It ought Hot to be matter of furprife, that fo fraall a filare o f information fiiould have been com*
municated to the Public, by Linneus, with refpe£l to the extenfive genera o f fucufes and confervas/
It muft rather excite our aftonifiiment, that, in the iramenfe Chaos of the vegetable World, which
became harmonized and reduced to order by his arduous and unexampled alfiduity ; even the minu-
teft parts (hould have been brought forward, and feparated under fuch judicious and well-adapted
diftinélions ; that the progrefs o f inveftigation and arrangement, whatever theory may prevail as to
the mode o f propagation peculiar to each, muft be unqueftionably facilitated and promoted.
An appeal from any part o f a fyftcm, which from its diftinguifiied excellence has juftly fuperfeded
all others, muft appear under an unfavourable afpeéì. Yet it is to-be obfer.ved, that the principle
itfelf on which Linneus has eftabliihed his fyftem, did not by any means appear clearly afcertained
to its illuftrious author, as far as relates to that particular part o f vegetable hiftory which comes
under our prefent confideration : although from the definitions of the generic charaflers, which he
has given o f the fea plants, as well as from data laid down in fundry parts o f his works, hefiiows
how ftrongly inclined he was to extend his hypothefis, even to thofe undefined parts of vegetation,
which either from their extreme fimplicity or minutenefs, have vindicated the propriety o f their being
fixed under an anomalous arrangement, with refpefi to the fexual fyftem.’
We may not probably find in the whole circle o f Natural Hiftory, a work more adapted to convey
inftruÉUon, or which carries with it a fairer claim to preeminence, than the P h i l o s o p h i a
B o t a n i c a of this author: not merely as being the ground-work o f the fyftem it is meant to
eftablifii, or for the precifion and beautiful mode o f arrangement, which appears in every part o f it ;
but as affording fatisfailory proofs o f the importance of that fcience, which is fo evidently calculated
to difplay the wonderful CEconomy o f Creative Wifdom. It may in fome meafure counterbalance
the regret which muft naturally arife in the inquifitive mind, from the very fuccin6i and compendious
manner in which this work is comprifed, to find that many o f the moil important aphorifms contained
in it, have given rife to feveral interefting and philofophical difquifitions, publifhed under the
aufpices and approbation of Linneus himfelf, in a well-known work, entitled A m c e n i t a t e s ' A c a -
D EMIC .E . Among thefe, one tra6l in particular may be confidered as a curious and fatisfaélory il-
luftration o f thofe data on which the fexual fyftem more immediately depends.** Here we find
exemplified the prote£ling influence of Nature, adapted to all the varied exigencies o f Her extenfive
families. Among the inftances of this admirable CEconomy, we do not meet with one more fingular-
ly impreffive than that which occurs in the fubmerfed aquatic plants. Several o f thefe at the critical
period o f their florefcence, and at no other time, are obferved to emerge juft above the furface o f the
water, that the fertilizing effluvia, unobftrufled in the lighter medium o f the atmofphere, may without
interruption attain its deftined ftation : which end being accomplifhed, they foon after fubfide.
I f in plants o f this defcription, produced in tranquil waters, fuch extraordinary provifion for the
3 Mr.Hudfon, in his Flora A.nclica, has dcfcribed a much greater number of marine plants, than Linneus has given us from all the variou
parts of ihc World. Sec Sp. PI. Edit. rJ* Holm.
“ Sponfalia Plantarum.
r?
propagation
propagation o f their feveral fpecies is found to be expedient; and, on the other hand, the powers of
Nature, according to the doftrine laid down in the fyftem,* continue to a6l by general and unvarying
laws: it muft neceffarily occafion fome difficulty to account for the propagation o f that numerous
tribe o f plants, which though permanently fixed, and frequently at confiderable depths in the ocean,
find an element congenial to their mode of increafe.
But here our inquiries are no longer fupported by that analogy, which accompanies the known
laws and progrefflve ftate of vegetation. Upon tlie firft examination o f a marine plant, it muft appear’,
that the coraparifon, which has been made between the ladeal vefiels in animals, and the fibres
of roots in terreftrial plants, does not in any degree extend to the former. The roots o f the fucus, fo
far from preparing and diftributing the alimentary juices by abforbent vcffels, feem by their durable
and impervious texture, only calculated to fecure to themfelves a ftation. We find them attached
to the fmootheft ftones and other bodies, utterly incapable o f affording any kind o f nutrition. From
the evident properties o f their roots, as well as from their general ftru6ture, thefe plants do not feem
to poffefs a feries of veffels, by which the fluids are propelled. It is true, this defefl is in many fpecies
amply compenfated for, by numerous pores varioufly interfperfed throughout the furface of the
frons. To afcertain this fa£l, it has been ingenioufly remarked, that if a dried fpecimen be immerfed
in water, it will foon acquire its former tone and ftate: but if the experiment be only partially applied,
then that part, which is kept free from moifture, will continue arid and lifelefs.— A conclufive
aro'ument, that the fucufes, as far as the experiment has been made, do not poffefs any veffels, by
which the fluids may be diftributed, agreeably to the more ordinary procefs o f Nature.
It may in this place not be improper to examine the theory laid down by a celebrated French Natu-
ralift, in the early part o f the prefent century, relative to the florefcence, which has been afcribed to
thefe plants in common with ail others; ' and made a leading principle o f the fexual fyftem. Reaumur,
the author alluded to, imagined he had difcovered in the Fucus veficulofus, and in the Fucus
ferratus, both flowers and feeds: the former o f thefe, indiferiminately occupying the furface o f the
frons. I'le defcribes each flower, as a tuft o f extremely minute threads or filaments, the longeft of
them not being a line in length : yet after the moil accurate inveftigation, he acknowledges he was
not able to difcover the Tummits at the extremities o f thefe threads, fo neceffary to eftablilh the
funaioii o f the flamens; and of courfe was prevented from determining their precife charaaer. In
order to get over this difficulty, he confidently maintains the probability o f the fummits having fallen
off, at the time when the filaments firft difclofed themfelves: and further obferves, that thofe flowers
only, which are fituated at the extremities of the leaves, are inftrumental in promoting the grains or
feeds contained therein. The aperture, through which thefe threads appear, he confiders as the
4 “ Oiniiis fpecies Vesciabilium nocc et friiUu inflruitur; ctiam, ubi vifas cofdcm non affequitur.” Philofoph. Bot. Scft. 139.
“ Mufcorum femina Nos."
“ Fucoriim flores obfcrvavit Rtaumur. &c.” Ibid.
“ FlosomnisinllruiivirAntlicrisctStigmaiibus.” Ibid. SeU. 140. ct fcquent.
' Philofoph. Bot. An. Gall. 17U. p. 292.
calyx.