

 talent that to his clear vision nought but truth 

 appeared; as to a Newton, the propositions 

 of simple geometry came without necessity of 

 proof. But such was by no means Goethe's 

 experience. Surel}' his imaginative genius 

 suggested the idea involved ; but the exposition 

 of his theor}^ came after months of laborious 

 investigation, and observations repeated again 

 and again. Furthermore, while the result 

 proves that he made a most ' scientific use ' of 

 his imagination, it is also apparent that the 

 poetic use of that faculty is never quite absent 

 from his work. If his testing by observation 

 the suggestions of his imagination is scientific, 

 his fondness for generalization, his instinctive 

 conviction of the unit}^ of natural forms, and 

 man}- of the details of his theor}-, are poetic 

 in the extreme. 



Goethe wrote of metamorphosis. The term 

 ' morphology ' does not appear in his writings 

 until 1807. He uses the former word, how- 

 ever, to denote, not the actual conversion of 

 any one organ into any other, but simplj' the 

 correspondence of all organs discussed to one 

 and the same ideal type. 



In setting forth his theory, Goethe begins 

 with the cotyledons, and shows them to be 

 leaves after their fashion, differing in form 

 from the ordinary leaf of the plant as the}^ 

 differ in function. He also notices that the 

 first true leaves put forth are likewise not per- 

 fect, but are usuall}^ much narrower and sim- 

 pler every wa_y than those that follow. Goethe 

 believes that the varying form of the leaf is 

 due to variable nourishment. He regards the 

 sap which nourishes these early leaves as very 

 crude and poor indeed. He observes that the 

 successive nodes of the stem receive each its 

 sap through the medium of those below, and 

 so each receives and furnishes to leaf and bud 

 purer and more refined juices. Further, while 

 the more imperfect fluids are constantly dis- 

 carded, the purer are as continuall}' assimilated 

 and used, until Nature reaches her prescribed 

 limits of growth : the leaves attain their great- 

 est extent and perfection in development, and 

 all is prepared for a new phenomenon. 



Linne had shown that abundant bloom comes 

 from scant nourishment. Goethe reasserts 

 this, and argues, that, so long as raw material 

 is to be disposed of, so long must all possible 

 organs of the plant be converted into tools 

 for the purpose. If too much nourishment is 

 provided, the condition of blooming becomes 

 impossible. Withdraw the nutrition, the or- 

 gans of the node become more refined ; the 

 elaboration of juices unadulterated, purer and 

 more refined takes place ; the metamorphosis 

 of the parts becomes possible, and forthwith 

 ensues. When, in the light of present knowl- 

 edge, we reflect upon the cost at which an}^ 

 plant puts forth its bloom, these centur^^-old 

 surmises of the poet seem to acquire new 

 meaning and most peculiar interest. 



In Goethe's time the involucre of a compos- 

 ite flower was still regarded as calyx, and 

 accordingl}^ the gradation from bracts to sepals 

 was easy enough. This mistake does not, 

 however, vitiate the poet's argument on this 

 point ; for he asserts the same transition in 

 other plants, and cites the Compositae simply 

 as affording the most patent illustration. He 

 argues with perfect clearness, that the assem- 

 bling about one point of several leaves, naj^, 

 even of several nodes, is not strange, as the 

 same thing may be met in ever}' plumule. The 



