STAMENS AND PISTILS. 105 



Use of the Stamens and Pistils. 



In a former part of our lectures, it was observed that the 

 stamens and pistils were necessary to the perfection of the 

 fruit ; we will now explain to you the manner in which they 

 conduce to this important object ; as you are now acquainted 

 with the different organs and their names, you will no doubt 

 easily understand the explanation. 



The pollen, which in most flowers is a kind of yellow dust, is 

 thrown out by the bursting of the anther, which takes place in a 

 certain stage of the flower. The pollen is very curiously form- 

 ed ; although appearing like little particles of dust, upon exa- 

 mining it with a microscope it is found to be composed of 

 innumerable organized corpuscles. These little bodies, though 

 usually yellow, are sometimes white, red, blue, &c. In order 

 to observe them well, it is necessary to put them upon water ; 

 the moisture, by swelling them, renders their true form per- 

 ceptible. They are oblong in the Umbelliferous plants, globu- 

 lar in the Syngenesious, and triangular in some others. In 

 some their surface is smooth, in others armed with little points. 

 They are connected together by minute threads , as in the 

 honey-suckle, &c. These little bodies, thus placed upon water, 

 swell with the moisture until they burst ; a liquid matter is 

 then thrown out, and, expanding upon the surface of the water, 

 appears like a light cloud. 



" I should never finish," (says the French botanist,* from 

 whom this account of the pollen is translated,) "if I should at- 

 tempt to describe the varieties of appearances in the pollen." 



If you have paid attention to what has been said respecting 

 the pollen, you perceive that wonders exist in nature, which 

 are entirely unperceived by a careless observer. .You would 

 scarcely have imagined that the yellow dust seen upon the lily 

 or tulip, and scarcely visible upon many other flowers, should 

 exhibit appearances so interesting, as to engage the attention 

 of a learned philosopher to such an extent, and in such a num- 

 ber of experiments, that he should find it too long a task to 

 enumerate all the phenomena which he had observed. It is 

 to convince you that the field of observation in the works of 

 nature is absolutely unbounded, that we have brought this sub- 

 ject before you ; for in general our limits do not permit us to 

 penetrate into the minute investigations which delight those 

 who have passed beyond the first principles of natural science. 



Another purpose, and one more connected with our present 



* Mirbel. 



Use of the stamens and pistils Description of the pollen Why the subject 

 is introduced. 



