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the lowerof the. Plma     for all, Its Ficyj isfound to
be the Pudendum, or principal Organ of Geinration; but
the ufe of fo much Mechanism, and fo, many Parts has been
but little kuow .-We fXall inftance in a Tulip.
Its Flower confifis of fix Petda, or Leaves X from the Bot-
torni whereof, at the middle, arifes a kind of Tube called the
Pihfil; and around this are difpofed pretty fine Threads called
Stamia, atifmg likewife from the Bottom of the Flower. and
terminating in little Bunches a-top, call'dApices, replete with
a fine DuR call'd Farina.-For the further Explanation of the
Parts of Generation fee PIsTIL, STAMEN, FARINA, &C.
This is the- general Structure of the Flowers of Plantsi
tho diverfified infinite Ways, and to fuch degree, that fome
have no fenfible PiNlH, others no Stamina, others have,
Stamina without any Apices; and what exceeds all the refit
,forne Plants have no Flowers.-But, allowing the StruCture
now reprefented to be, as in effe&t it is, the moft com mon ;
and that thefe Parts which feemn wanting are ufually only
lefs apparent: The Generation of Plants, in general, may
be well accounted for.
The Fruit is ufually at the Bafis of the Pif'il, fo that when
the PiKMil falls, with the reft of the Flower, the Fruit ap-
pears in its fleld.-Indeed, frequently, the Piftil is the Fruit
tlelf, but fill they have both the fame Situation in the
Centet of the Flower, whole Leaves difpofed around the
little Embryo, only feem defined to prepare a fine juice in
their little Vefels, for its Support, during the little Time
they laft, and it requires: tho Mr. Bradley takes their chief
Ufe to be to defend the Piftil, &c.
The Apices of the Stamina are little Capfuloe, or Bags full
of a Farina or Duft, which upon the Capfulx growing ripe
and burfting, fall out.
M. Tozrnefort took this Duaf to be only an Excrement of
the Food of the Frult, and the Stamina to be no more than
a kind of excretory Du&s, which filtrated this ufelefs MatA
ter, and thus dicharg'd the Embryo-Plant. But Mr. MAr-
land, M. Grof;oy, and others, find nobler Ufes for this Dauf.
According to their Syftem, 'tis this Duaf that falling on
the Pisil fecundifies the Grain or Fruit inclofed therein; and
hence they call it the Farina facundans.-Thus the Farina
Thould be the Male Part of the Plant, and the Piflil the Female.
Mr. Bradley, at the bottom of the Piftil of the Lilly, ob-
ferves a Veflel which he calls the Vterus, or Womb, where-
in are three Ovaries fill'd with little Eggs, or Rudiments of
Seed, like thofe found in the Ovaria of Animals; which, he
adds, always decay and come to nothing, unlefs impregnated
by the Farina of the fame Plant, or Come other of the fame
Kind.-The Stamina, he fays, ferve for the Conveyance of
the Male Seed of the Plant, to be perfefed in the Apices;
which when ripe, burfing forth in little Particles like Duaf,
fome of them fall into the Orifice of the Piffil, and are
either conveyed thence into the Utricle, to fecundify the fe-
male Ova, or lodg'd in the Pittil, where, by their magnetic
Virtue, they draw the Nourifhtnent from the other Parts of
the Plant into the Embryo's of the Fruit, making 'em fwell,
grow, &c.
The Difpofition of the Piffil, and the Apices about it, is
always fuch, as that the Farina may fall on its Orifice.-'Tis
ufually. lower than the Apices; and when we obferve it to
be grown higher, we may conjefture the Fruit has begun to
form itfelf, and has no further occafion for the Male Duaf.
Add to this, that as foon as the Work of Generation is over,
the Male Parts, together with the Leaves, fall off, and the
Tube leading to the Uterus begins to Ibrink. Nor muff it
be omitted, that the top of the Piftil is always either co-
ver'd with a fort of Velvet Tunicle, or emits a gummy Li-
quor, the better to catch the Duff of the Apices.-In Flowers
that turn down, as the Acanthus, Cyclamen, and the Im-
perial Crown, the Piffil is much longer than the Stamina;
that the Duft may fall from their Apices in fufficient Quan-
tity on the Piffil.
This Syffem favours much of that admirable Uniformity
found in the Works of Nature; and carries with it all the
feemingChara&erificks of Truth; but'tis Experience alone
muft determine forit.-Accordingly, M. Geoffroy tells us, that
all the Obfervations he had ever made, the Plant was ren-
dred barren1 and the Fruits became abortive, by cutting off
th Pitlils before the Duff could impregnate themn; which is
fice confirm'd by other Experiments of Mr. Bradley.
*In many kinds of Plnts, as the Willow, Oak, Pine, Cy-
pref?, Mulberry-Tree, &~c. the Flowers are flerile, and fepa-
rate from the Fruit. But thefe Flowers, M. Geoffroy obferves,
have their Stamina andA pices whofe Farina may eafily un-
pregnate the Fruits, which are not far off-:
Indeed there is fone Difficulty in reconciling this Syffeem
to a Species of Plant which bear Flowers without Fruits,
and another Spcedes of the fame Kind and Name which bear
Fruits without Flowers; hence d&ihnifh'd into Male and
Female: of *hich kind are the Palm-Tree, Poplar, Hemp,
Hops, &c.-er. how    Ahould the Farnof the Male, lere
come to impregnate the Seed of the Female?


Di Turneent ~h~eures tha thefine
i~ientuin, or D~own, always found on the
Plans, may ferve muflead of Flowers, andi
Impregnatiozq*4ut Di   eofe r  atli er tal~c
Wnd, doing the Office of a  ehicle, brin
the Males to the Females.
In this opinion he is confirm'd by a St
Pontaus; who relates, That in his Time
Palm-Trees, the one Malte, cultivated at B?
Female, in the Wood of Ott rant ur, is
that this latter was feveral Years without be
till at Length riling above the other Trees oj
as. it might fee (fays the Poet) the Mal,
Brindes, it then began to bear Fruit in abunt
Here, M. Geoffrey makes no doubt, the Tr
gan to bear Fruit, becaufe in a Condition
Branches the Farina of the Male, brought
Wind.
For the manner, wherein the Farina fecur
froj advances two Opinions.- I I' That the
ways found of a fulphurous Compofition, an
penetrating Parts, (as appears from its fprigh
ing on the Piflils of the Flowers; there rc
fubtileff of its Parts penetrating the Subifani
and the young Fruit, excite a Fermentation I
and unfold the young Plant inclofed in the
Seed.-ln this Hypothefis the Seed is fupt
the Plant in Miniature, and only to want a
unfold its Parts and make them grow.
The zd Opinion is, that the Farina of tf
firif Germ- nr BudRi- nf the new PIant and


unfold it and enable it to grow,,bu tthe Juice it finds pre..
pared in the Embryo's of the Seed.
Thefe two Theories of Vegetable Generation, the Reader
will obferve, bear a ffri& Analogy to thofe two of Animal
Generation: viz. either that the young Animal is in the
Sen  Mafcdlinum, and only needs the Juice ofthe Matrix to
cherifh and bring it forth; or that the Animal is contained
in the Female Ovum, and needs only the Male Seed to excite
a Fermentation, &rc. See C o N C E P T I O N, GrE NE R A-
T I 0 N, C-iC.
M. Geoffroy rather takes the proper Seed to be in the Fa-
rina X inafmuch as the bell Microfcopes don't difcover thy
leaft Appearance of any Bud in the little Embryo's of it
Grains, when examined before the Apices have fhed their
Diff.-In leguminous Plants, if the Leaves and Stamina bi
removed, and the Piflil, or that Part which becomes the
Pod, be viewed with the Microfcope, e'er yet the Flower
be opened; the little green tranfparent Veficula, which are
to become the Grains, will appear in their natural Order;
but fill fhewing nothing elfe but the mere Coat, or Skin of
the Grain. If the Obfervation be continued for feveral Days
fuccellively, in other Flowers, as they advance, the Veficula
will be found to fwell, and by degrees to become replete with
a limpid Liquor; wherein, when the Farina comes to be fhed,
and the Leaves of the Flower to fall, we obferve a little
greenifh  Speck, or Globule, floating about at large.--
At firfi there is not any Appearance of Organization in this
little Body; but in time, as it grows, we begin to diftin-
guifh two little Leaves like two Horns. The Liquor dini-'
niflies infenfibly, as the little Body grows, till at length the
Grain becomes quite opake; when, upon opening it, we find
its Cavity fill'd with a young Plant in Miniature * confifling
of a little Germ or Plumzla, a little Root, and the Lobes of
the Bean or Pea.
The manner wherein this Germ of the Apex enters the
Veficula of the Grain, is not very difficult to determine..
For, befides that the Cavity of the Piffil reaches from the top,
to the Embryo's of the Grains, thofe Grains, or Veficuli,
have a little Aperture corresponding to the Extremity of the
Cavity of the Piffil, fo that the fmall Duff, or Farina may
eafily fall thro' the Aperture into the Mouth of the Veflels,
which is the Embryo of the Grain.-This Cavity, or Cica-
tricula, is much the fame in mofi Grains, and 'tis eafily ob-
ferved in Peafe, Beans, &-c. without the Microfcope. The
Root of the little Germ is juft againfl this Aperture, and
'tis thro' this it paffes out when the little Grain comes to
germinate.
The Procefs of Nature in the Generation of Vegetables,
and the Apparatus fhe has contrived for that Purpofe are ro
curious, and withal fo little and fo lately known Among us,
that we'hall illuftrate them further with Figures; taking
the Melon for our Example, in regard the Parts of Genera-
tion are here very difin&.
By the, way it mull be obrved, that tho' the Melon
contains both Sexes, y the Difpiftion of the Organs dif-
firs, here, from the general onbve rehears'din the Inffahce
of the Tnli1: In tffe&, in the Melon are two diTii
Howers, or Blownis, the one doing the Ale Office, h
other the Female; which INe l     therore all the Md.
ad Fmae Floer.


* I