16 GOETHE ON THE METAMORPHOSIS OF PLANTS. 
appendages attached to the end of the keel, in some species of Poly- 
gala, may be explained; and a distinct idea formed as to what these 
organs really are. 
59. It would be superfluous to assert that it is not the object of 
these remarks to re-entangle what has been separated and classified by 
the labours of observers and systematists ; the intention is simply to 
render the different forms of plants more susceptible of explanation by 
means of the views here put forward. 
VIII. 4 few more Remarks on the Stamens. 
. 60. It has been placed beyond all doubt, by microscopic observa- 
tions, that the stamens and pistils, no less than the other organs of 
plants, are produced by spiral vessels. We found an argument upon 
this as to the intrinsic identity of the various parts of plants, however 
different the forms under which they appear.* 
61. Now the spiral vessels being situated in the very centre of the 
bundles of sap-vessels, and entirely surrounded by them, we shall be 
able to form a truer estimate of their strong contractile power, if we 
imagine them (like so many elastic springs), in the very act of exerting 
their utmost force, till having gained the mastery, they altogether over- 
come the expansive power of the sap-vessels. 
62. The ramification of the bundles of sap-vessels is now rendered 
impossible ; nor can they any longer unite and form a network by ana- 
Stomosis ; the cellular tissue which generally fills up the interstices of 
the network is no longer developed ; all the causes which produced the 
expansion of the stem- leaves, the sepals, and the petals, are at an end ; 
and an extremely simple little filament makes its appearance. 
63. No sooner are the delicate membranes of the anther formed, 
than the extremely attenuated sap-vessels terminate in them, And 
now, if it be admitted that these are the very same vessels in a state of 
extreme contraction, as those which before were continually increasing 
in length, ramifying, aud uniting with each other; if at this stage, 
moreover, we see highly-organized pollen developed from them,+ which 
* It can hardly be correct] said that th 
roduced : e stamens and other organs of plants are 
ries —— dame m art tins all these parts begin as little knobs or Spine of 
has proceeded some Spiral vessels are not formed therein till after development 
way. 
—— mode of explaining the formation of the pollen, is now known to be in- 

