manifold physiological differences in the organs of plants certain points of formal agreement can be discovered, which are expressed chiefly in the order of their succession and in their relative positions. In this distinction lay the good kernel of the doctrine of metamorphosis in Goethe, and Wolff, and even in Linnaeus and Cesalpino: it was only necessary to set this free from the dross with which the nature-philosophy had surrounded it, and to make the relations of position in organs the subject of earnest investigation, in order to secure important results in this branch of morphology. The first step in this direction was taken by Carl Friedrich Schimper, who was followed by Alexander Braun; both adopted the main idea of the doctrine of metamorphosis in the form in which it can be reconciled with the doctrine of constancy, that is, in a purely idealistic sense. Both liberated themselves from the gross errors of the nature-philosophers, and thus gave a more logical expression to the purely idealistic morphological consideration of form in plants.
Karl Friedrich Schimper[1] founded before the year 1830 the theory of the arrangement of leaves which is named after him, and which he expounded to the naturalists assembled at Stuttgart in 1834 as a complete and perfected system. Alexander Braun, in a review of Schimper's exposition in 'Flora' of 1835, gave a clear and simple account of the theory, having already himself published an excellent and comprehensive treatise on the same subject. The doctrine of phyllotaxis
- ↑ K. F. Schimper, born in Mannheim in 1803, was at first a student of theology in Heidelberg, but having afterwards travelled as a paid collector of plants in the south of France, he applied himself to the study of medicine. From 1828 to 1842 he was employed as a teacher in the University of Munich, though occasionally engaged in exploring the Alps, Pyrenees, and other districts, in the service of the King of Bavaria. It was during this period of his life that he composed his most important works on phyllotaxis, and essays on the former extension of glaciers, and on the glacial period. He returned to the Palatinate in 1842, and died at Schwetzingen in 1867 in the enjoyment of a pension from the Grand duke of Baden.
