I20 STUDIES OF NATURE. 



fpherical portions, as the rofe ; or entire fpheres, 

 as the bells of the lily of the valley ; or cones mu- 

 tilated, as the foxglove, the corolla of which is 

 formed like a fewtng thimble. 



Nature has placed, at the focufes of thefe, plain, 

 fpherical, elliptical, parabolic, and other mirrors, 

 the parts of the fecundation of plants, as lhe has 

 placed thofe of generation in animals^ in the 

 warmeft parts of their bodies. Thefe curves, which 

 Geometricians have not yet examined, merit their 

 mod profound refearches. Is it not aftonifhing, 

 that they fhould have bellowed fuch learned pains 

 to find out curves altogether imaginary, and fre- 

 quently ufelefs ; and that they mould have ne- 

 glected to ftudy thofe which Nature employs fo 

 regularly, and in fuch variety, in an infinite num- 

 ber of objects ? Be this as it may, Botanifts have 

 given themfelves flill lefs trouble about the mat- 

 ter. They comprehend thofe of flowers under a 

 fmall number of claiTes, without paying the flighteft 

 attention to their ufe, nay. without fo much as ap- 

 prehending that they could have any. They con- 

 fine themfelves entirely to the divifion of their pe- 

 tals, which frequently change nothing of the con- 

 figuration of their curves; and they frequently 

 clafs under the fame name thofe which are the 

 mofl oppofue. Thus, under thé general defigna- 



tion 



