248 THE PHILOSOPHY 



fhrubs and trees, may be propagated in the fame manner. Where, 

 it may be afked, do thefe plants procure impregnation ? That they 

 grow, and produce fertile fruit, is undeniable ; and yet, according 

 to the fexual hypothefis, the pollen of the male is indifpenfibly ne- 

 cefTary to the ripening and fertilization of the fruit. By means of 

 fuckers, flips, cuttings, and layers, the whole globe might be fpread 

 over with vegetables, without the poffibility of a fingle impregna- 

 tion. 



Though the argument from analogy (hould be inconclufive, yet, 

 fay the fexualifts, we appeal to fads. I fliall, therefore, give a fhort 

 view of the principal fads employed to fupport the fexual inter- 

 courfe of plants. 



After what has been remarked, it will not be expeded that I 

 fliould mention thofe parts of Linnaeus's reafoning which are de- 

 rived from analogy. In many inftances, he has pufhed analogy fo 

 far beyond all decent limits, that it becomes truly ridiculous. For 

 example, he gravely tells us, ' Thar the calix reprefents the mar- 

 ' riage bed ; the corolla the curtains ; the filaments the fpermatic 

 ' vejjels ; the antherae the tejles ; the pollen the male fatten; the 

 ' ftigma the extremity of the female organ; the ftylus the vagina; 



* the germen the ovarium ; the pericarpium the impregnated ovari- 



* um ; and the feeds the eggs *.' 



The moft plaufible fad in favour of the fexual hypothefis is deri- 

 ved from the culture of the date-bearing palm-tree. HafTelquiftf, and 

 fome other travellers, mention their having feen flowering branches 



of 



• Sponfalla Plantarum, in Amoen. Acad. vol. i. p. 103. 



f HalTelquift's Travels, p. 112. 416. Kerapfer. Amoen. p. 706. Tournefort 

 Ifag. p. 69. 



