Linnccan and Natural Systems. 51 



more amusing ; these are the wedded dames, who, in compas- 

 sion to their little husbands, slightly bend their elastic persons, 

 contemplate them for a moment, and afterwards raise themselves 

 erect, still bearing the marks of their yielding weakness. Such 

 are the loves of the Nigella, the Passiflora, and the Epilobium 

 Augustifolium, the pistils of which incline upon the stamina.] 



Linnaeus finally sums up a long series of arguments by say- 

 ing that the accumulated force of all that he has adduced amounts 

 to a full demonstration of his propositions ; and goes on to state 

 that when the flowers are in full blow, and the pollen flying 

 about, every one may see it adhering to the stigma, as the Pansy, 

 Bellflower and the Iris will show ; that the stamens and pistils 

 of most plants are of equal height, the former surrounding the 

 latter,so that by the intervention of the wind, disturbance of insects, 

 &c, the pollen may be properly scattered. They both flourish 

 at the same time. The flowers of most plants expand by the 

 heat of the sun, and shut themselves up in the evening or in rainy 

 weather ; the final cause of which must be to keep the moisture 

 from the pollen, lest it should be thereby coagulated, and of 

 course prevented from being blown upon the stigma. Many 

 plants that grow below water, emerge when their flowers begin 

 to blow, and swim upon the surface until fructified, when they 

 sink down to ripen their fruit 



We will close this part of the subject with some interesting 

 anecdotes, which, from their nature, have rested the Linnaean 

 doctrine on an immovable foundation ; a want of the knowledge 

 of which has sometimes caused great injustice, as shown in the 

 story of Baal, a gardener of Brentford, in England, told by Kay. 

 He had sold a large quantity of the seeds of the Brassica Flo- 

 rida to several gardeners in the suburbs of London. These 

 gardeners, after sowing their seeds in the usual manner, were 

 surprised to find them turn out to be a different species from 

 what Baal made them believe they had purchased ; for instead 

 of the Brassica Florida, the plants turned out to be the Brassica 

 Longifolia. The gardeners, upon making this discovery, com- 

 menced a prosecution of fraud against Baal in Westminster 

 Hall. The court found him guilty of fraud, and ordered him 

 not only to restore the price of the seed, but likewise to pay the 

 gardeners for their lost time and the use of their ground. " Had 

 these judges," says Linnaeus, " been acquainted with the sexual 



