190 OM THE CAPRIFICATION OF THE FIG. 



into the vessels of the receptacle, which are of a different struc- 

 ture and direction. On tliis account they would soon drop off 

 if the female flowers were not fertilized ; but, as tlie fecundation 

 induces an affluence of humours to the ovary, and thence to the 

 receptacle, it follows that the one and the other continue to 

 grow. And as this defective structure is greater or less iu 

 different sorts of figs, so (extrinsic) fecundation is necessary in 

 some, superfluous in others, whilst others only require a very 

 little of it. And if the same fig at Naples, for example, may 

 require caprification, and not require it at Capri, it is because, 

 in the latter place, tiie soil, reduced to the finest dust, and the 

 air, loaded the one witli alkaline salts, the other with phlogiston, 

 could produce the same effect ; that is, the setting and ripening 

 of a large quantity of fruits. Thus it is that in certain places 

 caprification is entirely unknown, as in the promontory of Sor- 

 reutum, Ischia, and other districts. Believing, therefore, that 

 fecundation was necessary to sustain the domestic fig till its 

 maturity, and that it contained only female flowers, whilst those 

 of the caprifig were androgynous, with perfect anthers, it fol- 

 lowed naturally that the fly coming from the one to enter the 

 other should carry with it the pollen or the fertilizing essence. 

 He, consequently, thought it worth while minutely to describe 

 the insect in its various states. Such is, in brief, Cavolini's 

 theory of caprification, which we should have given in detail did 

 it not appear to us to be too prolix and somewhat obscure. 



§ 3. Exposition of the Theory of Gallesio. — Gallesio, not 

 long dead, has left a large treatise on the physiology of the fig 

 and on caprification. We have extracted from it in their proper 

 places whatever appeared to us of the most importance on the 

 fig and on the caprifig, and we now proceed to state this 

 author's opinion on caprification. He admits with Theophrastus, 

 Pliuy, and so many others, that there are figs which mature their 

 fruits naturally, and otiiei-s that require caprification. This 

 difference was attributed by the ancients to climate and soil, 

 believing that in a poor soil, witli a northern exposure, the fig 

 could nourish and mature its fruit without the caprifig ; Galle- 

 sio, on the contrary, affirms that it proceeds from a difierence in 

 organisation, that the fig requiring the caprifig is quite a 

 different kind from the others, and that both preserve their cha- 

 racter and temperament; in any soil or climate which they can 

 bear. Now the diversity in their organisation, according to 

 him, is this. Some figs have no flowers capable of being ferti- 

 lised, as their ovaries are without ovules ; these produce no 

 fertile seeds, and cannot feel the action of the caprifig, which 

 they do not stand in need of to preserve and ripen their fruit. 

 These he calls mules, and says it is they which are cultivated in 



