328 SEXUALITY OF VEGETABLES. CHAP. VI. 



SECTION IV. 

 Objections. 



ALTHOUGH the proofs contained in tne foregoing 

 section seem to be altogether irresistible when taken 

 in their aggregate effect, yet it will readily be ad- 

 mitted with regard to several of them that they do 

 not amount to much in their individual weight. 

 And hence we can easily account for the doubts that 

 were entertained on the subject, and the opposition 

 that was given to the doctrine of vegetable sexuality, 

 at a time when the preceding proofs were not yet all 

 discovered nor collected into a body. 



Anticipat- Camerarius, who had inferred the truth of the 

 inerarhis" doctrine from the result of actual experiment, which 

 he was indeed the first to institute on the subject, 

 seems after all to have found cause to doubt the 

 legitimacy of his conclusion, in observing that some of 

 the female plants on which his experiments were made 

 namely, Hemp, Mercury, and Spinach, produced 

 also ripe and perfect seeds even when placed altogether 

 beyond the reach of the influence of the male plant. 

 This fact looked no doubt extremely hostile to the 

 doctrine he was endeavouring to establish, and per- 

 haps remained with him to be an insuperable 

 objection ; but the fact has been now accounted 

 for, and the objection done away. For it has been 

 ascertained, by means of more minute and accurate 

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