25-^ THE PHILOSOPHY 



After what has been remarked, it will not be expefted 

 that I (liould mention thofe parts of Linnaeus's reafoning 

 which are derived from analogy. In many inftances, he 

 has puQied analogy fo far beyond all decent limits, that 

 it becomes truly ridiculous. For example, he . gravely tells 

 lis, * that the calix reprefents the marriage bed ; the carolla 



* the curtains ; the filaments \.\\q fpermatic vcjjcls ; the anthe- 



< rae the te/les ; the pollen the male fcmen \ the ftigma the 



* extremity of the female organ \ the ftylus the vagina ; the 



< germcn the ovarium j the pericarpium the imprtgnaied ova- 



< ri^m ; and the feeds the ^^^J*.' 



The moft plaiifible fa 61 in favour of the fexual hypothells 

 is derived from the culture of the date-bearing palm-tree. 

 Haffelquiftf, and fome other travellers, mention their hav- 

 ing feen flowering branches of male trees fixed to the fe- 

 males by Arabian gardeners, v/ho alledged, that, unlefs this 

 operation were performed, their dates would neither be 

 good nor plentiful. This pra(Stice can boafi: of an antiquity 

 long prior to the notion of fexes in plants. How it came to 

 be introduced, it is of little importance to inquire. We 

 know that the cuflom is ftill fald to prevail : But we like- 

 wife know, that there is not an authentic fadl v/hich fliows 

 any connedlion bctv^^een the praBice and the event, though 

 that be an eflential ingredient in the controverfy. The 

 eaftern nations are famous for introducing fiiperflition into 

 every part of their oeconomy ; and it is equally difi^cult to 

 account for their manners as for their culture of palm trees. 



Mylius's letter to Dr. Watlbn, recorded in the Philofophi- 

 cal Tranfaclions, is an attempt to remove this difficulty, and 

 to fliow a neceflary connexion between the male and female 

 palm. Myllus writes to his correfpondent. * That a female 



< palm-tree grew many years in the garden belonging to the 



* Sponfalia Plantarum, in Amoen, Acad. vol. 1. page 103. 



f Huflelquifl's Travels, page iii. 416. Kempfer. hnioQn, page 706= 

 Tournc'fort liag. paji^c 



