Sex of Plants, 345 
^< from it being mixed with the JIm'd of 
the Jllgma, is conveyed to the rudiments 
of the yW/' 
I remark before I conclude, that, how 
jiifl foever it may have been in a philoib- 
phical view, to confider the jiamma and 
pijiih^ as anfwering to the refpedtive func- ■ 
tions of Jex in the animal kingdom^ it 
fhould not have been forpotten, that in ani- 
mals, this procefs is voluntary ; but that 
in vegetables, notwithftanding ail that the 
ingenuity of the antients and moderns have 
urged in defence of the fentient principle, 
we are not j'^/ jufafied in referring this pro- 
cefs to any other than what we are accuf- 
tomed to call a mechanical caufe. 
The principle of this it will not be ex- - 
pe£led that I fhould explain. It may be 
conjediured, that after a perfedl elaboration 
of the juices in the anthers and fiigmatay 
fome fpecies of attra(flion takes place be- 
tv/een them, perhaps of the eiedrical kind, 
fomewhat like this having been manifciled 
in the flafliings obfervable in fome flowers 
in the evenings. The reader will eafily 
perceive, that I refer to the appearance firfl 
