I839-] FERTILISATION OF FLOWERS. 433 



tions." It remained for my father to convince the world that 

 the meaning hidden in the structure of flowers was to be 

 found by seeking light in the same direction in which Spren- 

 gel, seventy years before, had laboured. Robert Brown was 

 the connecting link between them ; for although, according 

 to Dr. Gray,* Brown, in common with the rest of the world, 

 looked on Sprengel's ideas as fantastic, yet it was at his re- 

 commendation that my father in 1841 read Sprengel's now ■ 

 celebrated ' Secret of Nature Displayed.' f The book im- 

 pressed him as being "full of truth," although "with some 

 little nonsense." It not only encouraged him in kindred 

 speculation, but guided him in his work, for in 1844 he speaks 

 of verifying Sprengel's observations. It may be doubted 

 whether Robert Brown ever planted a more beautiful seed 

 than in putting such a book into such hands. 



A passage in the 'Autobiography' (vol. i. p. 73) shows 

 how it was that my father was attracted to the subject of fer- 

 tilisation : "During the summer of 1839, and I believe dur- 

 ing the previous summer, I was led to attend to the cross- 

 fertilisation of flowers by the aid of insects, from having come 

 to the conclusion in my speculations on the origin of species, 

 that crossing played an important part in keeping specific 

 forms constant." 



The original connection between the study of flowers and 

 the problem of evolution is curious, and could hardly have 

 been predicted. Moreover, it was not a permanent bond. 

 As soon as the idea arose that the offspring of cross-fertilisa- 

 tion is, in the struggle for life, likely to conquer the seedlings 

 of self-fertilised parentage, a far more vigorous belief in the 

 potency of natural selection in moulding the structure of 

 flowers is attained. A central idea is gained towards which 

 experiment and observation may be directed. 



Dr. Gray has well remarked with regard to this central 



* • Nature,' 1874, p. 80. 



f ' Das entdeckte Geheimniss der Natur im Baue und in der Befruch- 

 tung der Blumen.' Berlin, 1793. 

 43 



