310 Observations on the Formation of Double Flowers. 



tiplication or the transformation of the various organs which 

 envelope the ovarium, or even of the ovarium itself; but I am 

 not aware that it has been shewn that actual changes of 

 structure are subject to the influence of certain fixed laws, 

 from which it rarely happens that any considerable deviation 

 takes place. It has indeed been stated by Sir James Edward 

 Smith,* that the change of form in the various parts of a flower 

 takes place backwards, but the question has been so cursorily 

 treated in the work referred to, that I am induced to make 

 some additional remarks upon the subject. 



It is well understood that the universal principle upon 

 which perfect vegetables are formed, is by the continual addi- 

 tion of parts one above the other, round a common axis 

 which is produced by their accretion. This law is not con- 

 fined to the production of foliage or branches only, but must 

 be considered to extend to the ultimate point of vegetable 

 developement in the ovarium ; and seems to indicate that the 

 progress of nature is continually onwards. Unless, therefore, 

 it could be shewn that the order of alteration in the struc- 

 ture of organs so produced is in monstrous formations re- 

 versed, it would be a reasonable inference that nature follows 

 her usual course in transformation, as well as in original pro- 

 duction, and that the changes which particular portions of a 

 flower may undergo, always have the character of that series 

 which is placed next them in the inside, and not of that on 

 the outside. The consequence of the prevalence of such a 

 law would therefore be this with respect to the formation of 

 double flowers, that bracteae, if present, would change into 



* Introduction to Botany, Edit. 5, page 220. 



