ASTUDENTATUPSAL. 21 



TouRNEFORT, the professor of Vail l ant, had been the greatest 

 systematical botanist. This man founded the system of division upon the 

 form and quality of the flower or blossom, a side from which French- 

 men are apt to consider many things ; and his method was predominant 

 at that epoch. 



By some lucky incident a small work of Vaillant on the struc- 

 ture of flowers, fell into the hands of Linn^us*. Till now he had 

 examined the plants by their bloom, according to Tournefort's sys- 

 tem ; but without granting implicit faith to the received usage ajid autho- 

 rity, he direfted his attention and enquiries on the remaining parts of the 

 plants, especially on their generative parts, the stamina and pistilla^ 

 which had, to that very hour, been considered as insignificant. The 

 flowers contain threads with a head at the top, commonly called the 

 stamina^ on which reposes a dust hag. The latter contains a floury dust, 

 which, in point of its destination is very analogous to the male seed of 

 animals. In the middle we generally find protuberances, which are 

 frequently jagged and glutinous in the upper part. These are the pis- 

 tilla, or dust-ways, which, with the stamina, or dust-threads, are the most 

 essential when a plant is to bear fruit. If the fruit is to turn out well, 

 the dust must fall out of the bag from the stamina or dust-threads on 

 the cicatrice or jagg, by which the fruftification is effefted. The sta- 

 mina or dust threads are therefore the male, and the pstilla or dust- 

 ways the female parts of plants. 



* Vaillant's Sermo de StntSlura Florum, Lugd, Batav. 171$. 



The 



