Flora Unveiled

The Two-Sex Model j 345

345 345

The Stamina with Meal abound,

And when the gentle Zephyrs blow,

They from their Double Summits throw

The Golden Dust around.

Which born by the propitious Winds,

About the Female Vessels spreads,

And round the Pointal’s [pistil’s] hollow Beds,

A glad Reception finds.

No anxious Thought their Love destroys,

They want no sable Night, to hide

The Blushes of the yielding Bride,

Fill’d with tumultuous Joys.^65

As we shall see in later chapters, the two- sex model of plants inspired many versifiers,

both for and against the new sexual theory.

Notes

1. In Novum Organum (1620), Francis Bacon promulgated the view that philosophy should
   employ inductive rather than deductive reasoning; that is, general principles should be based on
   scientific data, not the reverse.


2. Hunter, M. (1989), Establishing the New Science: The Experience of the Early Royal Society.
   The Boydell Press, pp. 261– 278.


3. The identity of the inventor of the compound microscope is uncertain. The Dutch father-
   son team of Hans and Zacharias Janssen, who were spectacle- makers, claimed credit for the
   invention, but, according to another theory, it was Galileo. Galileo’s telescope had been based
   on several similar instruments, one of them produced by Hans Janssen, that appeared in the
   Netherlands in 1608. Galileo improved on the original design and, in 1610, had used his telescope
   at close range to examine insect parts. The term “microscope” was coined by one of Galileo’s col-
   leagues at the Accademia dei Lincei, Giovanni Faber, in 1625. It is possible that Hans Janssen
   modified his telescope for use as a microscope independently at around the same time.


4. The lynx, a symbol of the new science of microscopy, was reputed to have exceptionally
   sharp vision.


5. Piccolino, M.  (1999), Marcello Malpighi and the difficult birth of modern life sciences.
   Endeavour 23:175– 179.


6. Adelmann, H.  (1966), Marcello Malpighi and the Evolution of Embryology, 5 volumes.
   Cornell University Press.


7. Based on the definition provided by Joachim Jung (1587– 1657), the term flos referred to “the
   somewhat tender part of the plant, conspicuous by reason of its color or form or both, which
   adheres to the rudiment of the fruit.” A “perfect” flos consisted of petals, stamens, and style, but
   not the ovary, which was equated with the fruit.


8. Elvin, M. (2015), Transferring the Impulse of Life: The Scientific Proof of Sexual Reproduction
   in Plants. Forthcoming. We are indebted to Professor Elvin, Professor Emeritus of Chinese