early authorities regarding
this process of pollination is perfectly clear from their statements.
The stamens in most flowers were seen to surround the pistil, "and of
course the presumption was that they naturally shed the pollen upon the
stigma," as illustrated at B in my series. The construction of most
flowers certainly seemed designed to fulfil this end. But there were
other considerations which had been ignored, and the existence of color,
fragrance, honey, and insect association still continued to challenge
the wisdom of the more philosophic seekers. How remarkable were some of
those early speculations in regard to "honey," or, more properly,
nectar! Patrick Blair, for instance, claimed that "honey absorbed the
pollen," and thus fertilized the ovary. Pontidera thought that its
office was to keep the ovary in a moist condition. Another botanist
argued that it was "useless material thrown off in process of growth."
Krunitz noted that "bee-visited meadows were most healthy," and his
inference was that "honey was injurious to the flowers, and that bees
were useful in carrying it off"! The great Linnaeus confessed himself
puzzled as to its function.

For a period of fifty years the progress of interpretation was
completely arrested. The flowers remained without a champion until 1787,
when Sprengel began his investigations, based upon the unsolved
mysteries of color and markings of petals, fragrance, nectar, and
visiting insects. The prevalent idea of the insect being a mere idle
accessory to the flower found no favor with him. He chose to believe
that some deep plan must lie beneath this universal association. At the
inception of this conviction he chanced to observe in the flower of the
wild geranium (_G. sylvaticum_) a fact which only an inspired vision
could have detected--that the minute hairs at the base of the petal,
while disclosing the nectar to insects, completely protected it from
rain. Investigation showed the same conditions in many other flowers,
and the inference he drew was further strengthened by the remarkable
discovery of his "honey-guides" in a long list of blossoms, by which the
various decorations of spots, rings, and converging veins upon the
petals indicated the location of the nectar.

His labors were now concentrated on the work of interpretation, until at
length his researches, covering a period of two or three years, were
given to the world. In a volume bearing the following victorious titl