THE PROCESS OF REPRODUCTION. 459 



Vaillant, the pupil of Tournefort, but the corrector 

 of his errour on this subject, explained in his public 

 lectures the phenomenon of the fecundation of 

 plants, described the explosion of the anthers, and 

 showed that the florets of composite flowers, though 

 formed on the type of an androgynous flower, are 

 sometimes male, sometimes female, and sometimes 

 neuter. 



But though the sexes of plants had thus been 

 noticed, the subject drew far more attention when 

 Linnaeus made the sexual parts the basis of his clas- 

 sification. Camerarius and Burkard had already 

 entertained such a thought, but it was Linnaeus who 

 carried it into effect, and thus made the notion of 

 the sexes of vegetables almost as familiar to us as 

 that of the sexes of animals. 



Sect. 3. The Consequent Speculations. Hypo- 

 theses of Generation. 



THE views of the processes of generation, and of 

 their analogies throughout the whole of the organic 

 world, which were thus established and diffused, 

 form an important and substantial part of our phy- 

 siological knowledge. That a number of curious 

 but doubtful hypotheses should be put forwards, 

 for the purpose of giving further significance and 

 connexion to these discoveries, was to be expected. 

 We must content ourselves with speaking of these 

 very briefly. We have such hypotheses in the 



