SECT. IV. OBJECTIONS. 33? 



which according, to his own experiments, form an 

 obstacle that cannot be surmounted. And even with 

 regard to monoecious and dioecious plants perhaps 

 his experiments are not altogether free from error, 

 as we can oppose to them the experiments of Lin- 

 naeus on the very same species ; who will be allowed 

 to have been as attentive, and accurate, and success- 

 ful an observer, as Spallanzani. The necessity of 

 aiding the impregnation of Melons and Cucumbers, 

 as practised by gardeners, is against his conclusions 

 in the one case ; and the possibility of the existence 

 of some latent and undetected male flower lurking 

 among the females is against it in the other. 



But although Spallanzani is extremely anxious 

 to disprove the doctrine of the sexes of plants, and 

 although his experiments turned out to be rather 

 favourable to his views, he does not seem after all to 

 lay a great deal of stress upon them ; thinking that 

 the doctrine may still be true, and that the ripening of 

 the seeds that were perfected without the aid of the 

 male flowers might have been effected by means of 

 a power, inherent in the female flowers, of propagat- 

 ing to a certain number of generations without the 

 assistance of the male ; as in the case of the Aphis 

 among insects, according to the observations of 

 Bonnet ; and as in the case of some plants which he 

 had himself observed to be propagated in this way 

 to three generations. But there does not seem to be 

 any very good ground for this supposition, nor does 

 it seem to be much supported by the observations of 

 VOL. n. z 



