22S ESSAYS AiJD OBSERVATIONS 



Art. IX. 



J Dijfertation on the Sexes of Plants ; bj^ 

 Charles Alston, M. D. King's Bo- 

 tanift in Scotland, Felloiv of the Royal 

 College of Phyftcians, and Profeffor of 

 Medicine and Botany in the Uni'verftty of 

 Edinburgh. 



'■ I 'HE fmalleft, and apparently mo.fl: def- 

 picable produdlions of nature, are 

 not fo barren, but that they are capable, 

 both to invite our fpeculations, and to re- 

 compence them. Even Pliny <:Guld fay, 

 *' Rerum natura nufquam magis quam in 

 " minimis tota eft *." For how much 

 foever the coeleftial bodies declare in^g- 

 nificence and immenfity of power ; yet 

 do they not by far afford us fo clear and[ 

 cogent arguments of wifdom and deCgn, 

 as do the bodies of animals and plants. 

 And, for my part, fays the great Boyle, I 

 am apt to think, that the eye pf a fly is a 



mor^ 



• L, xi. c. 2. 



I 



