There was no endeavor at all here to discover the true nature of the plant. Goethe had to set before himself the question: Wherein consists the “something” which makes a particular entity in nature a plant? Moreover, he had to recognize that this something appears in like manner in all plants. And yet there were the endless differences among the individual entities, which demanded explanation. How is it that this One reveals itself in such manifold forms? These may well have been the questions which Goethe raised as he read the writings of Linne, for he says of himself: “That which he [Linne] sought by force to hold apart had, according to the innermost urge of my nature, to strive toward union.”

At about the same time as the acquaintance with Linne came also that with the botanical efforts of Rousseau. On June 16, 1782, Goethe wrote to Karl August: “In Rousseau's works there are the most charming letters about botany, in which he expounds this science to a lady in the most intelligible and elegant manner. It is truly a model of how one should give instruction, and forms a supplement to Emile. I take occasion, therefore, to recommend anew to my beautiful lady friends the beautiful kingdom of the flowers.” Rousseau's efforts in the field of botany must have made a deep impression on Goethe. The emphasis that we meet in Rousseau upon a nomenclature arising out of the nature of the plants themselves, the originality of observations, attention to the plants for their own sake, apart from any utilitarian principle—all of this was wholly in keeping with Goethe's attitude of mind. They shared also in the fact that they had come to the study of plants, not through the development of a special scientific endeavor, but from a general human motive. The same interest bound them to the same object.

The next thorough-going observations of the plant kingdom occurred in the year 1784. Wilhelm Freiherr von Gleichen, called Russwurm, had at that time published two writings dealing with subjects of research which interested Goethe intensely—Das Neueste aus dem Reiche der Pflanzen* (Nuremberg, 1764) and Auserlesene mikroskopische Entdeckungen bei den Pflanzen† (Nuremberg, 1777-81). Both writings dealt with the fertilization processes in plants. The pollen, stamens, and pistils were thoroughly studied, and the processes connected with them were represented in beautifully produced plates. Goethe now repeated these researches. On January 12, 1785, he wrote to Frau von Stein: “My microscope has been set up for the purpose of repeating and verifying with the arrival of spring the researches of Gleichen, called Russwurm.” During the same spring the nature of the seed was also studied, as we see from a letter of April 2, 1785, to Knebel: “The subject of the seed I have thought through so far as my experience renders possible.” In all these researches, what Goethe was concerned with was not the detail; the goal of his efforts was to investigate the true nature of the plant. He reported in regard to this to Merck on April 8, 1785, that he had made “nice discoveries and combinations.” The expression combinations here also shows that what he was aiming at was to outline in thought a picture of the processes in the plant kingdom. The study of botany rapidly approached a definite goal.

Of course, we must bear in mind in this connection that Goethe had discovered in 1784 the intermaxillary bone, which we shall later discuss in detail, and had thereby made significant progress toward the mystery of nature's procedure in the forming of organic entities. Moreover, we must recall that the fist part of Herder's Ideen zur Philosophie der Geschichte der Menschheit* was completed in 1784 and that Goethe and Herder conversed frequently at that time on subjects pertaining to nature. Thus Frau von Stein reported to Knebel on May 1, 1784: “Herder's new writing makes it seem likely that we were first plants and animals . . . Goethe ponders now with abundant ideas about these things and what has first passed through his mind becomes extremely interesting.” We see from this the character of Goethe's interest at that time in the greatest scientific questions. Thus his reflections about the nature of plants and the combinations he made among them in the spring of 1785 must appear quite natural.

In the middle of April of this year he went to Belvedere for the express purpose of reaching conclusions as to his uncertainties and questions, and on May 15, he sent the following message to Frau von Stein: “I cannot tell you how legible the book of nature is becoming for me. My long continued deciphering, letter by letter, has helped, and now all of a sudden it works, and my quiet joy is inexpressible.” A short time before this he even wished to write a brief botanical treatise for Knebel in order to win him for this science. Botany attracted him so strongly that a trip to Karlsbad, which he began on June 20, 1785, in order to spend the summer there, became a botanical excursion. Knebel accompanied him. In the neighborhood of Jena they met a seventeen-year-old youth, Dietrich, whose botanizing box showed that he had just come home from a botanical excursion. We learn more about this interesting journey from Goethe's Geschichte meines botanischen Studiums,† and from certain reports from Cohn, in Breslau, which he was able to obtain from a manuscript of Dietrich's. In Karlsbad, conversations on botany now frequently afforded pleasant entertainment. Upon returning home, Goethe devoted himself very energetically to the study of botany; in connection with Linne's Philosophia, he made certain observations in regard to mushrooms, mosses, lichens and algae, as we see from his letters to Frau von Stein. Only now, since he has himself thought and observed a great deal, does Linne become more useful to him; through him he finds information in regard to many details which aid him in progressing with his combinations.