
GOETHE ON THE METAMORPHOSIS OF PLANTS. 23 
instance of the contraction of an expanded leaf-like organ; occasioned 
too, no doubt, by the internal strength of the seed, just in the same 
way as we have seen the petal contracted by means of the anther.* 
XII. Retrospective and Progressional. 
84. Thus far, then, we have carefully followed nature’s footsteps ; 
we have traced the outward form of the plant through all its transfor. 
mations, from the period of its development’ from the seed till the 
seed is produced anew; and without pretending to investigate the 
hidden springs of impulse in nature’s operations, we have directed our 
attention to the outward indications of those powers by which one and 
the same organ is gradually transformed. That the thread of the argu- 
ment might be closely followed up, we have throughout spoken only of 
annual plants; we have simply observed the transformation of the leaves 
developed at the nodes, and from them have deduced every variety of 
form. But it will now be requisite, in order to give due completeness 
to this inquiry, to speak of the buds, which are inconspicuously situated 
at the base of each leaf; which, under certain circumstances, are de- 
veloped, and under others seem entirely to disappear. 
XIII. Of Buds and their Development. 
85. Every node is endowed by nature with the power of producing 
one or more buds. These are developed in proximity to the accom- 
panying leaves ; which seem to prepare the way for, and bring about the 
formation and growth of, the buds. 
86. In the successive development of one node from another, in 
the formation of a leaf at each node, and of a bud adjacent to it, con- 
sists the primary, simple, and slowly-progressing process by which 
vegetable life is propagated. 
87. It is well known that such a bud shows great similarity in its 
operation, to the ripe seed ; and that, of the two, the entire form of the 
future plant may be often better recognized in the bud than in the 
88. Although the point at which the root will be developed is not so 
* In this and the preceding section there is a little confusion between true seeds 
and those seeds to which the pericarp is, when ripe, inseparably adherent; these 
latter were not distinguished from ordinary seeds in Gocthe's time. The argument 
is not affected by this confusion of parts. 

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