SECT. II. DISCOVERIES OF THE MODERNS. 307 



seems to have arisen out of the theory of Leuwen* 

 hoeck on animal generation, which was then popular, 

 but it is not corroborated by any experiments. It 

 seems, however, to have had the effect of keeping 

 alive the discussion of the subject; for Geoffrey, in OfGeofr- 

 his memoir presented to the Royal Academy of roy> 

 Sciences in 17 Hj on the structure and use of the 

 principal parts of flowers, endeavours, as it appears, 

 to reconcile the discordant theories of Grew and 

 Morland ; and maintains that the germ i s never 

 visible in the seed till the anthers have shed their 

 pollen : adding, that if the stamens are cut off before 

 the anthers burst, the seeds remain barren. In this 

 we have a step in advance beyond the point that had 

 been gained by means of the experiments of Came* 

 rarius, which relate only to monoecious and dioecious 

 plants, in which the proof is less difficult than in 

 hermaphrodites, to which Geoffroy's experiments 

 apply. 



From the spirit of inquiry that was thus excited 

 new discoveries could not but be expected to follow ; 

 for although the doctrine was discountenanced and 

 rejected by some of the leading botanists of the time, 

 and even by the illustrious Tournefort, yet it was too 

 well established in fact to be overthrown by any ar- 

 gument or any authority. Accordingly its evidence 

 was becoming every day more irresistible, and its 

 advocates more confident. Vaillant, in a dissertation of Vail- 

 the structure of flowers read at the opening of the lant 

 x 2 



