THE FERTILISATION OF FLOWERS. 
PART I. 
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION. 
{tr was not until the close of last century that the true purport 
and significance of flowers began to be perceived. Christian 
Conrad Sprengel seems to have been the first to view the subject 
in the light of adaptation, and to show how all’ the colours, scents, 
and singular forms of flowers. have some useful purpose. His 
book struck out a new path in botanical science, and its title, Zhe 
Secret of Nature in the Form and Fertilisation of Flowers Discovered, 
shows that the author was well aware of the importance of his 
discoveries. Setting out with the conception of a “wise author of 
nature who has not created one hair without a definite purpose,’ 
Sprengel contrived, by reflecting on apparently insignificant facts, 
to throw light on most important phenomena in the life of 
flowers. The gradual progress of his discovery, as he describes it 
in the introduction to his book, is worth recapitulating. 
The inconspicuous hairs which cover the lower part of the petals 
of the wood cranesbill (Geranium silvaticum, L.), and. beneath which 
drops of honey lie hid, led Sprengel in the year 1787 to the dis- 
covery that most flowers which contain nectar are so arranged that, 
while insects can easily reach it, the rain is prevented from doing 
so; and he came to the conclusion ‘“‘ that the nectar of these flowers 
is secreted for the sake of insects, and is protected from rain in 
order that the insects may get it pure and unspoiled.” Starting 
from this conception, he next summer studied the forget-me-not. 
1 Das enideckie Geheimniss der Natur im Baue und in der Befruchtung der Blumen 
(Berlin : 1793). 
fs / B 
al 
