Annals of the History and Philosophy of Biology
Annals of the History and Philosophy of Biology
Annals of the History and Philosophy of Biology
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Plant systematics in Jena during <strong>the</strong> early 19 th century<br />
Figure 2. Fr. S. Voigt, Ueber den Bau und die Art zu keimen, bei einigen Monokotyledonen, 1805.<br />
Moreover J. H. Jaume Saint-Hilaire tried to support <strong>the</strong> distinction between monocotyledons<br />
<strong>and</strong> dicotyledons <strong>and</strong> also <strong>the</strong> interpretations <strong>of</strong> René-Louiche Desfontaines<br />
(1750-1833), who had shown in his Mémoire sur l’organisation des monocotyledons [sic] ou plantes<br />
à une feuille séminale (1796) 54 that dicotyledonous plants produced not <strong>the</strong> same stems as<br />
<strong>the</strong> monocotyledonous plants. With this aim J. H. Jaume Saint-Hilaire <strong>of</strong>fered a description<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> structure <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> seeds, <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> phases <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> germination <strong>and</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> orientation<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> radicle. He demonstrated for example <strong>the</strong> influence <strong>of</strong> structure on <strong>the</strong> flow <strong>of</strong><br />
sap. He wrote:<br />
“Cette découverte qui avait échappé à tous les physiologistes m’a paru être en accord avec la<br />
germination qui diffère également dans ces deux gr<strong>and</strong>es classes de plantes, formées d´abord par<br />
Césalpin, et adopté par l’auteur de la méthode naturelle” 55<br />
54 See De C<strong>and</strong>olle, A.-P. Mémoires et souvenirs. C<strong>and</strong>aux, J.-D. & Drouin, J.-M. ed. Genève, Georg, 2004: p.<br />
87.<br />
55 Jaume Saint-Hilaire, J. H. Exposition des familles naturelles et de la germination des plantes. Paris, Treuttel &<br />
Würtz, An XIII.-1805: pp. xxi-xxij.<br />
<strong>Annals</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>History</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Philosophy</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Biology</strong>, Vol. 10 (2005)<br />
127