I4S Cvh Velley'j R'-'ivarks on the Kuture 



HUiilogy to lupport it, throughout the whale vegetable crcatioiu 

 The locality of two iuch bodies demon Urates their rei'peclive func- 

 tions to be diametrically oppofitc ; for, while the favourite idea oi; 

 florcfcencc may fuggeft the poffibility of external communication, 

 between tire minute filaments on the furface and the fru6lified fiim- 

 mits which qontaiu the feeds, the fituation of the fecond flower in a 

 bladder, fo impervious as to retain its internal air, neceflarily excludes 

 the poffibility of a groQex body efcaping externally through fuch a 

 fubftance. Should it be aflTerted, that the fecundating principle, 

 therein contained may be of fo pervading a nature as to find an in- 

 ternal courfe through the folid coriaceous texture of the frond itfelf ; 

 although, for reafons which I lliall hereafter aflign,_I cannot admit 

 that it exifls in thofe bladders, yet I concur in the general principle. 

 It is what I have chiefly endeavoured to point out in my former tradt 

 upon this fubjedl. If then, to ufe the exprcflion of the ingenious' 

 author of the Nereis Britannica, " the impregnation may be efredled 

 by a fubtile vapour," in other words, by fome unknown operation, 

 the faft feems highly probable. This is " that felf-inhcrent princi- 

 ple" which I before aflerted to exift, and upon the apparent ceco-- 

 nomy and wifdom of the Divine Author, " w-ho has admirably tem- 

 pered the conflituent principles of natural bodies in fuch due pro- 

 portions as might heft fit thera for the ftate and purpofes they were 

 intended for*." But then we ought not, upon mere hypothefis, to 

 wreft fuch hidden faculties (for unknown furely they are) from their- 

 infcrutable courfe, and arbitrarily aflign their efFefts to the fuppofed 



before it is difengagcd from the frond ; and then it forms a very curious depSt immedi- 

 ately under the furface, appearing like diftinft globules extremely minute. In this ftate I 

 have fcen it in very thin tranfvcrfe fe£tions of the Fucus facchnrimis under the microfcopc 

 At firft fight I flattered myfelf I had difcovered the feeds of that Fucus, 



* Hales. 



mechanical 



