if it be allowed to call him an inventor, who understands the thing, but has not taught it in writing. 

 They contend that about the year 1676, he saw the whole mystery, and, in truth, not long after, 

 GREW and RAY,t both Englishmen, explained this matter farther. 



* 





* It perhaps may be objected to Linnaeus, that he did not clearly comprehend why this discovery is attributed to Millington, but it 

 is a known fact, that Linnaeus was unacquainted with the English language, and, therefore, could only receive his knowledge from the 

 report of others. The whole story has been fully explained in the last note. 



f Our illustrious countryman Rat was made, by the writings of Grew, a complete convert to the doctrine of the Sexes of Plants. In 

 his "Historia Plantarum," " History of Plants," published in 1686, Book I. Chap. X. " De floribus Plantarum, et primo de eorum Par- 

 tibus." " The Flowers of Plants and of their Parts." Speaking of the stamina, he expressly says, " Grevius noster non hunc tantum usum 

 stamina praestare opinatur, sed et pollinem ilium seu globulos quibus apices praegnantes sunt, qu6sque per maturitatem effundunt, spermatis 

 masculini instar seminibus foecundandis inservire existimat ; ac proinde maximam plantarum partem utriusque sexus participem esse. Quod 

 non adeo incredibile videri debet, cum et in Animalium gehere nonnulla androgyna observantur, ut v. g. Cochleae terrestres; quamvis quidem 

 in seipsis non generent, quo a plantis differunt. Nee obst'at, qubd particular hae (si modb sperma sint aut spermati analogae) in uterum aut 

 semina non penetrent, nam et in piscibus externe tantum ovis jam cditis inspergitur genitura, nee in ullo animalium genere, quod sciam, 

 ovarium intrat, at ne uterum, quidem ipsum in plerisque, sed solus ejus halitus et effluvia subtilia sufficiunt ad ova foecundanda, et embryon 

 intus conclusum vivificandum. 



" Haec si ita sint, non similitudine aliqua duntaxat, sed revera et stricte loquendo sexu differunt plantae illae, quarum aliae semen absque 

 flore, aliae (ab ejusdem plantae semine ortae) florem absque semine producunt. Tales sunt in Arborum genere Palma dactylifera, Salices 

 pleraeque ex nostra observatione, et secundum Plinium etiam Cedrus major: in Herbarum, Lupulus saliclarius, Cannabis, Cynocrambe, 

 Mercurialis, Phyllon, Urtica, Spinachia, Sesamoides Clusii, aliaque non pauca. 



" D. Grevii sententiam magnopere confirmant, quae de Palma dactylifera a Veteribus et Recentioribus traduntur, nimirum foeminas non 

 omnino fructificare, nisi mas juxta ipsas consitus fuerit : quin et pulverem maris foeminae aspersum earn foecundiorem reddere. Ni enim 

 Mgypt'u hoc fecerint (inquit Prosper Alpinus) sine dubio foeminae vel nullos fructus ferent, vel quos ferent non retinebunt, neque hi matu- 

 rescent. At inquies in arenosis et desertis, ubi nemo maris pulverem seu pollinem florum foemineo foetui aspergit, foeminae nihilominus foecundae 

 sunt. Immo verb ventorum beneficio, qui pulverem marium foeminis affiant." 



" Our countryman Grew supposes the stamina to perform the office of the male, and that the farina with which the anthers are filled, 

 and which separates from them when mature, serves the purpose of fructifying the pistillum, or female; and that the majority of plants are 

 bisexual; that is, contain bot h sexes in the same corolla. Not that plants, like the snail, and some other species of animals, are andro- 

 gynous, but are sufficient of themselves to produce their kind. Nor is there occasion, that the farina should pass into the gerrnen to the 

 seeds, but only an halitus, or subtile effluvia, which is capable of itself to vivify the included embrios. 



" Besides bisexual flowers, there are also others strictly unisexual, having the two sexes apart, for from the same sort of seed there 

 shall spring up two plants, whereof one shall bear only stamens or males, and the other only pistils or females. Of this kind are the date- 

 bearing palms, according to Pliny the large cedar, and from our own observation many of the willows ; and in herbs, the hop, hemp, mer- 

 cury, nettle, spinach, and a great many others. 



u What is reported by the ancients and moderns greatly confirm this opinion of Grew, respecting the date-bearing palm, that the 

 females do not fructify, unless the male be placed near them, or the farina of the male be dispersed over the female flowers (Plin. Hist. 

 Nat. Lib. 13. C. 4.) Unless the same was performed in Egypt,. without doubt the females would produce no fruit, or what they had they 

 would drop, or not ripen (Prosper Alpinus Lib. de Plant jEgypt.) It may be objected that dates are found in uninhabited spots, but 

 here the farina is wafted to the females by means of the wind." 



He, however, modestly ends with " Opinio autem haec de usu pollinis praedicti ulteriori adhuc confirmatione indiget ; nos ut verisimilem 

 tantum admittimus." u This opinion of Grew, of the use of the pollen before mentioned, wants yet more decided proofs ; we can only 

 admit the doctrine as extremely probable." But this was only his cautious manner of writing, as in the following passage, Lib. iv. Hist, 

 p. 156. where he treats of Herbs, " quarum fructus a floribus totis plantis distant, seu de Sexu distinctis." " On herbs, whose fruit is pro- 

 duced on plants separate from the male flowers, which are produced on other plants of the same kind," he writes "Plantae hac sectione com- 

 prehensae, si sexu revera non difFerant, prout nos opinamur, umbram saltern aut similitudinem quandam sexus obtinent, cum in eadem specie 

 nonnullae natura steriles sint, et seminis infoecundae ; aliae fertiles et semine praegnantes. Has nonnulli mares vocant, illas foeminas : alii rec- 

 tius illas mares faciunt, has foeminas. Semina enim plantarum Animalium ovis respondent, quae foeminae pariunt, non mares. C. Bauhinus 

 quas nos sexu tantum diversas statuimus, specie distinctas facit : minus recte ; cum ex ejusdem plantae semine utraeque oriantur: aequo enim 

 jure Virum et Foeminam species hominis distinctas facere potuisset." 



" Plants comprehended in this section, if they do not differ in sexes, a doctrine which we maintain, nevertheless they possess at least 

 the shade or similitude of sexes, since in the same species of plants some are found barren, produce no seed; whilst others are fertile, pro- 

 ducing seed. The latter some have called males, the former females : others, of which number we are, more justly make the barren males, 

 and the seed-bearing females. For the seeds of plants correspond to the eggs of animals, and what produces these are called females, not 

 males. Caspar Bauhine has made into distinct species, what we have given as only differing in sex, and badly, for from the same seed 

 both sexes spring; for with equal propriety might the man and woman be made distinct species." 



" In his subsequent work, u Synopsis Methodica Stirpium Britannicarum." " A Methodical Synopsis of British Plants," published 

 in 168Q, p. 52. when making the same class of British plants, where the sexes are distinct, in the proem, he openly declares, u Hinc col- 

 ligitur stamina non esse partem otiosam et superfluam, sed potius valde utilem et necessariam. Hinc enim confirmatur sententia opinan- 

 tium pulverem in apicibus staminum contentum, spermatis masculini vicem praestare." Hence it may be collected, that the stamina are not 

 an idle and superfluous part, but, on the contrary, very useful and necessary. This class of flowers confirms the opinion of those, who teach 

 that the dust contained in the anthers of the stamina performs the office of the male." 



I have been the more elaborate in this note to wipe away a very prevailing opinion, that our countryman Ray had doubts respecting the 

 seres of plants, because he hinted, as expressed above, that this doctrine should be established by experiments, as is here done by Linnaeus. 

 Ray's works throughout evince a true knowledge of the Sexes of Plants, and this doctrine owes much, as Linnaeus allows, to both Grew 

 and Ray. 



VAIL- 



