GOETHE ON THE METAMORPHOSIS OF PLANTS. 81 
the reasons alleged against it, appear to me weighty and conclusive. 
The only causes which could have given rise to this notion, are the soft 
and undefined state (resembling that of pith or parenchyma) in which 
the pistils and fruit first make their appearance, and their position in 
the centre of the stem, where we are accustomed to see the pith, 
XVIII. Recapitulation. 
112. It is my wish that this attempt to explain the metamorphosis 
of plants, may not only contribute something towards the solution of 
this problem, but may give occasion to further investigations and re- 
sults. The observations on which it is grounded, which were made at 
different times, have been collected and arranged by Batsch in his * An- 
leitung zur Kenntniss und Geschichte der Pflanzen ;’* and it will soon 
appear whether the step we have taken has brought us any nearer to 
the truth. Let us now review as briefly as possible the leading points 
in the foregoing essay. 
113, When we consider the indications of vital powers existing in 
plants, we find them manifesting themselves in two different ways ; first, 
by growth during the development of the stem and leaves; secondly, 
by reproduction effected in the flower and fruit. When we narrowly 
watch the growth of a plant, we see that as it mounts upwards from node 
to node, and from leaf to leaf, a kind of reproduction is going forward, 
differing from the sudden reproduction effected in the flower and fruit, 
inasmuch as it is a series of successive and distinct developments. 
This power of gradual growth by the production of buds, is most 
closely related to that which effects reproduction at once. Under dif- 
ferent circumstances a plant may, on the one hand, be forced continuously 
to produce leaf-buds, or, on the other, to develope the flower. The 
former result is produced by an accumulation of crude juices ; the latter 
by the preponderance of the subtile powers latent in the plant. 
114. The manner in which the two different kinds of reproduction 
take place, has been indicated by the application of the term succes- 
sive to reproduction by leaf-buds, whilst we spoke of reproduction by 
the flower and fruit as sudden. A plant, whilst it is producing leaf- 
buds, increases more or less in size, it developes a stalk or stem, the 
nodes are generally separated by perceptible intervals, and leaves expand 
in all directions. But, on the contrary, when a plant produces the 
| * ] Theil, 19 Capitel. 

