On November 20 he wrote to the Duke that he had been stimulated to write down his botanical ideas. As early as December 18 he sent the writing to the botanist Batsch in Jena to be examined; on the 20th he himself went there in order to confer with Batsch; on the 22nd he informed Knebel that Batsch had received the thing favorably. He returned home, worked the article over again, and sent it again to Batsch, who returned it on January 19, 1790. What vicissitudes the manuscript, as well as the printed production, then went through Goethe himself has narrated completely. The great significance of the theory of metamorphosis, as well as the essential nature of the theory in detail, will be discussed later in the section entitled The Nature and Significance of Goethe's Writings on Organic Morphology.

The above chapter was reprinted from the book Goethe the Scientist by Rudolf Steiner, published in 1950 by the Anthroposophie Press, Spring Valley, N. Y. 10977. The material appears with kind permission from the publisher.

*Poetry and Truth, Goethe's autobiography.

*Karl von Linne, Swedish botanist 1707-1778). Latin name, Linnæus, more commonly used in English.

*The Latest from the World of the Plants.

†Selected Microscopic Discoveries in Connection with Plants.

*Outlines of a Philosophy of the History of Mankind.

†History of My Botanical Study.

BY J. W. GOETHE

INTRODUCTION

1

Anyone who observes even a little the growth of plants will easily discover that certain of their external parts sometimes undergo a change and assume, either entirely, or in a greater or lesser degree, the form of the parts adjacent to them.

2

So the simple flower, for example, often changes into a double one, if petals develop in the place of stamens and anthers. These petals may either perfectly resemble the other petals of the corolla both in form and colour, or they may still retain visible signs of their origin.

3

If we see that in this way it is possible for the plant to make a retrograde step and reverse the order of growth, we shall become all the more aware of the normal course of Nature, and shall learn to understand those laws of transformation by which she produces one part out of another and creates the most varied forms by the modification of one single organ.

4

The secret affinity between the various external parts of the plants, such as leaves, calyx, corolla and stamens, which are developed one after the other and as it were one out of the other, has long been recognised in a general way by naturalists; indeed, much attention has been given to the study of it. The process by which one and the same organ presents itself to us in manifold forms has been called the metamorphosis of plants.

5

There are three kinds of metamorphosis: regular, irregular and accidental.

6

Regular metamorphosis we may also call progressive, for here we may follow the development step by step from the first seed-leaves to the final forming of the fruit, ascending through transformations of one form into another, as by a spiritual ladder, to that crowning aim of Nature, the propagation of the plant by male and female organs. I have been attentively observing this process for some years, and it is in order to explain it that I am writing now. In the following demonstration we shall therefore study the plant only in so far as it is annual and proceeds without pause from the seed to fertilisation.

7

Irregular metamorphosis may also be called retrogressive. For as in the former case Nature hastens forward to her great aim, here she takes one or more steps backward. In the former instance, with irrestible impulse and powerful effort she forms the flowers and fits them for the service of love; in the latter she seems as it were to relax, and irresolutely leaves her creation in an indefinite and soft state, often pleasing to the eye, but intrinsically powerless and inactive. Frequent experience of this kind of metamorphosis will enable us to disclose what in the regular way of development is hidden from us, and to see clearly and visibly what we should otherwise only be able to infer. In this way we may hope to attain our purpose with the greatest possible certainty.

8

The third kind of metamorphosis, on the other hand, which is brought about accidentally by external causes, and especially by insects, we shall not take into consideration; it might lead us astray from the simple path we have to follow and delay the attainment of our object. Perhaps an opportunity will be found elsewhere to speak of these growths; monstrous they are, yet confined within certain limits.

9

I have ventured to publish this attempt without explanatory illustrations necessary as they might seem in some respects. I may introduce them later; this can easily be done as sufficient material still remains for elucidating and enlarging this short and preliminary treatise. It will not then be necessary to keep so measured a step as now. I shall be able to produce much that relates to the subject, and numerous quotations from authors holding similar views will appear in their right place. Above all I shall not fail to make use of observations gathered from those contemporary masters of whom this science can boast. To them I present and dedicate these pages.

CHAPTER I

OF THE SEED-LEAVES

10

As we have set out to observe the successive steps in the growth of the plant we will begin by directing our attention to it when first it develops out of the seed. At this stage the parts which directly belong to it are easily and exactly distinguishable. It leaves its sheathes more or less behind in the earth; these we will not examine now. Then in many cases, when the root has fastened itself in the soil, the plant brings to the light the first organs of its upper growth, which were already there, hidden under the seed-coat.

11

These first organs are known as cotyledons; they have also been called seed valves, kernel pieces, seed-lobes, or seed-leaves, in the attempt to name them according to the different forms in which we find them.

12

They often appear unshapely, stuffed as it were with a crude substance and distended as much in thickness as in width. Their vessels are unrecognisable and scarcely to be distinguished from the mass of the whole, and they have hardly any resemblance to a leaf, so that we might be misled into believing them to be special organs.

13

Yet in many plants they approach the shape of a leaf; they become flatter, and when exposed to light and air they assume a deeper green, and the vessels contained in them become more recognisable, more like leaf-veins.

14

Finally they sometimes even take on the appearance of real leaves. Their vessels are then capable of high development, and their resemblance to the subsequent leaves does not permit us to regard them as distinct organs; we have to recognise them as the first leaves of the stem.

15

Now as we cannot conceive of a leaf without a node or of a node without an eye, we may conclude that the point at which the cotyledons are attached is the first true node of the plant. This view is confirmed by those plants which produce young eyes immediately under the wings of the cotyledons, and from these first nodes develop complete branches, as, for example, is the case with the common bean, Vicia Faba.

16

The cotyledons are usually double; and here we have a remark to make which will appear to us of still greater importance later on.