L lo ] 
Ijotanicon, and leceivcd fuch afliflance from the critical 
knowledge of his friend as probably could not elfewherc 
have been procured. 
In his eager fearch after botanical literature, he 
accidentally found Vaillant’s diffcrtation on the ftrudure 
of flowers, where fome mention is made of the ftamina 
and piftils, which had before been conftdered as i.nfigni- 
hcantly ufelefs, and where fomething is faid of a better 
theory. This, co-operating probably with his own 
obfcrv^tions, kindled the firft fpark of that luminous 
fyftem which has fince diffufed its influence wherever 
the light of literature has found its way. ffe compofed 
therefore a froall treatife on the fexcs of plants, full of 
erudition and novelty, and which fpeedily condu£led him 
to thofe honours and regards which his perfeverante and 
attainments fo jufty merited. 
The doflrinc that plants had diflinft fexes was by 
no means a new one: but it remained for Linn^us 
clearly to elucidate this obfeure and intricate fubjed, to 
demonflrate its univerfality, and to make it fubfcrvient 
to fyftem. Theophraftus and Ariftotle obferve (hat 
plants are commonly divided into male and female, one 
of which is fertile the other barren, “If the duft of the 
branch of a male palm be ftiaken over the female tree, 
fays Ariftotle, the fruit of the latter will ripen quickly," 
Piofeorides names feveral plants male and female, but 
without a knowledge of their relative fexe?, for he calls 
