238 ESSAYS ann OBSERVATIONS 
As for his obfervations on the viola tricolor, 
I pafs them, becaufe nothing to the purpofe; 
and alfo too {mutty for Briti/h ears. But let 
us hear what the great Linnaeus by himfelf 
fays: 
24. ‘‘ GENERATIONEM vegetabilium fieri, 
** &c. (fays he) confirmat oculus. Pollinem 
*‘intrare germina credidit Morslandus; ejuf- 
«dem effentiam extrahi, mediante ftigmate 
«« madido, ftatuit Vazllant: pollinem aceris 
“ rumpi in humore vidit Bern, Fuffiacus : om- 
** nem pollinem in humore explodere auram 
‘‘feminalem, confirmat Needham (x). But 
Morland’s opinion is fully confuted by Vailiant, 
who maintains only that the vapour, or vela- 
tile {pirit of the male duft, enters the ¢rachiae 
of the /fy/us; but not a word can I find in 
his difcourfe, concerning the attraction of the 
effence ‘of the duft by means of the moift 
ftigma; and, altho’ it fhould all burft in 
moifture I do not fee how it thence follows, 
that it thus fends out an aura feminalis; e- 
fpecially, fince it does not appear, that the 
fligmata muft neceflarily be moift in or- 
der to fertility: and it is obferved by Mr 
W ablbon: 
(x) Phil. Bot. p. 91. 
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