98 
POLLEN. 
whom this account of the pollen is translated,) “ if I should 
attempt to describe the varieties of appearances in the pollen." 
We have translated Mirbel’s minute investigation of the nature 
of the pollen for two purposes : one of which was to show you 
that wonders exist in nature which common observation cannot 
detect. You would scarcely have imagined that the yellow dust 
seen upon the lily or tulip, and scarcely visible upon many other 
flowers, should exhibit appearances so interesting, as to engage 
the attention of a learned philosopher to such an extent, and in such 
a number of experiments, that he should find it too long a task 
to enumerate all the phenomena which he had observed. It is 
to convince you that the field of observation in the works of na- 
ture is absolutely unlimited, that we have brought this subject 
before you ; for in general our limits at present, do not permit 
us to penetrate into the minute investigations which delight 
those who have passed beyond the first principles of natural 
science. 
Another purpose, and one more connected with our present 
object in what we have explained to you respecting the pollen, 
is to show its use in the vegetable economy. You have seen 
the effect of moisture upon the pollen ; you will recollect that 
the stigma was said to be imbued with a liquid substance, and 
that the anther, when ripe, opens its lids or valves, and throws 
out the pollen ; this, as the pistil is usually situated with regard 
to the stamens, falls upon the stigma ; swelled with the mois- 
ture which it there finds, each little sack of the pollen explodes, 
and the oily substance which it contains is absorbed by the stig- 
ma, and passes through minute pores into the germ. 
In the germ are seeds formed, but these seeds require the 
agency of the pollen to bring them to the perfection necessary 
for producing their species. You see now why the stamens and 
pistils are so essential to the perfection of a plant. Nature does 
not form a beautiful flower, and then leave it to perish without 
any provision for a future plant ; but in every vegetable pro- 
vides for the renewal of the same. 
The real use of stamens and pistils M as long a subject of dis- 
pute among philosophers, till Linnseus explained it beyond a 
possibility of doubt. They have from the most remote anti- 
quity been considered of great importance in perfecting the fruit. 
The Date Palm which M r as cultivated by the ancients, bears sta- 
mens and pistils on separate trees. The Greeks discovered that 
in order to have good fruit, it M r as necessary to plant the two 
kinds of trees near together, and that without this assistance the 
dates had no kernel and were not good for food. 
Its use in the vegetable economy — Real use of the stamens and pistils 
unknown till the time of Linmeus — 
