252 ESSAYS AND OBSERVATIONS 



us himfelf doubted of itj Tournefort 

 difbelieved it ; and Pontedera * ufes ma- 

 ny arguments to refute it. It remains, 

 therefore, only, that the arguments for 

 and againft the fexes of plants, as under- 

 flood by the moderns, efpecially the de- 

 fervedly much commended Carolus Lin- 

 naeus, be fairly ftated. 



Sect. III. 



16. The flate of the controverfy is 

 briefly this ; Whether the influence of the 

 duft of the apices, is abfolutely neceflary 

 to the foecundity of the feeds, or not : Or, 

 'Whether good and fertile feeds can be 

 produced, when the duft: of the apices has 

 no accefs to the ft;yli or ftigmata of the 

 plants that carry them. ISlow, there be- 

 ing feveral fpecies of vegetables, which 

 bear flowers on one plant, and feeds on 

 another, as fpinacia, mercurialis, canna- 

 bis, 



* Anthol. 1. 2. p. 107.'— 185. 



