minerology:

subject of geology specializing in the scientific study of chemistry, crystal structure & physical (including optical) properties of minerals and mineralized artefacts

 

conspectus:

a general or comprehensive view; survey; a digest; summary; résumé

 

granite & Goethe's minerology:

Goethe was fascinated by mineralogy, and the mineral goethite (iron oxide) is named after him.  He followed the theories of Werner (1749- 1817).  He was a German geologist who set out an early theory about the stratification of the Earth's crust and propounded a history of the Earth that came to be known as Neptunism.  This theory held that the Earth could be divided into 5 formations, the first being the Primitive Series consisting of intrusive igneous rocks.  Goethe was an advocate of Neptunism and consequently believed that granite was the oldest of all rock formations.  Granite for Goethe was the oldest mineral on earth, it embodied the general laws for all mineral formation.  It was his Ur-Stone, a component of the original mountain & the held the patterns of nature’s future formation as revealed in the character of the individual mineral.

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proto-human:

a hypothetical prehistoric primate, resembling humans and thought to be their ancestor, whose profile has been compiled mainly from fossil evidence

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prime phenomenon of metamorphosis:

reference to Goethe’s Metamorphosis of Plants (1790) which reveals the (serially) homologous nature of leaf organs in plants, from cotyledons, to photosynthetic leaves, to the petals of a flower; it was a sophisticated view of homology & transformation (within an idealist morphological perspective) which predates Owen by 53 years.

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vertical & spiral tendencies in vegetation (Goethe):

The German botanist, KF Martius (1794-1868), published lectures titled "Vertical and Spiral tendency of vegetation" which Goethe read with interest.  Martius believed growth in plants exhibited 2 tendencies:

• a striving for the vertical direction which  governed root and stem

• a tendency to form a spiral line governing the joining of the leaf, blossom & other plant parts

Goethe read & adopted this theory; he concluded that his own botanical experience corroborated Martius.  He believed these tendencies should be embedded into his own theories (in his Metamorphosis of Plants) on plant metamorphosis, and that the presence of spiral vessels in individual plant organs was a reflection of the larger tendency governing all plant life.

 

ossature:

something resembling a skeleton; a framework or underlying structure

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os intermaxillare:

see Hist 2, Chapter III, page 111

 

Orphische Urworte:

a collection of 5 poems by Goethe (1817, published 1820 in his booklets on morphology); they are some of the philosophical poems of Goethe's early years, revolving around metaphysical, mythological & hermeneutical questions, from his years attempting to recognize the key properties in the forms of the primeval plant and primal phenomena.  The title, Earliest songs of Orpheus, alludes to the legendary singer Orpheus and the Orphic poetry.

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anti-Newton polemics (of Goethe):

The first edition of the Theory of Colours (1810) had 3 mains sections, the second being a polemic in which Goethe makes his case against Newton.  He vehemently opposed Newton's analytic treatment of colour, compiling a comprehensive rational description of a wide variety of colour phenomena.  From its publication the book was controversial for its stance against Newton and neither his work in optics nor his polemics against the reigning Newtonian theory of optics, were received well by the scientific establishment of his time.  When Charles Eastlake translated it into English in 1840, he omitted the content of Goethe's second section (its polemic against Newton).  Eastlake stated that he censored Goethe's polemic because the 'violence of his objections' against Newton would prevent readers from fairly judging Goethe's color observations.