CAROLUS LINNAEUS 55 



extremes. To be more specific : while Tourne- 

 fort's conception of the flower as an organism 

 is about as crude and imperfect as can well 

 be imagined, that of Linnaeus is almost per- 

 fect. In the view of the former the one 

 important organ is the corolla, the stamens 

 and stigmas nothing, or next to nothing; 

 according to Linnaeus, the stamens and stigmas 

 with the ovary, are the only essential organs 

 of the flower, the corolla relatively unimpor- 

 tant. All the world botanical now understands 

 that the philosophy of floral structure upheld 

 and most effectively promulgated by Linnaeus 

 was the right one. The actual discovery 

 and demonstration of this new and revolu- 

 tionary anthology are not attributable to 

 Linnaeus. In the year that the small boy 

 Linnaeus left home for the Latin school at 

 Wexio a new incumbent was installed into 

 that professorial chair at Paris which Tourne- 

 fort had occupied. The new professor had 

 been one of the pupils of that celebrity. His 

 name was Sebastian Vaillant. The subject 

 of his inaugural address was the Structure 

 of Flowers. In this address, soon afterwards 

 printed, Tournefort's anthology was com- 

 pletely undermined, and what was offered in 

 the place of it became the accepted anthology 



