THE BLACK NIGHTSHADE. 83 



the Black Nightshade (Solanum nigrum) has a certain in- 

 terest. Thus, says M. Hoefer, both Cordus and Jean Bauhin, 

 botanists of the sixteenth century, have described the flower 

 of this plant as if its corolla were composed of five distinct 

 petals. 



Where were the eyes of those great botanists ? The corolla 

 of the nightshade, like that of all the Solanacea, is plainly 

 and obviously monopetalous, that is, composed of a single 

 piece; to assure yourself of this, you have a 

 but to open it out. (See Fig. 21, b.) It j& 

 was the sharp-pointed, ovate divisions of the 9 

 limb which imposed on the old observers ; FIG. 21. 

 a fresh proof that seeing and observing are two very distinct 

 things. Our vision enters into full exercise from earliest 

 infancy ; observation is not acquired until after much labour 

 iind many years. 



Do not forget to add, that the five stamens are brought 

 very closely together by their elongated anthers, as is also 

 seen in the flower of the potato-plant. (Fig. 21, a.) 



The same botanists who took our solanum for a plant 

 with a polypetalous corolla, considered the Bitter-sweet 

 (Solatium dulcamara) to be a metamorphosis of the Garden 

 Nightshade ! The former they christened the red-berried 

 solanum (Solanum baccis rubris\ and the latter, the black- 

 berried solanum (Solanum baccis nigris). 



But if we once launch into the hypothetical, we shall be 

 unable to stop half-way. If the species of one and the 



