During Sprengel's time and even according to Joseph Gottlieb Kölreuter, insects were only accidental visitors to flowers. They were seen as thieves of nectar which was considered as a fluid meant to nourish the growing seed. It was believed that the flower was the place for the marriage of the male and female parts but it was generally believed that self-fertilization was the norm. Fertilization was understood by Kolreuter and he referred to pollen as "farina fecundens" (the "fertilizing flour"). Both Kolreuter and Sprengel believed in intelligent creation and used teleological explanations. Like John Ray, Sprengel too believed that the observation of nature was a kind of church service by beholding what "the wise Creator of nature had produced".