264 THE PHILOSOPHY 



every fufplcion of a conne<ftIon with male influence. For 

 this purpofe, I applied to my learned and ingenious friend 

 Dr. Daniel Rutherford, now ProfefTor of Botany in the Uni- 

 verfity of Edinburgh, who, at that time, had a fmall garden, 

 or rather a little area, in the heart of the city, which was 

 furrounded with houfes of five and fix ftories high, and dif- 

 tant from any male lychnis about an Englifli mile. Dr. 

 Rutherford received this female lychnis into his garden. 

 The firfi: fummer after her adiniffion, being enfeebled by her 

 former three years confinement, flie dropped her flowers, 

 without producing fertile feeds. During three or four fuc- 

 ceeding years, however, fhe remained in the fame fituation ; 

 and fhe not only ripened her feeds, but thefe feeds vegetat- 

 ed, without the poffibility of any male impregnation ; for 

 the Do£lor, after the young plants were in a ftate of difcrimi- 

 nation, uniformly extirpated all the males, and never could 

 difcover the veftige of a fingle male upon the female plants. 

 Her female progeny, however, continued to bear fertile feeds 

 for feveral fucceflive generations. If, after this, and fome 

 experiments formerly mentioned, any fexuaiifi: choofes to 

 have recourfe to the wind, and to infects, he may enjoy his 

 theory ; but few men of penetration will join him in opinion. 



But, if thefe fa^ls and reafonings fhould not be fufficient 

 to convince every believer in the fexual fyfi:em of plants that 

 the hypothefis has no foundation in Nature, Spalanzani, 

 a late ingenious Italian naturalift, has, by a number of expe- 

 riments, removed the poffibility of any rational doubt on the 

 fubje^V. 



Spalanzani, In order to make a complete inveftigatlon of 

 this fubjecl, performed a number of experiments on what 

 are called hermaphrodite, mo?joecious and dioicous plants. 



Hermaphrodite plants comprehend all thofe which have 

 ftamina and piftils, or the male and female organs, in the 

 fame flowers. To difcover whether the pollen had any in- 



