EXHA USTIVENESS. 7 1 



troublesome and will not probably soon be 

 repeated, thus I was compelled to count under 

 the microscope above twenty thousand seeds of 

 Lythrum salicaria. "* The whole of his work 

 on the same subject is on the same scale, vast 

 numbers of observations being condensed into 

 each of numerous tables. 



It is elsewhere described how he had fore- 

 seen the importance of making comparative 

 observations on the effects of cross- and self- 

 fertilization in plants; and how he had been 

 deterred by a bad analogy, and had finally had 

 the subject thrust upon him while making 

 experiments on Linaria vulgaris and the carna- 

 tion with another end in view. 2 There are 

 extant in all biological literature few equally 

 fine examples of the clear comprehension of 

 the conditions of a problem and of untiring 

 attention to them. 3 He began by making a 

 preliminary experiment with two plants, and, 

 finding that, as in his previous accidental 

 observations, the cross-fertilized seedling was 

 in every respect superior to the self-fertilized, 

 he proceeded to experiment on a very large 

 scale. 



1 Different Forms of Flowers on Plants of the same Species, 

 p. 189. 



2 Effects of Cross- and Self-Fertilization, p. 8. 

 8 Ibid., pp. 10-27. 



