S3 8 SEXUALITY OF VEGETABLES. CHAP. VI 



Bonnet on the Aphis; from which it does not 

 follow that it had the power of propagating without 

 the male to ten generations and no more, but rather 

 that his observations were not pursued farther. 



Spallanzani suggests also the possibility of the 

 fecundation of the ovary, by means of some seminal 

 principle residing in the pistil, and capable of sup- 

 plying the place of the pollen, as well as necessary 

 in the case of Monoecious and Dioecious plants, to 

 ensure the perfection of the seed. This conjecture 

 is perhaps countenanced in some degree by Koel- 

 reuter's account of the chemical properties of the 

 moisture exuding from the stigma when ripe, which 

 he represents as being precisely the same with the 

 chemical properties of the pollen. But this is leaving 

 the matter precisely as it was taken up ; for, if the 

 suggestion of Spallanzani is true, then there exists 

 at least a virtual sexuality in vegetables, to all in- 

 tents and purposes. 



Reiterated The last and least formidable adversary of the 

 bySme ic. ( j octr j ne o f tne sexes o f vegetables whose opposition 



J shall take any particular notice of at present is 

 Mr. Smellie, author of the Philosophy of Natural 

 History. Violent in proportion to his want of ar- 

 gument, he pushes his opposition to a greater length 

 than any of his predecessors, though with less effect. 

 Spallanzani had admitted that fecundation cannot be 

 effected in hermaphrodites without the aid of the 

 pollen, and that it may possibly be so effected in 

 monoecious and dioecious plants also ; contending 



