and Propagation (^ marine Plants. 149 



mechanical operation of parts, which arc ncitherCJilculated tO'prf>- 

 niote,. or capable of communicating, thofe reciprocal fwlftions 

 which refult from a ftate»of florefcence. 



.1 lilt has been jufliy obfervcd by one bf the greateft philofophers of 

 the prefent age*, " that Nature though varied is generally uniform 

 in her operations." The more we contemplate the extenfive volume 

 which fhc prefcnts to our view, the more this obfervation will be- 

 come confirmed : but while it tends to vindicate the exiftence of a 

 principle equivalent to, as I have before maintained, though diflPer- 

 ently modified from, that which directs the fexual fyftcm, it cannot 

 reconcile itfcJf to the alTumption of t\Mcr difiiniSt miales afting by 

 different procefles in the fame plant, any more than it can admit 

 either of thiole bodies feparately to confiituite a ftate of florefcence, 

 when, from their permanent and unchangeable nature through all 

 the fucceflive periods of the plant's exiflence, as well as from their 

 relative fituations, they militate againft every law of analogy, as far 

 as refpeiSls the Linnean fyftem. • 



Linnasusy when, he maintains the univerfal influence of the laws 

 of florefcence over the vegetable world, clofely defines the precife 

 charader of the flower itfelf, aflerting, that its very eflence exifls in 

 the ftigma and antheras, which, connected with the pollen con- 

 taining the fertilizing vapour, can alone conftitute a ftate of flo- 

 •refcence; and that, without thefe eflential parts, even the blofrom 

 with its exterior appendages could not in any refpecl be confidercd 

 as a flower. 



The uniformity and mechanical exaiStnefs which direits the 

 fources of vegetable impregnation, throughout the immense feries of 

 terreftrial plants, could not fail to attradt the admiration of the re- 

 cent votaries to the fexual fyftem. Strengtiiened in their opinions 



.* -Sir William Hamilton. 



by 



