4$0 CHYPTOGAMIA. 



he mistook their use, being quite ignorant 

 of the fecundation of plants. Dillenius 

 took the one flower precisely for the other, 

 and yet absurdly called capsula what he 

 believed to be anther a. Linnaeus, who 

 had previously formed just ideas on the 

 subject, as appears from his manuscript 

 Tour to Lapland, too implicitly submitted 

 his own judgment to that of Dillenius, and 

 adopted his hypothesis, at the same time 

 correcting, as he thought, his phraseology. 

 Hence the whole glare of the blunder of 

 Dillenius has fallen on Linnaeus ; for while 

 we read in the Linnaean definitions of 

 mosses every where the word cmthera 9: and 

 in those of Dillenius, usually accompany- 

 ing them, capsula; few persons, who have 

 lately been instructed by Hedwig that the 

 part in question is really a capsule, take 

 the trouble to recollect that Dillenius so 

 grossly misused that word. Various ideas 

 have been started on this subject by Haller, 

 Necker, and others, which could only claim 

 attention while it remained in great ob- 

 scurity. The excellent Hedwig has en- 

 tirely the merit of an original discoverer 



