The ‘Isagoge Phytoscopica,’ a system of theoretical botany, very
concisely written and in the form of propositions arranged in strict
logical sequence, was a more important work and had more lasting
effects upon the history of botany. We must look more closely into
the contents of this volume, because it contains the foundation of
the terminology of the parts of plants subsequently established by
Linnaeus. Since the matter of the ‘Isagoge’ is produced in Ray’s
‘Historia Plantarum’ in italics, with special mention of the source
from which it is derived, it cannot be doubted that Linnaeus had made
acquaintance with the teaching of Jung as a young man, in any case
before 1738. It is as important as a matter of history to know that
Linnaeus’ terminology is founded on Jung, as it is to learn that his
most general philosophical propositions on botanical subjects are to
be traced to Cesalpino. It will moreover be fully shown in the account
of the doctrine of sexuality that his knowledge of that subject was
derived from Rudolf Jacob Camerarius.
The first chapter of the ‘Isagoge’ discusses the distinction between
plants and animals. A plant is, according to Jung, a living but not
a sentient body; or it is a body attached to a fixed spot or a fixed
substratum, from which it can obtain immediate nourishment, grow and
propagate itself. A plant feeds when it transforms the nourishment
which it takes up into the substance of its parts, in order to replace
what has been dissipated by its natural heat and interior fire. A
plant grows when it adds more substance than has been dissipated,
and thus becomes larger and forms new parts. The growth of plants is
distinguished from that of animals by the circumstance that their
parts are not all growing at the same time, for leaves and shoots
cease to grow as soon as they arrive at maturity; but then new leaves,
shoots, and flowers are produced. A plant is said to propagate itself
when it produces another specifically like itself; this is the idea in
its broader acceptation. We see that here, as in Cesalpino, the idea of
the species is connected with that of propagation. The second chapter,
headed ‘Plantae Partitio,’ treats of the most important morphological
relations in the external differentiation of plants; here Jung adheres
essentially to Cesalpino’s view, that the whole body in all plants,
except the lowest forms, is composed of two chief parts, the root
as the organ which takes up the food, and the stem above the ground
which bears the fructification. Jung, too, draws attention to the
meeting-point of the two parts, Cesalpino’s ‘cor,’ but under the name
of ‘fundus plantae.’
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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