ON THE MECHANISM OF FLOWERS. ' 85 



fully on it) to open the flower; but I doubt jnot there isinthis 

 part of the process some degree of electricity, which con- 

 tributes : as it is only in a particular state of the pollen, 

 that the stamen bends towards the pistil ; it now does so 

 but when the sun shines ; and if you shade the flower, you 

 stop the effect, at least prevent the other stamens proceeding 

 in turn. The mechanism that makes it move toward the 

 pistil is plain and evident: but that it should move only 

 when the pyllen is perfectly ripe, I must believe owing to 

 some electric attraction between the liquor of the pistil and 

 theflower of the stamen. Aboutthat time, if theantirrhinum 

 is watched, it is in perpetual motion in the interior; and Perpetual mo- 

 indeed this is the case with most flowers : but if one of the ^°VJ^ ^'^* '"' 

 stamens is abortive, this remains totally still though on 

 examination it has exactly the same mechanical formation, 

 by which the others are impelled toward the pistil*. I 

 sUall, when the season returns, give the tulip, the violet, 

 and the bianca, but I shall wait till they appear in summer, 

 in hopes to tempt young people of my own sex to follow me 

 in the examination. There are many flowers, the mechan- 

 ism of which is far more curious than thatof those already de- 

 scribed. But the contrivance evinced in the formation of 

 the stamens and pistils far exceeds that in the corolla. The 

 pistil pf the violet has a regular trap to catch insects. The Mechanism of 

 drop appears within a cup, when the juice is ripe; but if the pistil, 

 any fly attempts to place its proboscis within this cup to 

 plunder it, a bag draws up, and closes the entrance in so 

 quick a manner,' that the poor insect within breaks off the 

 part caught, or dies in consequence. But as it is only at 

 the time of the impregnation of the seeds, that the drop 

 appears, few are the victims of this mechanism. It is a 

 great mistake to suppose, that there are only a few flowers « 

 so formed. — There is hardly any one, which, has not some 

 contrivance to protect the chief part of the honey, to secure 

 the impregnation of the seed. Nature ordains, that the 

 insect tribe should take that which remains generally at the 



♦ Is not this a sufficient proof, that, though mechanism is neces- 

 sary to the motion of plants, the caust of this motion is something very 

 different from mechaaiam ? C 



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