296 
THE PLANT WORLD. 
this as is well known, has been recently shown to be the case in 
Gingko and the Cycads. An uncommonly large number of par¬ 
ticular studies are included in the same work. Many of these have 
been extended and corrected by later research, but the main re¬ 
sults have nevertheless remained as the strongest pillars of our 
knowledge of the interrelations of the chief divisions of the plant 
kingdom. 
A second important contribution of Hofmeister’s was his demon¬ 
stration that in the Angiospermae, the embryo develops from the 
egg cell which is present in the ovule before fertilization and which 
had previously rarely been seen, by Amici and some others. This 
general truth which appears to us almost axiomatic, was denied 
by Schleiden and his followers, including Schacht, who main¬ 
tained that the embryo developed from the end of the pollen-tube, 
after it had penetrated into the ovule. The contention lasted for 
years, but ended in complete victory for Hofmeister, who by his 
studies taught us the manifold form and development of the 
ovule. In this, also, time has contributed many further details and 
corrected many conclusions which resulted from an undeveloped 
technique, but it has not added anything new in principle to the 
results of Hofmeister. 
Important in an especial degree has his last morphological 
work the “ General Morphology of Plants” become, although 
the trend of research indicated in it is as yet but little recognized 
in botany. It may, however, with certainty be prophesied that this 
trend will be represented in the morphology of the future. The 
time was when morphology was first descriptive and then com¬ 
parative, but this is now passed. It has now come to be causal 
i. e.j the study of the dependence of the plant organization upon 
inner and outer conditions. This trend was first indicated with 
emphasis by Hofmeister in the above mentioned work, long be¬ 
fore the “ Entwickelungs-mechanic ” arose in zoology. In this 
he presented a strong contrast to the conceptions prevalent in his 
time, which took the form of the idealistic morphology. This 
morphology regarded the general concepts derived by us through 
our perceptions as something concrete, and conceived particular 
forms as the realization of abstract ideas, and so entertained no 
thought nor felt the need of causal interpretation. 
