14 
foist upon organs and organisms a use or design, which further 
experience shows clearly was never intended. For example : 
That the pollen of flowers is destined to fall upon the stigmas 
in order to secure a development of seed is an undoubted and 
admitted fact. That the stamens should be in the same flowers 
as the stigmas was looked upon as an instance of perfection ; 
and flowers having all the members well represented were 
accordingly placed at the head of the list. Now in Dr. 
WhewelFs contribution to the Bridgewater Treatises, and in 
Archdeacon Paley's work on Natural Theology , these authors 
both allude to the statement attributed to Linnaeus, that 
pendulous flowers have their stigmas at a lower level than that 
of the anthers, so that the pollen may fall from them upon the 
former; while in erect flowers, the anthers, they say, are ele- 
vated above the stigma, so as to secure the same end. Now 
how much of this is true? how much is fact? The first state- 
ment, that pollen must fall on stigmas to secure seed, is the 
only one that will stand investigation ; and even that requires 
qualification, as we shall see. With regard to the second ; in a 
great many plants the “ sexes ” are separated; that is to say, 
in some, as the cucumber, the stamens are never in the same 
flower with the pistils. In others, as the yew-tree, willows, &c., 
the flowers bearing stamens are not even on the same tree or 
plant as those having the pistils. Now, with regard to the 
next statement brought forward by the late Master of Trinity, 
Cambridge, as an argument of design. This is true for some 
flowers, e.g,, tulip and fuchsia; but it is not true for crocus, 
mallow, and many others. In addition to this, some flowers 
furnish both conditions (primrose and loosestrife), and in others 
the pollen is so situated that it cannot possibly escape from its 
confinement without external mechanical agency, and which is 
effected artificially in nature by insects, as in orchidacese. These 
and other facts have led physiologists to discover a very different 
“use” or law in nature, and which. is expressed by saying 
that it is more beneficial for a stigma to receive pollen from 
the stamens of a different flower (of the same kind) than from 
those of the flower in which it is itself. Hence there is more 
reason for believing the “ intention ” to be that of securing the 
crossing of distinct flowers, as it is called, by the transmission 
of pollen from one to the other by insect and other agency ; 
without, however, excluding, in those cases where the two 
organs are together, the possibility of the pollen of any flower 
falling upon and so fertilizing the stigma of the same flower. 
Notwithstanding this, it has been discovered by Mr. Darwin 
that the pollen of Linum grandiflorum (scarlet-flax) is abso- 
lutely effete upon the stigma of the flower from which it (the 
