Book 4 - Anatomy of Leaves, Flowers, Fruits and Seeds

Anatomy of Leaves Anatomy of Flowers Anatomy of Fruits Anatomy of Seeds LECTURES Mixture Luctation Lixivial Salts Marine Salts Colours of Plants Tasts in Plants Salts in Water INDEX EXPLICATION OF TABLES TABLES

At a Meeting of the Council of the ROYAL SOCIETY, Feb. 22. 1681/2

Dr. Grew having read several Lectures of the Anatomy of Plants, some whereof have been already printed at divers times, and some are not printed; with several other Lectures of their Colours, Odours, Tasts, and Salts; as also of the Solution of Salts in Water; and of Mixture; all of them to the satisfaction of the said Society: It is therefore Ordered, That He be desired, to cause them to printed together in one Volume.

CHR. WREN P.R.S.

THE

ANATOMY

PLANTS.

WITH AN

IDEA

OF A

Philosophical History of Plants,

And several other

LECTURES,

Read before the

ROYAL SOCIETY.

By NEHEMJAH GREW M.D. Fellow of the ROYAL SOCIETY, and of the COLLEGE of PHYSICIANS.

Printed by W. Rawlins, for the Author, 1682.

TO HIS MOST

Sacred Majesty

CHARLES II.

King of Great Britain, &c.

May it please Your Majesty,

The Dedication of one Part of the following Anatomy having been very graciously received by Your Majesty: I am now emboldened most humbly to present the Whole into Your Royal Hands.

By which Your Majesty will find, That there are Terræ Incognitæ in Philosophy, as well as Geography. And for so much, as lies here, it comes to pass, I know not how, even in this Inquisitive Age, That I am the first, who have given a Map of the Country.

Your Majesty will here see, That there are those things within a Plant, little less admirable, than within an Animal. That a Plant, as well as an Animal, is composed of several Organical Parts; some whereof may be called its Bowels. That every Plant hath Bowels of divers kinds, conteining divers kinds of Liquors. That even a Plant lives partly upon Aer; for the reception whereof, it hath those Parts which are answerable to Lungs. So that a Plant is, as it were, an Animal in Quires; as an Animal is a Plant, or rather several Plants bound up into one Volume.

Again, that all the said Organs, Bowels, or other Parts, are as artificially made; and for their Place and Number, as punctually set together; as all the Mathematick Lines of a Flower or Face. That the Staple of the Stuff is so exquisitely fine, that no Silk-worm is able to draw any thing near so small a Thred. So that one who walks about with the meanest Stick, holds a Piece of Natures Handicraft, which far surpasses the most elaborate Woof or Needle-Work in the World.

That by all these Means, the Ascent of the Sap, the Distribution of the Aer, the Confection of several sorts of Liquors, as Lympha’s, Milks, Oyls, Balsames; with other parts of Vegetation, are all contrived and brought about in a Mechanical way. In sum, Your Majesty will find, that we are come ashore into a new World, whereof we see no end.

It may be, that some will say, into another Utopia. Yet not I, but Nature speaketh these things: the only true Pallas, wherewith it is treasonable for the most couriously handed Arachne to compare. In whose Name, I, the meanest of her Pupils, do in all humility crave Your Majesties Gracious Patronage. Whereof I cannot doubt, since Your Majesty hath been pleased to be the Founder, and to style Your Self the Patron of that Society, of which I have the honour to be a Member. Your Majesty deeming it to be a more Noble Design, To enlarge the Territories of Knowledge, than those of Dominion: and the Highest Pitch of Human Glory, not to rule, in any sort, over many; but to be a Good Prince over Wise Men. I am

Your Majesties most humble and most obedient Subject

NEHEMJAH GREW.

THE PREFACE.

It is a Politick or Civil Virtue in every prudent mans Eye, To set himself an example, in what he doth, unto others. And in so doing, he looks upon himself as accountable, in some sort, to all Men. To those therefore, who may either expresly, or tacitly, expect the Reasons, upon which I first undertook the Anatomy of Plants, and also made the after-progress therein; I shall summe them up as follows.

The first occasion of directing my Thoughts this way, was in the Year 1664, upon reading some, of the many and curious Inventions of Learned Men, in the Bodies of Animals. For considering, that both of them came at first out of the same Hand; and were therefore the Contrivances of the same Wisdom: I thence fully assured my self, that it could not be a vain Design; to seek it in both. And being then newly furnished with a good stock of Seeds, in order to raise a Nursery of Plants; I resolved, besides what I first aimed at, to make the utmost use of them for that purpose: that so I might put somewhat upon that side the Leaf which the best Botanicks had left bare and empty. And in which, notwithstanding some other Learned Men had inferred somewhat of this nature; as Dr. Highmore in his Book of Generation, Dr. Sharrock of the Propagation of Plants, and Mr. Hook in his Micrography: yet but collaterally, and whithout shewing any purpose of managing this Part of Natural History. And although it seemed at first an Objection in my way, That the first projectors seldome bring their business to any good end: yet I also knew, That if Men should stay for an Example in every thing; nothing extraordinary would ever be done.

But notwithstanding the reasonableness of the Design; yet I did not forget, that, in respect of the Undertaker, there might be Impar congressus. And therefore, before I had ventured very far, in the Year 1668, I imparted it to my Brother-in-Law, the Learned Dr. Henry Sampson, now Fellow of the Colledge of Physicians in London. Who not only very well liked the same; but also excited me to a vigorous and accurate prosecution of it. Which he did, partly, by mentioning a very pertinent passage of Dr. Glisson, in the Preface to his Book de Hepate, which I had not then read.

Plantæ quoque in hunc censum (sc. Anatomicum) veniunt; variâ enim Partium texturâ, & differentiis constant: & proculdubio, ex acurata earundem dissectione, utiles valde observationes nobis exurgerent: præstaretque in illis (inferioris licet ordinis) rebus examinandis operam impendere, quam in transcribendis ut sæpe sit, aliorum laboribus, inutiliter ætatem transigere. Quippe hoc pacto, ignavarum apum more, aliena duntaxat alvearia expilamus, nihilque bono publico adjicimus.

Ch. 1.

After I had finished the First Book, that I might know the sense also of other Learned Men, whether the steps I had already taken, would warrant me to proceed any further: I put some part of it into the same Hand; who, in the Year 1670, communicated the same to Mr. Oldenburge, then Secretary to the Royal Society: and after he had read it over, it was, upon his motion, delivered to that excellent Person Dr. John Wilkins then Bishop of Chester; who produced it at a Meeting of the Royal Society, and desired, they might see the rest. Which, or the greatest part, being also presented to them, the Right Honourable the Lord Vicount Brouncker, then President of the Royal Society, was pleased to peruse the same. Presently, after which, at a Meeting of the Council of the said Society, the following Order was made, and entred in their Council-Book with this Date, and in these words:

May 11ᵗʰ 1671.

Then was Licensed Dr. Nehemjah Grew’s Book, Entituled, The Anatomy of Vegetables begun; together with an account of Vegetation grounded thereupon. And Ordered to be Printed by the Printer to the Royal Society.

Hereupon, I was obliged to send the Book to the Press. And upon the 9ᵗʰ of November following in the same Year 1671, when it was near being printed, my Lord Brouncher signed the forementioned Order: the Printer, whose Name was to be inserted therein, not having received his Diploma till that time.

The Book being quickly after printed off; I ordered it to be Presented to the Royal Society; which was accordingly done at one of their Meetings December 7, 1671. And also to be sent to the Bishop of Chester; who was pleased to signifie his acceptance thereof by a Letter dated at Chester, December 26ᵗʰ 1671. now filed amongst others in the Custody of the Royal Society: part whereof, in regard it relates to matter of Fact, I shall here recite.

Sir,

I did yesterday receive your Book; and am very sensible of the Honour you have done me in the Dedication of it. You was very happy in the choice of this Subject to write upon; one of the most Noble and the most Copious parts of Philosophy; and such an one, as hath hitherto lain uncultivated. And you have been very successful in your first Attempt about it, in so many remarkable Observations and Discoveries, as you have made already. I could heartily wish, that you would still apply your self to this kind of Enquiries. You will find that Additionals will come in more copiously and easily. And it is not fit, that any one should, by his Superstructions, carry away the praise from him, who was the first Inventor, and who laid the Foundations, wherein the greatest difficulty doth consist, &c.

Having thus submitted my self to the Judgment of many Learned Men; I saw that my Journey must not here end. So that, like one who is got into a Wood, I thought I might as fairly find my way out, by going on, as by making a retreat. Whereupon, I began to draw up a Scheme of the whole Design.

While I was doing this, I received news from London, that the same day, December 7. 1671, in which my Book, then printed, was presented to the Royal Society: there was also presented a Manuscript (without Figures) from Seignior Malpighi, upon the same Subject; dated at Bononia, November, 1ˢᵗ 1671. the same, which Mr. Oldenburge, when it came to be printed, calleth his Idea. And of this, entry was made in their Journal Book. So that the Royal Society having now a Prospect of the good service of an Ancient Member, and one, who had highly merited by his Works then extant; from thence forward, I looked upon my self to be excused.

But soon after, receiving another Letter from the Bishop of Chester, dated at London, Febr. 18. 1672. I found the matter otherwise; and that the Society were pleased to engage me to proceed. Whereof entry was made by the Secretary in their Journal Book, at one of their Meetings, April, 18. 1672, in these words:

The Society was made acquainted with one particular lately passed in the Council; sc. That the Bishop of Chester had there proposed Dr. Grew to be a Curator to the Royal Society for the Anatomy of Plants: and that the Council had approved of that Proposal. Upon which, it was Ordered, That the Thanks of the Society be returned to the Lord Bishop of Chester, for this Proposal, and to the Council for their Approbation of the same.

This they might be induced to do; upon considering, that it would be no disadvantage to the credit of those matters, which were so new and strange, to be offered to the World from a double Authority. For one, although he may have no mind to deceive; yet is it more likely for one, than for two, to be deceived. Likewise, that the same Subject, being prosecuted by two Hands, would be the more illustrated by the different Examples produced by both. And that, as in other matters, so here, the defects of both, would mutually be supplyed.

Whether for these, or other Reasons also, they were pleased to pass the forementioned Order; that being done, it had been very ill manners in me, not to have answered their expectation therein. And therefore reassuming the Design I had laid by, and having reduced it to some intelligible Idea, it was submitted to the Censure of the Royal Society: and it was thereupon ordered it should be printed.

Not long after, I received a Curious and Learned Book from Mons. Dodart, Archiater to the Prince of Conde, and Fellow of the Royal Academy at Paris; in persuance of whose Order, it was by him composed and published. Which being a Design of a like Import, I was glad to see it so far justify’d by that Illustrious Society, as well as by our own.

In this Idea, one principal Thing I insist upon, for a Philosophical History of Plants, is Anatomy. And, agreeing to the Method therein proposed, all the Observations conteined in the First Book, except one or two, were made with the Naked Eye. To the end, I might first give a proof, How far it was possible for us to go, without the help of Glasses: which many Ingenious Men want; and more, the patience to manage them. For the Truth of these Observations, Seignior Malpighi, having procured my Book to be translated into Latin for his private use, speaks his own sense, in some of his Letters to Mr. Oldenburge, printed at the end of his Anatomy of Plants. And some of them, have since been confirmed, both by our Learned Country-men Dr. Wallis, and Mr. Lister; and by the Ingenious Mr. Lewenhoeck, abroad.

Having thus begun with the bare Eye; I next proceeded to the use of the Microscope. And the Observations thereby made, first on Roots, and afterwards on Trunks and Branches, together with the Figures, were all exhibited to the Royal Society at several times from May 15. 1672. to April 2. 1674; being the Materials for the Second and Third Parts: and hereof Memorials were inserted in their Journal Books.

After this, the Royal Society received from Seignior Malpighi his Second Part of the Anatomy of Plants, together with the Figures therein described, and his Letters to their Secretary, dated at Bononia Aug. 20ᵗʰ of the same year 1674. when, and not before, he gave leave that the two said Parts should be printed.

So soon as I had finished the Second and Third Parts, I proceeded to the Last, sc. of Leaves, Flowers, Fruits and Seeds: and those Things I met with, more remarquable, were presented to the said Society in the Years 1676 & 1677. And the publishing of the former Parts successively, as well as of all together, hath been done in pursuance of their several Orders for the same.

Having concluded the History of Perfect Plants; I intended to have subjoyned the Description of those which are Imperfect. As also of Parasitical, Marine, and Sensitive Plants. And lastly, a view of the chief Particulars, wherein the Mechanisme of a Plant, is different from that of an Animal. But these things I leave to some other Hand.

The First Book, a little after it came forth; was translated into the French Tongue, by Mons. Le Vasseur an Ingenious Gentleman in Paris; elegantly, and in the Judgment of those who are well skilled in that Language, with much exactness, as to the sense. He having taken special care, to have all the difficulties of our own, by Me, cleared to him. And in a late Book Entituled, Philosophia vetus & nova printed at Noriberg 1682. the Learned Author seems to have made use of this Translation, for all that he hath taken notice of in that my First Book.

By the Ingenious Collectors of the German Ephemerides, both my First, Second, and Third Books, are all published in Latine. But their unskilful Interpreter doth often fail of the Grammatical Sense. Whose Errors, many of them very gross, I desire may be imputed neither to them, nor to my self.

Besides these, the Second Lecture of Mixture is also translated into French, by Mons. Mesmin a Learned Physician in Paris: whose Version is very well approved by those who are competent Judges hereof.

This, and the rest which follow, are placed, not in the order of Time; but more according to their Nature or Relation one to another. All of them intended as a Commentary upon some particulars mentioned, either in the First Lecture, or in the Idea.

In the Plates, for the clearer conception of the Part described, I have represented it, generally, as entire, as its being magnified to some good degree, would bear. So, for instance, not the Barque, Wood, or Pith of a Root or Tree, by it self; but at least, some portion of all three together: Whereby, both their Texture, and also their Relation one to another, and the Fabrick of the whole, may be observed at one View. Yet have I not every where magnify’d the Part to the same degree; but more or less, as was necessary to represent what is spoken of it. And very highly, only in some few Examples, as in Tab. 40. which may suffice to illustrate the rest. Some of the Plates, especially those which I did not draw to the Engravers hand, are a little hard and stiff: but they are all well enough done, to represent what they intend.

IDEA

OF A

Philosophical History

PLANTS.

Read before the

ROYAL SOCIETY,

January 8. and January 15. 1672.

By NEHEMJAH GREW M.D. Fellow of the Royal Society, and of the College of Physicians.

=The Second Edition.=

LONDON,

Printed by W. Rawlins, 1682.

TO THE

Most Illustrious

THE

ROYAL SOCIETY,

The following

IDEA

Is most HUMBLY

PRESENTED.

AND,

In their NAMES also

PROPOSED

TO THE

CONSIDERATION

Of other

Learned Men.

By the AUTHOR

NEHEMJAH GREW.

THE CONTENTS.

Unto what Degree the knowledge of Plants is arrived, §. 1. Wherein defective, §. 2. Why concluded to be so, §. 3. Yet capable of Improvement, §. 4. And worthy of it, §. 5.

Divers Instances given, wherein; first of the Organical Parts, as to their external Accidents and Oeconomical Uses, 6. Then of their Contents, Qualities, and Powers, 7. And an Improvement of this Part, will further that of divers other parts of knowledge; whereof Instances are given, 8.

In order whereto, Five General Means are propounded, 9. The First, a particular and comparative Survey of whatever is of more External consideration about Plants, 10. Instanced as to their Figures, 11, 12. Proportions, 13. Seasons, 14. Places, 15. Motions, 16.

The Second, A like Survey of the Organical Parts by Anatomy, as that which is very necessary, 17. In what manner to be prosecuted, both without, and with the Microscope, 18. What thereupon to be observed, 19. And what, from observantion made, probably attainable, 20.

The Third, A like Survey of the Contents of Plants; their several Kinds, 21. Of all which, their Receptacles, 22. Motions, 23. Qualities, 24. Consistence, 25. Colours, Smells, and Tastes, 26. Where also the same Qualities are to be inquired into, as generally belonging to Plants, 26. As their Colours, 27. Odours, 28. Tastes, 29. Also their Faculties, 30. All these to be further examined, 31. By Contusion, 32. Agitation, 33. Frigifaction, 34. Infusion, 35. Subsession, 36. Digestion, 37, 38. Decoction, 39. Destillation, 40. Arefaction, 41. Assation, 42. Ustion, 43. Calcination, 44. By Composition with other Bodies, 45. And by Compounding the Experiment it self, 46. What hence attainable, 47.

The Fourth, A like Survey of the Principles, as well as of the Contents, of the Organical Parts, 48. The Difficulty hereof, in some respects cleared, 49. Further, by two Instances, 50, 51. Some Remarques hereupon, of the Principles of Plants, 52. From hence will be attainable a further knowledge of the Modes of Vegetation, 53. Of the Qualities of Vegetables, 54. And of their Powers, 55, 56.

The Fifth, A like Survey of those Bodies, either from which these Principles are derived, or wherewith they have any communion, 57. Which are Four in general, soil, Earth, and all solid Receptacles, 58. Water, and all liquid Receptacles, 59. Aer, 60. And Sun, 61.

A Sixth General Inquiry, only hinted, 62.

The Conclusion, 63.

IDEA

OF A

Philosophical History

PLANTS.

IF WE take an account of the Degrees whereunto the Knowledge of Vegetables is Advanced, it appeareth, That besides the great Varieties, which the Successful Arts of Florists, or Transplantations from one Climate to another, have produced; we have very many Species brought to light, especially Natives of the Indies, which the Ancients, for any thing that appears in their Writings now extant, were ignorant of. In which particular Clusius, Columna, Baubinus, Boccone, and others, have performed much. Withall, That their Descriptions (of all Parts above ground) their Places and Seasons, are with good diligence and preciseness set before us. Likewise their Order and Kindred: for the adjusting whereof our Learned Countryman Mr. Ray, and Dr. Morrison, have both taken very laudable pains. As also the ordering of them with respect to their Alimental and Mechanick Uses; for which, amongst others, Mr. Evelyn and Dr. Beal have deserved many thanks, and great praise. We are also informed, of the Natures and infallible Faculties of many of them. Whereunto so many as have assisted, have much obliged their Posterity.

2. §. By due Reflection upon what hath been Performed; it also appears, what is left Imperfect, and what Undone. For the Virtues of most Plants, are with much uncertainty, and too promiscuously ascribed to them. So that if you turn over an Herbal, you shall find almost every Herb, to be good for every Disease. And of the Virtues of many, they are altogether silent. And although, for the finding out, and just appropriation of them, they have left us some Rules, yet not all. The Descriptions likewise of many, are yet to be perfected; especially as to their Roots. Those who are very curious about the other Parts, being yet here too remiss. And as for their Figures, it were much to be wished, That they were all drawn by one Scale; or, at most, by Two; one, for Trees and Shrubs; and another for Herbs. Many likewise of their Ranks and Affinities, are yet undetermined. And a great number of Names, both English and Latine, not well given. So what we call Goat’s-Rue, is not at all of kin to that Plant, whose Generical Name it bears. The like may be said of Wild-Tansy, Stock-July-Flowers, Horse-Radish, and many more. So also when we say Bellis Major, & Minor, as we commonly do, these Names would intimate, That the Plants to which they are given, differ (as the great double Marigold, doth from the less) only in Bulk: whereas, in truth, they are two Species of Plants. So we commonly say, Centaurium Majus & Minus, Chelidonium Majus & Minus, and of others in like manner, which yet are distinct Species, and of very different Tribes. But for the Reason of Vegetation, and the Causes of all those infinite Varieties therein observable (I mean so far as Matter, and the various Affections hereof, are instrumental thereunto) almost all Men have seemed to be unconcerned.

3. §. That Nothing hereof remaineth further to be known, is a Thought not well Calculated. For if we consider how long and gradual a Journey the Knowledge of Nature is; and how short a Time we have to proceed therein; as on the one hand, we shall conclude it our ease and profit, To see how far Others have gone before us: so shall we beware on the other, That we conceive not unduly of Nature, whilst we have a just value for Those, who were but her Disciples, and instructed by Her. Their Time and Abilities both, being short to her; which, as She was first Designed by Divine Wisdom; so may Her vast Dimensions best be adjudged of, in being compared Therewith. It will therefore be our Prudence, not to insist upon the Invidious Question, Which of Her Scholars have taken the fairest measure of Her; but to be well satisfied, that as yet She hath not been Circumscribed by Any.

4. §. Nor doth it more behove us to consider, how much of the Nature of Vegetation may lie before us yet unknown; Than, to believe, a great part thereof to be knowable. Not concluding from the acknowledged, much less supposed Insuccessfulnes, of any Mens Undertakings: but from what may be accounted Possible, as to the Nature of things themselves; and from Divine Providence, by Infinite Ways conducting to the knowledge of them. Neither can we determine how great a part This may be: Because, It is impossible to Measure, what we See not. And since we are most likely to under-measure, we shall hereby but intrench our Endeavours, which we are not wont to carry beyond the Idea, which we have of our Work.

5. §. And how far soever this kind of Knowledge may be attainable, its being so far also worthy our attainment will be granted. For beholding the Many and Elegant Varieties, wherewith a Field or Garden is adorned; Who would not say, That it were exceeding pleasant to know what we See: and not more delightful, to one who has Eyes, to discern that all is very fine; than to another who hath Reason, to understand how. This surely were for a Man to take a True Inventory of his Goods, and his best way to put a price upon them. Yea it seems, that this were not only to be Partaker of Divine Bounty; but also, in some degree, To be Copartner in the Secrets of Divine Art. That which were very desireable, unless we should think it impertinent for us to design the Knowing of That, which God hath once thought fit to Do.

6. §. If for these, and other Reasons, an inquiry into the Nature of Vegetation may be of good Import; It will be requisite to see, first of all, What may offer it self to be enquired of; or to understand, what our Scope is: That so doing, we may take our aim the better in making, and having made, in applying our Observations thereunto. Amongst other Inquiries therefore, such as these deserve to be proposed. First, by what means it is that a Plant, or any Part of it, comes to Grow, a Seed to put forth a Root and Trunk; and this, all the other Parts, to the Seed again; and all these being formed, by continual Nutrition still to be increased. How the Aliment by which a Plant is fed, is duly prepared in its several Parts; which way it is conveyed unto them; and in what manner it is assimilated to their respective Natures in them all. Whence this Growth and Augmentation, is not made of one, but many differing Degrees, unto both extremes of small and great; whether the comparison be made betwixt several Plants, or the several Parts of one. How not only their Sizes, but also their Shapes are so exceeding various; as of Roots, in being Thick or Slender, Short or Long, Entire or Parted, Stringed or Ramified, and the like: of Trunks, some being more Entire, others Branched, others Shrub’d: of Leaves, which are Long or Round, Even-edg’d or Escallop’d, and many other ways different, yet always Flat: and so for the other Parts. Then to inquire, What should be the reason of their various Motions; that the Root should descend; that its descent should sometimes be perpendicular, sometimes more level: That the Trunk doth ascend; and that the ascent thereof, as to the space of Time wherein it is made, is of different measures: and of divers other Motions, as they are observable in the Roots, Trunks, and other Parts of Plants. Whence again, these Motions have their Different, and Stated Terms; that Plants have their set and peculiar Seasons for their Spring or Birth, for their Full Growth, and for their Teeming; and the like. Further, what may be the Causes as of the Seasons of their Growth; so of the Periods of their Lives; some being Annual, others Biennial, others Perennial; some Perennial both as to their Roots and Trunks; and some as to their Roots only. Then, as they pass through these several Seasons of their Lives, in what manner their convenient feeding, housing, cloathing or protection otherwise, is contrived; wherein, in this kind and harmonious Oeconomy, one Part, may be officious to another, for the preservation of the health and life of the whole. And lastly, what care is taken, not only for themselves, but for their Posterity; in what manner the Seed is prepared, formed and fitted for Propagation: and this being of so great concernment, how sometimes the other Parts also, as Roots, in putting forth Trunks; Trunks in putting forth Roots; yea in turning oftentimes into Roots themselves; whereof, in the Second Book of the Anatomy of Plants, I shall give some instances. With other Heads of Inquiry of this kind.

7. §. Nor are the Natures, Faculties, and Contents of Vegetables less various, or a particular Inspection hereinto, of less concernment. For since All, or Most, seem to grow in the same manner, with one Sun, one Rain, indifferently well upon one Soil, and, to outward appearance, to have the same Common Parts; it may be asked, How it comes to pass that their Liquors, or other Contained Parts, are of such different Kinds; one being Watry, another Winy, a third Oily, a fourth Milky, and the like. How also there is such a variety in their Sensible Qualities, as their Colours, Tastes, and Smells; what those Materials are, which are necessary to the Being of these Qualities; and those Formalities, wherein their Essence doth consist; as what it is that makes a Plant, or Flower, to be white or red; fragrant or fetid; bitter or sweet; or to be of any other Colour, Smell, or Taste. In like manner, their Faculties and Powers, what that is, or those things are, by which they are constituted; as whence one becomes Purgative, another Vomitory, a third Diaphoretick, &c., These, I say, with many other particular Inquiries depending hereupon; as they cannot but much oblige the Reason of Man to be obsequious to them, so by bringing in, at least, some satisfaction, will no less reward it. Especially, if it be withal considered, that besides our satisfaction as to the Nature of Vegetation; some further Light, to divers other parts of Knowledge, may likewise hence arise.

8. § For since the present Design will ingage us, to an accurate and multifarious Observation of Plants; we may hereby be enabled to range and sort them with more certainty, according to the Degrees of their Affinity. And all Exoticks, Plants or Parts of Plants, may probably be reduced to some such Domesticks, unto which they may bear the best Resemblance. Again, it may frequently conduct our minds to the consideration of the State of Animals; as whether there are not divers material Agreements betwixt them both; and what they are. Wherein also they may considerably differ, and what those things are which are more essential to their distinguishment. And besides, not only to compare what is already known of both; but also, by what may be observed in the one, to suggest and facilitate the finding out of what may yet be unobserved in the other. So also the consideration of the Colours, Smells, and Tastes of Vegetables, may conduce to the Knowledge of the same Qualities in General; or of what it is, that constitutes them such, in any other Body: not as they are actually received by Sense; but so far, as such Materials or external Circumstances, are requisite to their becoming the Adequate Objects thereof. It may lead us also to inquire into further Ways of Cultivation, with respect to the whole Plant, or to the Flower, Fruit, or other Part: To amend them as to their Sizes, Colours, Tastes, Fruitfulness, or otherwise: To think of other Ways of Propagation; or to apply those already known to other Plants than hath been used. Likewise the Knowledge of their Mechanical Uses may hereby be enlarged; both as to the Reason of their use, in such particular Trades and Manufactures, already known; and the discovery of other uses yet unknown. As also their Alimental, with respect both to Meats and Drinks; the preparation of some, and the finding out of others. But especially their Medicinal; some Plants which have hitherto been neglected, may be applied to use; the Perverted uses of some, and the Confused uses of others, may be rectified. What may best correct their Malignancies, or inforce their Virtues; When needful to add the preparations of Art to That of Nature; How to Enlarge those of Art, and Rectifie those which are indeed Inartificial, may hereby be better conjectured. The knowledge of all which, that we may know how far it is accessible, and what probable Approaches may be made towards it; those several Means I have thought of, and suppose necessary thereunto, are next to be proposed.

9. §. Reflecting then upon the present Design, and seeing this to lie wide; we shall, in the first place, conclude the Means attending thereon, should do so likewise. Wherefore, although some may present themselves unto us as more promising; yet let us suppose what several Persons, were they hereunto engaged, each according to his Sense and Genius, would possibly make choice of. Believing, that although Considering Men may vary, in the approval of their own Sense and Notion; yet not always mearly, because it is their own; but because each, may probably see somewhat more in his own, than others do. Wherefore it will be our surest Logick to conclude, Not because no Mean may be approved by all Men, that all Means should be rejected; but rather, because each may be approved by some, that therefore, all be made choice of. And these, I think, may be comprehended under Five General Heads of Enquiry. First, Of those Things, which are of more External Consideration about Plants, as their Figures, &c. Secondly, Of their Compounding Parts, as Vessels, &c. Thirdly, Of their Liquors, and other Contents. Fourthly, Of their Principles, as Salts, &c. Fifthly, Of their Aliment, as Water, and other Means of Growth.

10. §. AND FIRST of all, whatever is of more External Consideration, ♦ The First General Mean. ♦ as the Figures, Proportions, Motions, Seasons, Situations of Vegetables, and of their several Parts, should be observed. In doing which, a particular survey of all their Varieties should be taken. And then a Comparison made betwixt these, and the several Plants, or Parts of Plants, whereof they are the Properties. To the end, We may, if possible, be thereby conducted to find out, what other, either sensible, or more recluse Property, any of them may agree together in. For it is not more certain, that the three Angles of every Rectilinear Triangle, because all ways equal to two Right Angles, are therefore, if put together, always the same: than that one Property, agreeing to divers Vegetables, should have one Cause: For although the Scope and End may vary; yet the Cause, as it is the Cause of that Property, must be one: and consequently, must also import some Identity in the Nature of all those Vegetables wherein it Acts. Wherefore by thus comparing of them, we shall be able more exactly to state the Orders and Degrees of their Affinities; Better to understand both the Causes and Ends of their Varieties: And more probably to conjecture of their Natures and Vertues.

11. §. First then the various Figures of their several Parts should be observed; and that with respect both to the Forms, and the Positions, by which their Roots, Trunks, Branches, Leaves, Flowers, Fruits, and Seeds may vary, or agree; and those several Lines, by which both the said Varieties are determin’d. In which of these Parts, the agreement chiefly lies; this being both more observable, and more material in some of them; less in the Root, more in the Flower, or Seed. And in how many of these Parts together; whether one, more, or all. By both which, the Orders and Degrees of Affinity, which are many, may be accounted; either as to what we strictly call Kindred, or else Analogy. For there are found, not only Herbs accounted of several Tribes, which are ally’d; and some of the Smallest, which are of kin to the Greatest: But there are also, probably, some Herbs, which have a particular Relation, to many Kinds of Shrubs; and some Shrubs, to many Kinds of Trees. Thus the several sorts of Letuce, are of Kin, together in the First Degree; with Endive, in the Second. The several Clarys, amongst themselves in the First; with Horehound, in the Second; with Lamium, in the Third. All Strawberries agree together, in the First Degree; with Cinquefoyl, in the Second; with Tormentil in the Third; and with Avens, &c. in other Degrees more remote. So Agrimony, hath alike Analogy unto Strawberry; as Goats-Rue, hath to Claver: And Strawberry, the like unto the Rasp; as Goosberry to the Vine; or Burnet, to the Rose. Amongst the several Sorts of Grass, there are some which match all those of Corn; which is but a greater kind of Grass. So again all Pulse, are not only of kin, in their several Degrees, to one another; but likewise, to almost all kinds of Trefoyls, as Melilot, Fœnugreek, and the common Clavers themselves; as by comparing not only their Leaves, but Flowers, Seeds, and Cods together, may be evident. For the several parts of the Flower of a Trefoyl, are so many more Flowers, containing so many Cods of small Seeds, all, in shape, agreeable to the Flowers, Cods, and Seeds of Pulse. The same Relation, which Trefoyls have to the Peas or other Pulse; Colts-foot, hath to Buttyr-Bur; Chickweed to Leucanthemum; Groundsell, to Jacobæa; or Scorodonia, to Foxglove: Or, to go higher, as the Leguminous Kinds of Herbs, have to Sena, or some other of the Lobed Shrubs and Trees. And, as among Animals, there are some which connect several Kinds; as the Batt doth Beasts and Birds: So, among Plants, there are some also, which seem to stand between two Tribes; as Lappa, between Knapweeds and Thistles; Lampsana, between the Intybaceous Kind, and the Mouse-ears.

12. §. From hence likewise, the Natures of Plants may be conjectured. For in looking upon divers Plants, though of different Names and Kinds; yet if some affinity may be found betwixt them, then the Nature of any one of them being well known, we have thence ground of conjecture, as to the Nature of all the rest. So that as every Plant may have somewhat of Nature individual to it self; so, as far as it obtaineth any Visible Communities with other Plants, so far, may it partake of Common Nature with those also. Thus the Wild, and Garden Cucumers, have this difference; that the one purgeth strongly, the other, not at all: yet in being Diuretick, they both agree. The Natures of Umbelliferous Plants, we know, are various; yet ’tis most probable, that they all agree in this one, scil. in being Carminative. The several sorts, both of Corn and Grass, are all akin; there is no doubt therefore, but that the Seeds of Grass themselves (of Rye and Oats it is tryed) if it were worth the while to order them, as Barley, would yield an inflammable Spirit. So likewise the several Kinds of Pulse, have some one community in their Form, as is said: for which reason, I question not, but that in some Cases, wherein Cicers are esteemed a good Medicine; a Decoction of the better sort of Pease, especially that we call the Sugar-Pease, may go beyond them. As doth also the Flower or Meal of Beans, that of the Seeds of Fœnugreek; even there, where they are accounted excellent. So Tulips, Lillies, Crocuses, Jacynths, and Onions themselves, with many others, in their several Degrees, are all allied. If therefore Crocuses, Onions, Lillies, agree in one or more Faculties, then why may not all the rest? as in being Anodyne; or in some other Common Nature; whereby, in their Vegetation, their Parts are Governed and Over-ruled, to one Common or Analogous Form.

13. §. The Proportions likewise, amongst the several Parts of Vegetables, for the same Reasons, deserve to be observed; the comparison being made, both betwixt the Parts of several Plants, and the several Parts of one. And here again, either betwixt any Two of the Parts, or any One of them, and the Whole besides, or all the rest put together. So some larger Seeds, produce a small Root; as those of Cucumer: and others smaller, produce one very great; as those of Bryony. Some Plants, as the Melon, though themselves but very slender, yet have a vast and bulky Fruit; others again, as Thistles, and many yet more substantial, have no other Fruit, besides their Seed. So the Seeds of all Pulse, and especially, the Garden Bean, though large, yet produce but a small Plant: but those of Foxglove, Mullen, Burdock, Sun-flower, &c. being themselves much less, do yet produce a far greater. And especially, those Seeds, which are inclosed in the Thicker sort of Cover, (analogous to that I have elsewhere called the Secondine) as that of Peony; ♦ Anat. Plant. Book I. Chap. ult. ♦ whose Seed, so called, is only the Nest wherein the true and real Seed is lodged, no bigger than a little Pins head: which is also observable of the Seeds of divers other Plants. These, and the like Proportions, as they lie betwixt the several Parts, should be noted: and to what Plants or Parts especially, any of them may agree: comparing also in what other kind of Properties an agreement betwixt the said Parts may be found: that so doing, we may, if possible, amongst all their Individual Natures, be instructed to single out those Common Ones, which are concomitant to such Agreeing Properties.

14. §. The several Seasons also of Plants, and of their Parts, should be considered. Observing at what particular Times of the Year, any of them chiefly Spring, Early or Late. The Times wherein they Germinate; whether for some Space only, or all the Year long. Wherein they Spring, after Sowing; or Flower, after Springing, sooner, or slower. Which Flower, the first Year, or not till the second. Which after the Leaves are put forth, or before them; for so, some do, as the Crocus Vernus, Bears-foot, Hepatica aurea, and others; all the Leaves, at the time of their flowering, being old, or of the foregoing Year’s growth. So likewise the Maturation of the Fruit or Seed; how long after the Flower, and the like. All or some of which Varieties, being laid together, we may probably conjecture the Causes thereof, and the Natures of the Plants in which they are seen: scil. as such a Degree of Heat may be necessary for the Fermentation, or the better Distribution of the Sap of such a Plant; or for the Impregnation of the Aer, to be mixed therewith; or the due Disposing of the Soil, to render the most convenient Aliment thereunto. So the Principles of such Plants, which flower all the Year, may be more equally proportion’d. Those which flower before the Leaves put forth, as the Crocus Vernus, and those which flower in Spring, may be accounted Rank, and full of Volatile Salt. But Autumn Plants especially, to abound with a Fixed: and the like.

15. §. The proper Places also of Plants, or such wherein they have, from their Seeds, or other way of Propagation, a Spontaneous growth, should be considered. And that as to the Climate; whether in one Colder, Temperate, or more Hot. The Region; Continent, or Island. The Seat; as Sea, or Land, Watry, Boggy, or Dry; Hills, Plains, or Vallies; Open, in Woods, or under Hedges; Against Walls, rooted in them, or on their Tops: and the like. And perhaps the Seeds of some Plants, as of Mosses, (which, through their smallness, will ascend like Moths in the Sun) may fly or swim for some time, in the Aer, viz. till they begin to shoot, and so become heavy enough, to fall down upon the Ground. From whence, in like manner, as from their Seasons, their particular Natures may be directed unto. In that, so far as we may conjecture the nature of such an Aer, Soil, or Seat, we may also of such a Plant, to which they are congenial.

16. §. So likewise, those many Varieties observable in the Motions of Plants, and of their Parts, both Kinds and Degrees; Ascending, Descending, and Horizontal; Rectilinear, and Spiral Motions, should be noted; to what Plants they agree, and wherein any of these Motions may be analogous to those of Animals. And in a word, any other Forensick Properties of Plants. And then, to Compare them all together; both being necessary. For Thoughts cannot work upon nothing, no more than Hands. He that will build an House, must provide Materials. And on the contrary, the Materials will never become an House, unless, by certain Rules, we joyn them all together. So, it is not, simply, the Knowledge of many things, but a multifarious Copulation of them in the Mind, that becomes prolifick of further Knowledge. And thus much for the first General Mean.

17. §. THE NEXT which I propose, and that a most necessary one, is Anatomy. ♦ The Second General Mean. ♦ For when upon the Dissection of Vegetables, we see so great a difference in them, that not only their Outward Figures, but also their Inward Structure, is so Elegant; and in all, so Various; it must needs lead us thus to Think, That these Inward Varieties, were either to no End; or if they were, we must assign to what. To imagine the first, were exceeding vain; as if Nature, the Handmaid of Divine Wisdom, should with Her fine Needle and Thred, stitch up so many several Pieces, of so difficult, and yet so groundless a Work. But if for some End, then either only to be looked upon, or some other besides. If for this only, then this must be such as in respect whereof, Her Work is at no time, nor in any degree frustrate; the contrary whereunto, is most manifest. For although Men do every where, with frequent pleasure, behold the Outward Elegancies of Plants; yet the Inward Ones, which, generally, are as Precise and Various as the Outward; we see, how usual it is, for the beholding of These, to be omitted by them. And besides, when we have observed Nature’s Work, as well as we can; it may be no impediment to our best Endeavours, to believe, That some Parts of it, will still remain behind, Unseen. So that if to be Seen, were the only End of it, it must needs be wholly frustrate, as to the greater number of Men; and, in some part, as to all. Wherefore, we must suppose some other Ends of the said Varieties, which should have their Effect, and so These, not be in vain, whether Men beheld them or not; which, are, therefore, such as have respect to Vegetation: That the Corn might grow, so; and the Flower, so, whether or no Men had a mind, leisure, or ability, to understand how.

18. §. If then the Anatomy of Vegetables be so useful a Mean, we ought not to streighten it; but to force this, as well as the rest, to its utmost Extent. And therefore, first of all, To go through all the Parts, with equal care; examining the Root, Trunk, Branch, Leaf, Flower, Fruit, and Seed. Then to Repeat or Retrograde the Dissection, from Part to Part: in that, although the best Method of Delivery, for clear Discourse, can be but one, according to that of Nature, from the Seed forward, to the Seed: yet can it not but be useful, for That of Dissection, to proceed to and fro; somewhat or other being more Visible in each several Part, from whence still an Hint may be taken, for the ushering in the observation of it in the others. To examine, again, not only all the Parts,but Kinds of Vegetables, and comparatively, to observe divers of the same size, shape, motion, age, sap, quality, power, or any other way the same, which may also agree, in some one or more particulars, as to their Interiour Structure: and to make this comparison, throughout all their Parts and Properties. To observe them likewise, in several Seasons of the Year, and in several Ages of the Plants, and of their Parts; in both which, divers of them may be noted to change, not only their Dimensions, but their Natures also; as Vessels, do into Ligaments; and Cartilages, into Bones, sometimes, in Animals. And to do all this by several Ways of Section, Oblique, Perpendicular, and Transverse; all three being requisite, if not to Observe, yet the better to Comprehend, some Things. And it will be convenient sometimes to Break, Tear, or otherwise Divide, without a Section. Together with the Knife it will be necessary to joyn the Microscope; and to examine all the Parts, and every Way, in the use of That. As also, that both Immediate, and Microscopical Inspections, be Compared: since it is certain, That some things, may be demonstrated by Reason and the Eye conjunct, without a Glass, which cannot be discovered by it; or else the discovery is so dark, as which, alone, may not be safely depended on.

19. §. By these several Ways of Inspection, it will be requisite, To observe their Compounding Parts; as Simply considered, and as variously Proportioned, and Disposed. As Simply considered, to note their Number; what, and whether the same, in all: their Kinds, wherein different in the same, or divers Vegetables: their Original, in part, or in whole: Structure, as to their Contexture and their Cavities; Their Contexture, within themselves severally, and as joyned together: their Cavities, as to their Size, Shape, and Number; in which a great variety will be found. Next their Positions one amongst another, which are also various; as Anterior, Posterior, Collateral, Surrounding, Mediate, Immediate, Near, Remote; both as they respect the several Parts, and the several portions of one: And all these, as few, or more; these or others of them, may be diversely Compounded together. And then the Proportions they bear one to another; whether as to Minority, Equality, or Excess; each Part compared with each, and that as to the several Degrees appearing in the said Proportions; the Varieties whereof may be exceeding numerous. For if we should suppose but Four considerable Parts generally constitutive of a Vegetable: These Four, produce a Variety Four ways. First, when One is Unequal; and then it produceth only Four Varieties: and those two ways, scil. when one is Greater, and the other three, Equal and Less; or when one is Less; and the other three, Equal and Greater. Secondly, when Two be Unequal; and then they produce Six Varieties. Thirdly, when Three be Unequal, which produceth Twelve Varieties. Or lastly, when all Four be Unequal; which produceth Twenty four: which general Varieties, may be further multiplied by their several Degrees.

20. §. From all which, we may come to know, what the Communities of Vegetables are, as belonging to all; what their Distinctions, to such a Kind; their Properties, to such a Species; and their Peculiarities, to such Particular ones. And as in Metaphysical, or other Contemplative Matters, when we have a distinct knowledge of the Communities and Differences of Things, we may then be able to give their true Definitions: so may we possibly, here attain, to do likewise: not only to know, That every Plant Inwardly differs from another, but also wherein; so as not more surely to Define by the Outward Figure, than by the Inward Structure, What that is, or those things are, whereby any Plant, or Sort of Plants, may be distinguished from all others. And having obtained a knowledge of the Communities and Differences amongst the Parts of Vegetables; it may conduct us through a Series of more facile and probable Conclusions, of the ways of their Causality, as to the Communities and Differences of Vegetation. And thus much for the Second General Mean.

21. §. HAVING THUS far examined the Organical and Containing Parts of Vegetables; ♦ The Third General Mean. ♦ it will be requisite, more designedly, to observe those also which are Fluid, or any others Contained in them: and that, for our better understanding both of the Nature of Vegetation, and of the said Contained Parts. And to make inquiry, First of their Kinds; as Spirits; both such as agree, in general, in being Vinous; and those that are Special, to particular Plants. Aers and Vapours; for the existence whereof, in all Vegetables, there are Arguments certainly concluding. And for the difference of their Natures, in being more dry, or moist, more simple or compounded, as they are existent in several Parts, there are probable ones. Lympha’s or clear and watry Saps; which most Plants, in one Part or other, at some time of the Year, do Bleed Mucilages; as in Mallow and Violet Leaves; in many Seeds, as of Quinces, Clary; Fruits, as in Cucumers; distinct from the watry Sap, as by permitting it to stand and gelly upon the Vessels from whence it issues, is plain: And in the young Berrys of White Bryony, when about the bigness of a Pepper-Corn; the juyce whereof is so Viscous, that the twentieth part of a Grain, will draw out above a Yard in length. Oyles; not only in Seeds, and some Fruits, but other Parts; as in certain little cavities in the Leaves of Savine, visibly collected while they are growing. Gumms or Resines; as in Pine, Fir, and others of this Kind. Milks; as in a vast number of Plants, and amongst them, many not suspected to yield any. For, of Herbs, not only most of the Umbelliferous Kind, are Milky; but all or most of the Intybous; Poppys; Tracheliums; Perwinkles; divers Thistles; and even Onions, if cut at the bottome; with a great many more. Of Trees, not only the Little Maple, but the young Shoots of Lawrel, especially being crushed; as also those of Elder, and some others. To which may be added, such Mucilages, which though not so properly contained within the Parts, yet are found lying over them; as over the first Spring-leaves of all kinds of Docks; betwixt the Leaves and the Veil wherein they are involved. That fine white Flower or Powder, which lies over the Leaves of some Plants, as of Bears-Ear: And in Princes-Feather, about certain Apertures only on the edges of the Leaves.

22. §. Of all these should be observed, first their Receptacles; some of them, being proper to one; others, common to two or more of them: since it is certain, that some of them do Transmigrate from one, into another Receptacle, or that the same Receptacle is filled with Fluid Bodies, of a quite different Nature, at the different Seasons of the Year, and Ages of the Vegetable. And it is also very probable, That two of some of them, may, sometimes, be contained in one Receptacle, at the same time; as in Animals, the Lympha in the D. Thoracicus, and that, and the Chyle, in the Sanguineous Vessels.

23. §. Then their Motions; both Natural, and such as may be effected by Art: and those either by Descent or Ascent; And in ascending, through what different Chanels or Parts of the Trunk; since it is certain, That there is a variety, both in respect of the Season, and of Vegetables. Where it will fall in, To observe the Tapping of Trees. As also their Bleeding: to what Trees it is proper to bleed: in those to which it is, with what difference of Celerity: and when their peculiar Season: for none will bleed at all times; neither will all bleed at the same. And then their Collateral Motion, together with the Mode of their Transition from one Organical Part to another.

24. §. Next their Quantities, either of one; as the Comparison is made betwixt several Plants, or betwixt the Parts of the same. So the true Seed of all Plants, containeth more Oyl, in proportion, than any of the other Parts. Or else of divers, as coexistent and bearing such a proportion one to another in the same Part: of most of which, it may be known by their respective Receptacles. Yet the Computation must not be made from the number of the said Receptacles, simply; but as that is in conjunction with their Capacity; and as their Capacity is proportioned to their surrounding Sides; the Sides of those of the least Capacity, being usually as thick, as those of the greatest: so that suppose Ten lesser, to lye within the compass of One greater; the Content of these altogether, would scarce be equal to half the Content of that One.

25. §. Also their Consistence; scil.: of so many of them as are discriminable by Touch; in being Soft or Hard; Thin or Thick; Mucilaginous, Gummous, Glutinous, Friable, &c. And these in their several Degrees; in which there is a Variety, as in the Milks of some Plants, which are more Dilute, than that of others: Mucilages; which in some, are very thick and Viscous, in others, more diluted and coming nearer to a watry Sap. And by This, to be compared in the same manner, as by their Quantity.

26. §. Likewise their Colours, Smells, and Tastes: The general and particular Kinds of all which should be noted. And to what Contained Parts, and in what Variety, they appertain. So most Resinous Gumms are Tinctur’d, some, not; as that which drops from the Domestick Pine, is as clear as Rock-water. The Milks of some Plants are Paler, as in Burdock; of others Whiter, as in Dandelyon, Scorzonera; Citrine, in the Root of Trachelium, Angelica; Yellow, as in Lovage. In some Plants, Odorous, as in Umbelliferous; in others not, as in Cichoraceous. That of Little Maple, Tasteless; of Garden Chervil, Sweet; of Fenil, Hot; of Scorzonera, Astringent; of Dandelion, Bitter; and generally, in other Plants; but with many Degrees of Strength, and in conjunction with other Tasts. But most Mucilages, have little either Colour, Taste, or Smell; and the like. Here also the same Qualities are to be inquired into, as, in general speaking, they are said to belong to a Vegetable. Since it is more than probable, that all Colours (excepting White, which is sometimes common both to Containing and Contained Parts) all Odours, and Tastes, which are more immediately, and without a resolution of their Essential Principles, perceptible in a Plant; are not ascribable either to the Organical, or Containing Parts; but only to Those, Contained in them; as from divers reasons hereafter may appear.

27. §. And first, their Colours; where, with respect to several Plants and Parts, they are more Changeable; as Red, in Flowers; or Constant, as Green, in Leaves. Which, with respect to several Ages of one Part, are more fading, as Green in Fruits; or durable, as Yellow in Flowers. In what Parts more Single, as always in the Seed; or more Compounded, as in the Flower; and in what Plants more especially, as in Pancy. Which proper to Plants that have such a Taste or Smell, as both, in White Flowers, are usually less strong. To Plants that flower in such a Season, as a Yellow Flower, I think, chiefly, to Spring Plants. And to Plants that are natural to such a Soil or Seat, as to Water-plants, more usually, a white Flower. What, amongst all Colours, more Common to Plants, as Green; or more Rare, as Black. And what all these Varieties of Colours are upon Cultivation, but chiefly, in their natural Soil. To observe also with their superficial Colours, those within: so the Roots of Docks, are Yellow; of Bistort, Red; of Avens, Purple; but of most, White. Where the Inward, and Superficial Colours agree; as in the Leaves; or vary, as in the other Parts frequently. And in what manner they are Situated; some universally spreading, others running only along with the Vessels, as in the Leaves of Red Dock, and the Flowers of Wood-Sorrel.

28. §. Next their Odours; what may be their principal Seat; whether one or divers Seats in the same Plant. What the chief Matter out of which they are continually bred. What similitude betwixt the Smells of divers Vegetables; as betwixt Baume, and a Limon; the Green Leaves of Meadow-sweet, and the green Rinds of Walnuts. Or betwixt those of Plants and Animals; as the Smell of green and well-grown Carduus, is like to that rank scent, ab aliquorum axillis spiranti. Which have a more sensible Smell; as most have; and which have less, as Corn. Where the green Leaf is the most Fragrant Part, as in Musk-Cranesbill; where the Flower, as in Roses; the Root, as in sweet Calamus. Where all the Parts have some Odour, where some, or one, only; as in Scurvy-grass, only the Flowers, unless the Leaves are bruis’d; and in Arum, the Pestil only; for neither the Leaf, nor Root hath any Smell, unless cut; but this is strong enough, not much unlike to Humane Excrements.

29. §. But especially their Tastes, which it much importeth us more precisely to distinguish; First, by their general Kinds; for the number, even of these, may be computed greater than usually it is. I remember not, that Heat and Acritude, with respect to Taste, are distinguished; yet Arum-Root is very Pungent, without any proper Heat; and Cloves, are very Hot, without any proper Pungency. So the White Roots of Yarrow, have a Taste, hardly any other way perceptible, than by causing a gentle glowing and continued Warmth upon the Tongue. Also their Respondencies one to another; as that of Zedoary, and of the lesser Cardamoms, is somewhat like to Camphire. Likewise their Degrees; in which there is a great latitude, and may be extended from One to Ten, or with easie distinction, from One to Five: So the Root of Sorrel, is Bitter in the first; of Dock, in the second; of Dog-Rose, in the third; of Dandelyon, in the fourth; of Gentian, in the fifth: observing them, not only as they vary in several Kinds of Plants, but the several Species of one, as in Cichory, Hawkweed, Dandelyon. And then their Compositions; for Tastes are as truly conjunct in one Part, as Colours: by which, the latitude is still greater; In that all Kinds of Tastes, in all their Degrees, and in differing Numbers, may be variously Compounded together: For the most part, Two, as in the Leaves of sharp-pointed Dock, Astringent, and Sowre; in Sorrel-Roots, Astringent and Bitter; and in Aloes, Bitter and Sweet; the one in the fifth, the other, in the first Degree; as upon an unprejudiced tryal may be perceived: and yet more evidently in the Gall of any Land-Animal. Sometimes three, as in Agrimony, Bitter, Rough, and Sowrish and in Agarick, Bitter, Rough, and Sweet. And sometimes, perhaps more. The Sensible distinctions of all which, may lye almost as wide, as of Plants themselves. Wherefore, although it may be thought rashness, to take away the distinctions of Hot, Cold, Moist, Dry, Thin, Gross, and other Qualities, in their several Degree, which the Ancients have affixed to particular Plants: yet since they have done it, to many of them, with much uncertainty; and that, withal, they are, more properly, the Effects and Operations of Plants, than their Qualites; Practical Observation, may therefore approve it useful, to add these Sensible Ones of various Tastes, precisely distinguishing their Conjugations and Degrees. Lastly, their several Varieties and Mutations, with respect to the Subject wherein they reside, should also be noted. As, of all Tastes found in Plants, Bitter and Sowr, are most common; Sweet and Salt, most rare. Which latter, is not only perceptible in some Sea-Plants; but upon some others, as upon the fresh Leaves of Tamarisk; which being licked while they grow, or when immediately gathered, are plainly Saltish. How they vary with the Age of the Plant, or Part; as the Roots of Radishes, growing up to Seed, lose the strength of their Tast; so most Fruits are first Sowre, then Sweet. What proper to the several Parts of any one Plant; so the Leaves of Wormwood are extraordinary Bitter; the Root scarcely so at all; of an Hot, but quite different Taste. What more Common, or Rare, to any Part; so no Root that I ever tasted, is Sowre. And how they Alternate in several Plants; as the Root of Stock-July-flower is biting, not the Leaves; on the contrary, the Leaves of the Water-Arsmart, are Biting; but not the Root; and the like. To which we may add the difference of Time wherein the Tastes of Plants are perceived; as those of Arum, and Rape-Crowfoot, are both Biting; but that of the first, as it is slowly perceived, so it continues long; that of the other, quickly comes, and quickly goes.

30. §. Amongst the other Adjuncts of the Contained Parts, though not of these only, the Faculties of Vegetables are to be reputed. For so the Rosin of Jalap, which is Purgative, is as truly contained in the Organical Parts of that Root, as Blood is in Veins: It will be requisite therefore to make particular observation of these also. And first, what Faculties chiefly may reside in Plants, above others: so there is none of known use in Salivation, except by holding in the mouth: Although we may ask, Why some amongst them, may not (being Taken inwardly) have a power to evacuate by This, as well as other Violent ways? Where the Faculty is more universally spread over all the Parts of a Vegetable, as in Asarum. Where belonging chiefly or wholly to any particular Parts or Part; as chiefly to the Root of Rhubarb; and only to the true and proper Seed of Barbado Nuts. Whether some Faculties, may be proper to some Parts especially. What conjunction they may have with any sensible Qualities. So, many Purgers, are not only Resinous and Gummous; But also Mucilaginous; as Bryony, wild Cucumer, Lapathum Sativum; and therefore probably Rhubarb, when growing; Mallows, Violets, &c. Such as are Purging and Vomitory, though some of them have a strong Taste, yet the greater part, and of those, many of the stronger sort, have no Taste, or not Great; as Senna, Jalap, Scammony, Hellebore, Asarum, and others. Amongst which, although Hellebore hath a very Durable Taste, yet is it not very High or Great. So also, those that are most sensibly tasted, are, I think, for the most part, more or less Bitter; either simply, as Colocynthis; or Bitter and Astringent, as Rhubarb; or Bitter and Sweet, as Aloe; or Bitter, Astringent, and Sweet, as Agarick. Few are Hot, as Iris. Or simply Sweet. And though some may be Subacid, that are Mollifying or Lenitive, yet no proper Purge or Vomit is Sowre. Such Plants as are of a soft and sweetish Taste, without Viscosity, may be accounted good Antiscorbuticks, especially against the Sea, or other Salt-Scurvey; as are good sweet Pease: And sometimes the Water or Spirit of the Shells; which may easily be drawn from them, being first duly fermented, and hath a true Vinous Taste; but very mild, and not unpleasant. Those Plants, whose Parts are not only Hot but Volatile, as Onions, are generally good for Burns. Such as have a Balsamick Taste or Smell, with a little Astringency, as Hypericum, Golden-Rod, Lamium Luteum, &c. the best Wound-Herbs. And such as are gently Bitter, and Penetrant upon the Tongue, or in the Throat, as Daisy, Anagallis, good Cleansers. That such Bodys, principally, are Anodyne, which are Yellow, I think, is more than a conceit; Yelks of Eggs, Fœnugreek Seeds, Lint-seed Oyl, May-Butyr, Marrow, Pinguedo Humana, Hyoscyamus luteus, Safron, Sulphur, Opium, all Anodyne and Yellow. How likewise their Faculties and Qualities may vary their Degrees, either differently or together: so Aloe and Colocynthis, are both Bitter in the highest Degree; yet Aloe, which is also Sweet, Purgeth more moderately; Colocynthis, which is Bitter, but not Sweet, most Violently. How far the Faculties of Vegetables, as well as their Qualities, may be Compounded; where, and which chiefly; as Astrictive and Purgative in Rhubarb. Where this Question may be put, Whether divers other, and yet more extreme Faculties, as well as these of Astrictive and Purgative, may not somewhere or other be also found, or made, to meet: whereby the same Plant, or some Preparation of it, may be most Potent, and yet most Innocent; the Malignity thereof exerting its Power, and the Virtue its Sovereignty at the same time. And lastly, what Affinity there may be betwixt them; as most Plants, that are strong Purgatives, and especially Vomitories, I think, are also Sternutatory; as white Hellebore, Jalap, Tobacco: and on the contrary, such as are Sternutatory, are some of the most proper and most potent Medicines for the Head, Brain, and Genus Nervosum, Taken inwardly, as Lilium convalle, &c. and the like.

31. §. Thus far a particular observation of the Qualities and Faculties of the Contents of Vegetables may proceed, as they are existent in their Natural Estate. From which, although some probable Conjectures may be made, of their Material and Formal Essences, and of the Causes of their determinate Varieties, or the Modes of Vegetation necessary thereunto: yet will our Conceptions hereof be more facile, clear, and comprehensive, if by all other Ways of Observation, they be likewise examined, according as Experiment maybe applicable to any of them.

32. §. As by Contusion; so some Plants give their Smell, not without Rubbing, or not so well; as the green Leaves of Stramonium, Scurvygrass, and many more: others lose it by Rubbing, as the flowers of Violets, Carnations, Borage, &c. others yield it both ways, as Rosemary, &c. So some Apples mend their Taste, by Scoaping, and Pears by Rowling, especially that called the Rowling Pear.

33. §. By Agitation; which doth that, sometimes, by Force, which Digestion, doth by Heat: so any cold Oyl and a Syrup being, in a due manner, agitated together, of two Fluid bodies will become one Consistent, as is known.

34. §. By Frigifaction; how far the Juyces of Plants, either without or within them, may be any of them, or some more than others, subject to Cold: and thereby to be deprived of their Motion or natural Consistence, or may suffer alteration in their Colour, Taste, or Smell.

35. §. By Infusion; where I mean Infusion only in Common Water; So both Cassia Lignea, and Cinnamon are a little Mucilaginous; but the former most. Some of the Contents of Plants, may be wholly dissolved in Common Water; some but in part, others not at all; or very little; which is proper to some Milks, as well as Gums. The Colours, Smells or Tastes they hereupon yield, are found various; and in some very unexpected: So the green Leaves of Bawm, being duly infused in common Water, without any other Body added, tincture it with a clear and deep Red, near that of Claret Wine, as I have often tryed.

36. §. By Subsiding; So the Juyce of Sorrel, being ordered as that of Grapes, will, in time, let fall a kind of Tartar or Essential Salt. And so perhaps will that of many other Plants, without any previous Decoction; although that be commonly thought to be necessary.

37. §. By Digestion with Fermentation; either of the entire Vegetables, or of the Juyces, or other Contents; and these by themselves, or with common Water. And hereby to note, what difference may be in the Strength, Celerity, or Continuance of the Fermentation. Likewise, how their Qualities may thereby be altered; as the Smell of Violet-flowers, from a most excellent Fragrancy, may, by Digestion, be reduced to an odious and abominable Stink, like that of the black Mud of Gutters.

38. §. By Digestion with Calefaction; so the Colour of the Juyce of Limons, from Transparency (if that be a Colour) may be turned to a perfect Red. Whence it is that many are deceived in the Preparation called the Tincture of Corals; supposing the Corals to give the Menstruum its Colour. Whereas the Menstruum will obtain it, only by Digestion, without any Corals, mixed with it.

39. §. By Decoction; either of Vegetables themselves, or of their Liquors; and to observe what alterations follow. So Turpentine boiled becometh friable, Sugar, Bitter, and of a Brown Red. Turneps lose their Biting Taste; Onions, their Picquancy; yet neither of them convey those self same Qualities to the Water. The same may be observed in the Decoction of Sweet-Fennel-seeds, Aniseeds, and others, losing much of their Tastes themselves, and yet conveying very little of them to the Liquors wherein they are boiled; the greater portion of their Volatile parts, and so their Virtue and Taste therewith, flying away. Whereof therefore it is much better to make an Emulsion, than to decoct them; or to make an Emulsion from them, with their own Decoction, especially if the Medicine be intended to be Carminative, as I have frequently observed. The Decoction should also be carried on throughout all degrees to that of an Extract; by which the Qualities thereof, sometimes, are much altered; as the Colour of all or most green Leaves, from a kind of Yellow, deepens at last into a dark one, as Black as Pitch.

40. §. By Distillations; both with the cold Still, Alembick, Chappel- and open Furnace: and to note what Vegetables thus give their Smell or Taste, and in what Degrees of strength, either under, or over their natural ones; as Mint, Pennyroyal, and the like, which are Aromatick and Hot, give their Tastes perfect: but Wormwood, which is Aromatick and Bitter; gives it but by halfs, pretty fully as Aromatick, little as Bitter. And Carduus, though also so exceeding Bitter, yet not being Aromatick, yieldeth a much weaker Taste. Also what Vegetables yield Oyl most plentifully; and what difference may be in those Oyls, as to their Colour, Weight, or otherwise; as that of Cloves is sometimes Red; of Cinnamon, limpid; both Ponderous. So to distil Juices, Gums, or other Contents, with an hot fire; and to see, what Bodies they yield, and of what Qualities; as Turpentine is known to yield, besides its Oyl, a subacid Water; Vinegar, an Eager Spirit; as that part may be called, which Chymists are wont to call the Phlegm.

41. §. By Arefaction; so Milks which are Liquid, and White in their Natural Estate, in Standing, grow Gummous, Yellow, and otherwise different, so doth that of Scorzonera; and that of Fenil becomes a Balsamical, but Limpid Oyl. The Roots of Angelica, being dry’d, and cut by the length, exhibit their small Veins fill’d with an Aromatick Rosin. In the whiter parts of Rhubarb, is gathered a kind of Saline Concret; by which, this Root, in chewing, seems as if it were a little gritty. Cabbage-Stalks, sliced, and laid in the Shade to dry, gather on them a kind of Nitrous Hoar. Raisins and Corins contain, not only a sweet Juyce, but also a true Sugar, which lies curdled in the Pulp, as the more Saline parts do in Green Soap. And the like is gather’d on the out-side of a Fig; saving, that it is more Nitrous, as lying next the Aer. The Roots of Arum, upon drying, lose much of the strength of their Taste; but the contrary may be noted of many other Roots, which, upon drying, increase it. Some, being cut and laid by, change their Natural Colours, into Red, Purple, Yellow, Green, or White; as Liquorish, into White, in some places; and Peony, into Red: and sometimes into two; as Patience, into Yellow and Red.

42. §. By Assation; thus Apples, by roasting, eat more Sowre. The Root of Horse-Radish, toasted, tasteth like a Turnep. Potatoes, Onions, and many other Roots, and Parts, have their Tastes, either Altered or Refracted; which chiefly, and in what manner, should be observed. There is one alteration, as remarkable, as commonly known; and is that which followeth upon roasting or baking in one kind of the Waldensian Pears, which, for a Walden, we corruptly call a Warden.

43. §. By Ustion; wherein some Plants, or Parts of them, burn very quietly; others, not without violent motions; so Fenil-Seeds, held in the flame of a Candle, will spit and spurtle, like the Serum of Blood. Some Vegetables lose their Smell, as Roses; others, keep it, as Rosemary; and others, mend it, as Lignum Aloes, To note, not only the alteration of their Qualities, but what they yield; as Turpentine, which, in Distillation, yieldeth Oyl and Water, both limpid; upon Ustion, sheweth nothing but a black Soot. So Benzoine, by Distillation, Oyl; by Ustion, white Flowers, as is known.

44. §. By Calcination; and here to observe, wherein the Caput Mortuum of one, may differ from, or agree in Nature with that of another; and also to compare these with those of Animal Bodies. As also in their Quantities. And to compare them with what they yield by Distillation and Ustion as to both. Thus far they have been tryed singly, or by themselves. They should also be examined.

45. §. By Composition; not only with Water, as in simple Infusions, &c. but with any other Bodies, which may have a power of acting upon them, or upon which, these may have a power to act. And so to make Infusions, Destillations, Decoctions, Digestions, in divers kinds of Liquors, as Vinegar, Urine, Spirit of H. H. Wine, Blood, Milk, or others. So in Infusions, some Red Colours are heightned by Acids; Blews, turned Purple. So fetid Spirits (as of H.H.) may be rendred much more grateful, by being Rectified, once or twice, with fresh Aromaticks, To observe also what follows, upon mixing the Liquors, or other Parts of Plants together, as Oyl of Turpentine, by Digestion with a Lixivial Salt, extracteth thence a Red Tincture. Or with Salts, Earths, Metals, or any other Bodies; as the Juyce of the green Leaves of Rasberry, Primrose, and divers other Plants (I think principally such as are Astringent) expressed upon Steel, as it drieth, becometh of a Purple Colour.

46. §. Lastly, by Compounding the Experiment it self, or joyning two or more of them, upon the same matter: as Fermentation and Destillation, as is used for some Waters. Infusion and Fermentation, as in making of Beer. Fermentation and Coction, or rather Assation, as in making of Bread. Arefaction and Destillation, as may be tryed upon some Herbs; and with what difference from what may be noted, upon their being distilled, moist.

47. §. Having proceeded thus far, by all the above particular Ways of Observation; a Comparative Prospect must be taken of them: by which, at last, the Communities and Differences of the Contents of Vegetables, may be discerned; the manner of their Causation and Original, partly, be judged of; and wherein it is, that the Essence of their several Natures and Qualities doth consist, in some measure comprehended. And consequently, both from the knowledge of their particular Natures, and the Analogy found betwixt them; we may be able, better to conjecture, and try, what any of them are, or may be good for. For certainly, we shall then know, more readily, to apply things unto, and more fitly to prepare them for, their Proper Uses, when we first know, what they are. Notwithstanding, since the Faculties of Plants, do often lie more recluse; it is best,therefore, not wholly to acquiesce in such Conjectures, as their Tastes, or other Sensible Properties may suggest; but to subjoyn Experiment. In making of which, and in passing a Judgment thereupon, many Cautions, both in respect of the Plant whereof, and the Subject whereupon it is made, are requisite to be attended. Which yet, in regard they result not so directly from the Matter at present in hand; I shall not, therefore, here insist upon them, And thus much for the Third General Mean.

48. §. THE Contents of the Organical Parts of Vegetables, having been thus duly Examined: ♦ The Fourth General Mean. ♦ it will be requisite to make the like Inquiry into their Principles; or the Bodys, immediately concurrent and essential to their Being. And of these, we are to observe, First, their Number; whether well reducible to five, six, seven, or more, or fewer: and the Special Differences observable under any one General; since there are many Bodies, of very different Natures, confounded under one Name. Next their Conjugation; which they are, that either under or over those observable in animal, or other Bodies, are here joyned together in a Plant; How far common to the Organical Parts of divers Plants; or to the several Organical Parts of one; or how far different in them. So the predominant Principle of the Parenchymous Parts of a Plant, that it is an Acid, seems evident, From the general Nature of Fruits; and of Corn; and most Parenchymous Roots, which are either Spirituous, or Sower, or by Digestion, do easily become such. Likewise their Proportions; which stand in the greatest, which in the least, or in the meaner Quantities, and in what Degrees; both in divers Vegetables, and in the several Organical Parts of one. And then the Concentration and Union of them altogether; as to the degrees of their Closeness or Laxity; or the manner of their Implication and Coherency; or as to their Location, one being more Central, another more Exposed and Rampant over the rest; or otherwise different. To examine these Principles, by their Colour, Taste, Smell, Consistence, Fixedness, Volatility, Weight, Figures, or other Accidents. And to these purposes, to go through the formentioned Ways of Experiment; as Ustion, Calcination, Destillation, &c. as any of them may appear applicable hereunto. So the Essential Salt of Wormwood, which may be obtained from the Lixivial; is Bitter, transparent, and commonly, of a Cylindrick figure: whereas that which is obtained by Coction, or from the Extract, is tasteless, greyish, and almost Cubick: and that in the Extract of the Green Leaves of Violets, appears in fine transparent Shoots, like so many little Needles. And it is probable, That the Salts of most Kinds of Plants, whether Lixivial or Essential; and of these, whether obtained by Decoction, or otherwise, have either their Figure, or other Qualities, proper to themselves, whereby they are all distinguished one from another. And lastly, to make Experiment upon these Principles, mixing them with one another, or with other Bodies, or otherwise.

49. §. I know it will be difficult to make observations of this kind upon the Organical Parts of Plants, severally. Yet I have thought of some Ways, whereby true and undeceivable ones may be made. And the better to illustrate what I mean, I shall give one or two Instances of Tryal to this purpose. For the making of which, and some others of the like nature, I considered, That upon the Anatomical Analysis of all the Parts of a Plant, I had certainly found, (and shall hereafter shew) That in all Plants, there are Two, and only Two Organical Parts Essentially distinct, viz. The Pithy Part, and the Lignous Part, or such others as are analogous to either of These. So that, if we can think of any Plants, which will afford us either of these two, though not perfectly, yet in some good measure, simple and unmixed: We may then see, by putting them to a Chymical Test, what Principles and Proportion of Principles, concur to specifie their Substantial Forms.

50. §. To the Pithy Part, Starch, or pure Manchet is analogous, as having very little of the Lignous mixed with them. I therefore ordered ℔ ij of Starch to be put into a Retort, and with a Receiver affixed, to be set in a Sand Furnace; and that all it would yield, should, by degrees, be forced over; which, besides what was evaporated at the Neck of the Receiver, was about ℔ j. of an acid and eager Liquor, of a heavy and blackish Oyl ℥ ss, and of a light Oyl ʒ j. The Caput Mortuum could not be reduced to Ashes, by the strongest heat which a naked fire in that Furnace would produce.

51. §. To the Lignous Part, Hemp or Flax is analogous, having very little of the Pithy mixed with them. I caused therefore ℔ ij of Flax to be put into a Retort, and manag’d as the Starch: whereupon, it yielded a Liquor, as I remember, somewhat like the former, and about the same quantity; no Oyl which remained liquid, when cold; but instead of that a Butyr, almost of the Consistence and Colour of the Oyl of Mace; and of this above ℥ iij, or near six times the quantity of the Oyl which was yielded by the Starch. The Caput Mortuum being burned to a white Ash, yielded some portion of a Lixivial Salt.

52. §. From whence, I shall, at present, only make these two Remarques; First, That although the chief portion, as to quantity, in both these Bodys, (as in most Plants) is an Acid Liquor; yet the latter, yields also some of an Alkaly, which the other doth not. So that they are the Lignous Parts of a Plant, generally, which yield the Alkalick Salt, or at least in the greatest Proportion. Secondly, That the Sulphurious or Oleous Principle, is also much more predominant in the Lignous Part, than in the Pithy. To these, the like Tryals upon other Plants, should be added; and other ways. So, in regard the Soot of most Woods, yields a Volatile Alkaly; it were fit to examine, Whether the Soot which is made of the Pithy Parts and that, of the Lignous, afford the said Alkaly, in equal qantity; or whether, as is most likely, that of the Lignous doth afford it in a far greater: and the like.

53. §. The prosecution of what is here proposed, will be requisite, To a fuller and clearer view, of the Modes of Vegetation, of the Sensible Natures of Vegetables, and of their more Recluse Faculties and Powers. First, of the Modes of Vegetation. For suppose we were speaking of a Root; from a due consideration of the Properties of any Organical Part or Parts thereof; ’tis true, that the real and genuine Causes may be rendred, of divers other dependent Properties, as spoken generally of the whole Root. But it will be asked again, What may be the Causes of those first and Independent ones? Which, if we will seek, we must do it by inquiring also, What are the Principles of those Organical Parts? For it is necessary, that the Principles whereof a Body doth consist, should be, if not all of them the active, yet the capacitating Causes, or such as are called Causæ sine quibus non, of its becoming and being, in all respects, both as to Substance and Accidents, what it is: otherwise, their Existence, in that Body, were altogether superfluous; since it might have been without them: which is so, it might then have been made of any other; there being no necessity of putting any difference, if neither those, whereof it is made, are thought necessary to its Being. Wherefore if we will allow a Body, and so the Organical Parts of a Vegetable to have Principles, we must allow these Principles their necessary Use; and that the Shapes or other Properties of the said Parts, are as much dependant upon the Nature of These; as is the Roundness of a Drop of Ink, upon the Fluidity of Water, ingredient to it.

54. §. Again, the Principles of the Organical Parts being known, we may from thence obtain a further knowledge of the Natures, and Causation or Original of their Contents; since these Contents are not only included in the said Organical Parts, but also Created by them: and must needs be so, whether we will suppose the Principles of these Contents to be præ-existent to their reception thereinto, or not. For, if not præ-existent, what can be clearer, than that the said Parts give them their Existence? And if præ-existent, yet in regard they are distinguished, and such only of them admitted in such sort into an Organical Part, from amongst others, as are apt to combine and mix together in such a Form, and so to constitute such a Liquor; it is as clear, that the Existence, if not of those Principles, yet of that Liquor, is dependent on the said Part.

55. §. And if by means of the said Organical Parts, it is, that their Contents become such and such peculiar Mixtures; it is hence also manifest, That, by the same means, they are of such distinct Faculties and Powers: Because the Faculty or Power of a Body, lieth not in any of its Principles apart; but is a Resultance from them all; or from their being, in such peculiar sort and manner, United and Combined together. So the Principles of the Purgative Parts of a Root, as of Rhubarb, although we should suppose them to be existent in the surrounding Earth, yet we cannot say, That that Earth, or the Principles therein contained, are Purgative; but only that they are such, as by being combined together, in such a peculiar way, may become so. So the several parts of a Clock, although they are and must be all præ-existent to it, and it is their Form, by which they are, what they are; yet is it the setting together of such Parts, and in such a way only, that makes them a Clock. And since we see that the Mixture of two Bodies of two different Qualities, as of Two Colours, will produce a Third Colour, differing from them both; as Blue and Red, do a Murrey: Why should not Two or More Bodies of different Natures, be so combined together, as to produce a Third Nature? Or wherefore may not that be allowed to be performed by Nature, which by Artificial Compounding of Medicines, or other Bodies, is designed, and often times effected? I’ll give but one Instance; Water, Grease, and an Alcatizate Salt, may be easily so ordered as to be inverted with new Qualities, Nature, and Powers; the Salt, to lose its extreme fiery Pungent Taste; the Tallow, its Smell; and being before unsociable with the Water, to mingle therewith: neither Tallow, Salt, nor Water alone, will fetch out a spot of Grease; but all united easily do it: the same Three Bodys united, are, in some Cases, as in the Jaundies, no ill Medicine; any of which, given alone, may rather prove prejudicial, than a cure: and all this done, only by duly boiling them together into one Body, which we call Sope.

56. §. Whence again, if it be such an Union, and Proportion, of such a Sort of Principles, which produceth such a Faculty; and that we may, by any means, come to know what these are; we may, possibly, also attain to the knowledge of such Rules, whereby any kind of Faculty may be made; as to Compound such Bodies, which are neither Purgative nor Vomitory, so together, as to be Invested with those Faculties. And if to Make them, then consequently, to Mend, Exalt, Strengthen, and Enoble them, with greater ease and certainty. And thus much for the Fourth General Mean.

57. §. HITHERTO, We have considered the Materials of a Vegetable, only as Ingredient to it: ♦ The Fifth General Mean. ♦ there yet remains a Fifth Story to be ascended; which is, to consider these Materials as they are derived from abroad: or as, after they are received and naturalized, they may, with others yet abroad, have any kind of correspondence. And these are Four in general, scil. Earth, Water, Aer, and Sun; all which, in that they contribute so universally to Vegetation, and to whatsoever is contained in a Vegetable, it is therefore requisite, that of These likewise, Particular Observation should be made.

58. §. And First, of the Earth, and of all Solid Receptacles of Plants. Where we are to consider their several Kinds; as Mellow, Sandy, Clayie, Chalky, and others. Their Ingredients; as Rank and Mellow Earth, with Sand, or with Clay; or Sand with Clay; or altogether; and in what Proportions. The Principles whereinto any one of these Ingredients, separated from the rest, and put to the Test of Distillation, Ustion, Calcination, or other, either alone, or by mixture with other Bodies, may be Resolved. And by their Qualities, as Colour, Smell, Taste, &c. both Ingredients and Principles to be examined. To make tryal of the growth of Plants, in all kinds of simple Soils; either Earthy or Mineral, as Clay, Marl, Oker, Fullers Earth, Bole Armeniac, Vitriol, Allum, &c. or Vegetable, as Rotten Wood, Brans, Starch, or Flower, &c. or Animal, as Dungs, pounded Flesh, dried and powdered Blood, and the like; that it may appear, how far any of these may contribute to the growth of a Plant; or to one, above another.

59. §. Next of the Water, and of all Liquid Receptacles. Where the several kinds of Water, from Wells, Springs, Rain, and Rivers are, by their Qualities and Faculties, to be examined; as these, and by these, their Principles, either in their Natural State, or upon Digestion, or otherwise, may be observable: since Common Water it self, is undoubtedly compounded of several Principles; the simplicity thereof, not being argued, from its Clearness and Transparency; for a Solution of Alum, though it containeth a considerable quantity of Earth, is yet very Clear: nor from its seeming to have neither Smell nor Taste; for Water-drinkers will tell you of the varieties of both in different Waters. Besides, if these Qualities should be accounted rather Phansie, than Sense; the difference of Waters is yet more manifest, from their different Effects, observed by Cooks, Laundresses, Brewers, and others, that have occasion to use them: for not to mix with Sope, without curdling; not to boil Meat tender, or without colouring it red; and the like, are the vices of some Waters, not of others, which yet would seem, in Colour, Taste, and Smell, to be the same. Tryal should also be made of the growth of Plants in all kinds of Liquid Receptacles, as Common Water, Snow Water, Sea Water, Urine, Milk, Whey, Wine, Oyl, Ink, &c. Or any of these, with a solution of Salt, Nitre, Sal prunellæ, Sope, or other body. And hereby to observe what follows, either in the Liquor, or in the Plant it self: as if any fixed Body, being weighed before its dissolution in Water; and if the Plant, set herein, groweth; the Water, being then evaporated; whether the quantity of that dissolved body, continue the same, or is lessened. So, whether any Vegetable will become Opiate, by growing a considerable time in a plain Solution or Water-tincture of Opium; and the like. Which Experiments, what event soever they have, yet at least, for our further instruction in the Nature of Vegetation, may be of use.

60. §. Next of Aer, where it will be requisite to inquire, what sort of Bodies may be herein contained: It being probable, from the variety of Meteors formed herein; and of Vapours and Exhalations continually advanced hereinto; that some or other of them, may bear an Analogy, to all Volatile Bodys, whether Animal, Vegetable, or Mineral. The flourishings also of Frozen Dew; and the Green Colour, which the Aer gives the Ground or Water, when, for some time exposed to it; and other effects; seem to argue, that it is Impregnated with Vegetable Principles. To consider also the peculiar Nature of that Body, which is strictly called, Aer, And of that true Aerial Salt, which to me, seemeth probable, that it is dissolved in the Æther, as other Salts are in Water, or in the Vaporous parts of the Aer. As also to try, what different Effects, a diversity of Aer may have upon a Vegetable; as by setting a Plant, or Seed, either exceeding Low, as at the bottom of a deep Well; or exceeding High, as on the top of a Steeple. Or else by exposing some Soil to the Aer, which is assuredly free from any Seed, and so, as no Seed can light upon it; and to observe, whether the Aer hath a power of producing a Vegetable therein, or not: and the like.

61. §. Lastly of the Sun; as to which, it may be considered, What Influence it may have upon the Plant it self; upon the Soil; Or upon the Aer. Whether that Influence is any thing else besides Heat: or may differ from that of a Fire, otherwise, than by being Temperate, and more Equal. That it doth, seems evident from an Experiment sometime since given us, in one of the Parisian Journals des Scavans, and which I therefore think very applicable to our present purpose. If you hold a Concave at a due distance, against a Fire, it will collect and cast the Heat into a burning Focus: but if you put a piece of plain Glass between them, the Glass will scatter the Heat, and destroy the Focus. Whereas the Sun-Beams, being gathered in like manner, will pass through the interposed Glass, and maintain their Focus. As for That, of the Collection of the Sun-beams, by the help of Glasses, in the form of a Magistery, or of Flowers, and such like, I desire to suspend my thoughts of them, till I see them. I will only say thus much further at present, That I do not understand why the Sun should not have some Influence upon Bodies, besides by Heat, if it may be granted, That the Moon hath; for which, it should seem, there are some good Arguments.

62. §. WE HAVE thus far examined the Principles necessary to Vegetation. ♦ A Sixth General Mean. Only hinted. ♦ The Question may be put once more, In what manner are these Principles so adapted, as to become capable of being assembled together, in such a Number, Conjugation, Proportion, and Union, as to make a Vegetable Body? For the comprehension whereof, we must also know, What are the Principles of these Principles. Which, although they lie in so great an abyss of obscurity; yet, I think, I have some reason to believe, that they are not altogether undiscoverable. How far they may be so, I am so far from Determining, that I shall not now Conjecture.

♦ The Conclusion. ♦ 63. §. THIS is the Design, and these the Means I propose in order thereunto. To which, I suppose, they may all appear to be necessary. For what we obtain of Nature, we must not do it by commanding, but by courting of Her. Those that woo Her, may possibly have her for their Wife; but She is not so common, as to prostitute her self to the best behaved Wit, which only practiseth upon it self, and is not applied to her. I mean, that where ever Men will go beyond Phansie and Imagination, depending upon the Conduct of Divine Wisdom, they must Labour, Hope and Persevere. And as the Means propounded, are all necessary, so they may, in some measure, prove effectual. How far, I promise not; the Way is long and dark: and as Travellers sometimes amongst Mountains, by gaining the top of one, are so far from their Journeys end; that they only come to see another lies before them: so the Way of Nature, is so impervious, and, as I may say, down Hill and up Hill, that how far soever we go, yet the surmounting of one difficulty, is wont still to give us the prospect of another. We may therefore believe, our attainments will be imperfect, after we have done all: but because we cannot attain to all, that therefore we should endeavour after nothing; is an Inference, which looks so much awry from the Practical Sense of Men, that it ought not to be answered. Nor with better Reason, may we go about determining, what may be done. The greatest Designs that any Men undertake, are of the greatest uncertainty, as to their Success: which if they appear to be of good Import, though we know not how far they are attainable, we are to propound the Means, in the utmost use whereof only, we can be able to judge: A War is not to be quitted, for the hazards which attend it; nor the Councils of Princes broken up, because those that sit at them, have not the Spirit of Prophecy, as well as of Wisdom. To conclude, If but little should be effected, yet to design more, can do us no harm: For although a Man shall never be able to hit Stars by shooting at them; yet he shall come much nearer to them, than another that throws at Apples.

FINIS.

THE

ANATOMY

PLANTS,

BEGUN.

WITH A

General Account

VEGETATION,

Grounded thereupon.

The FIRST BOOK.

Presented in Manuscript to the ROYAL SOCIETY, Sometime before the 11ᵗʰ. of May, 1671.

And afterwards in Print, December 7. of the same Year 1671.

By NEHEMJAH GREW M.D. Fellow of the Royal Society, and of the College of Physicians.

=The Second Edition.=

LONDON, Printed by W. Rawlins, 1682.

TO THE

RIGHT HONOURABLE

WILLIAM

Lord Vi-Count Brouncker,

THE

PRESIDENT,

And to the

Council and Fellows

OF THE

ROYAL SOCIETY,

The following

ANATOMY

Is most HUMBLY

PRESENTED

By the AUTHOR

NEHEMJAH GREW.

TO THE

Right Reverend

JOHN

Lord Bishop of

CHESTER.

MY LORD,

I Hope your pardon, if while you are holding That best of Books in one Hand, I here present some Pages of that of Nature into your other: Especially since Your Lordship knoweth very well, how excellent a Commentary This is on the Former; by which, in part, GOD reads the World his own Definition, and their Duty to him.

But if this Address, my Lord, may be thought congruous, ’tis yet more just; and that I should let Your Lordship, and others know, how much, and how deservedly, I resent Your extraordinary Favours. Particularly, that you were pleased, so far to animate my Endeavours, towards the Publishing the following Observations. Many whereof, and most belonging to the First Chapter, having now lain dormant, near seven years; and might still, perhaps, have so continued, had not Your Lordships Eye, at length, created Light upon them. In doing which, You have given one, amongst those many Tokens, of as well Your readiness to promote Learning and Knowledge by the hands of others; as Your high Abilities to do it by Your Own: Both which, are so manifest in Your Lordship, that, like the first Principles of Mathematical Science, they are not so much to be asserted, because known and granted by all.

The Consideration whereof, my Lord, may make me not only Just, in owning of your Favours; but also most Ambitious of your Patronage: Which yet, to bespeak, I must confess, I cannot well. Not that I think, what is Good and Valuable, is always its own best Advocate: for I know, that the Censures of Men, are humorous, and variable; and that one Age, must have leave to frown on those Books, which another, will do nothing less than kiss and embrace. But, chiefly, for this Reason, Lest I should so much as seem desirous, of Your Lordships Solliciting my Cause, as to all I have said. For as it is your Glory, that you like not so to shine, as to put out the least Star; so were it to Your Dishonour, to borrow Your Name, to illustrate the Spots, though of the most conspicuous. I am,

_My Lord,

Your Lordships

Most Obliged,

And

Most Humble Servant_

NEHEMJAH GREW.

Coventry, June 10. 1671.

THE

CONTENTS.

CHAP. I.

Of the Seed in its State of Vegetation.

THE Method propounded, §. 1. The Garden-Bean, dissected, 2. The two Coats Described, 3, 4. The Foramen in the outer Coat, 5, 6. What generally observable of the Covers of the Seed, 7. The Organical Parts of the Seed, 8. The Main Body, 9, 10. The Radicle in the Bean, 11. In other Seeds, 12. The Plume, 13, 14. The Similary Parts, 15. The Cuticle, 16, 17. The Parenchyma, 18, 19, 20. The Inner Body, 21, to 29. No solid Account yet given, of Vegetation, 30. The Coats how in common subservient to the Vegetation of the Seed, 31. The Foramen, of what use herein, 32. The use of the Inner Coat, 33. Of the Cuticle, 34. Of the Parenchyma, 35. Of the Seminal Root, 36. How the Radicle first becomes a Root, 37. By what means, the Plume all this while preserved, 38. How after the Root the Plume vegetates, 39. How the Lobes, 40. But not in all Seeds, 41. That they do in most, demonstrated, 42, 43, 44. What hence resolvable, 45. The use of the Dissimilar Leaves, 46, to the end.

CHAP. II.

Of the Root.

THis also to be Dissected, §. 1. The Skin hereof, its Original, 2. The Cortical Body, its Original, 3. Texture, 4. Pores, 5. Proportions, 6. The Lignous Body, its Original, 7. Texture, 8. Proportions, 9. The Insertment, its Original, 10. Pores, 11. Number and Size, 12. A fuller description hereof, with that of the Osculations of the Lignous Body, 13, 14, 15. The Pith, its original sometimes from the Seed, 16. Sometimes from the Barque, 17. Its Pores, 18, 19. Proportions, 20. Fibres of the Lignous Body therein, 21. The Pith of those Fibres, 22. How the Root grows, and the use of the Skin, Cortical and Lignous Body thereto, 23. How it groweth in length, 24. By what means it descends, 25. How it grows in breadth, 26. And the Pith, how thus framed, 27. The use of the Pith, 27. Of the Insertment, 28. The joynt service of all the Parts, 29, 30, 31.

CHAP. III.

Of the Trunk.

THE Coarcture, §. 1. The Skin, its original, 2. The original of the Cortical Body, 3. Of the Lignous, 4. Of the Insertment and Pith, 5. The Latitudinal Shooting of the Lignous Body, wherein observable, 6, 7. The Pores of the Lignous Body, where and how most remarkable, 8. A lesser sort of Pores, 9. A third sort only visible through a Microscope. Observed in Wood or Charcoal, 10. Observed in the Fibres of the Trunks of Herbs, 11. The Insertions, where more visible, 12, 13. Their Weftage with the Lignous Body, 14. The smaller Insertions, only visible through a Microscope, 15. No Valves in a Plant, 16. The Ranks of the Pores of the Insertions, 17. The Pores of the Pith, 18, 19, 20. How the Trunk ascends, 21. The disposition of its Parts consequent to that Ascent, 22. Consequent to the different Nature of the Sap, 23. The effects of the said Differences, 24, to 28. Which way, and how the Sap ascends, 29, to the end.

The Appendix.

Of Trunk-Roots and Claspers.

Trunk-Roots of two kinds, §. 1, 2. Claspers of one kind, 3. The Uses of both, 4, to the end.

CHAP. IV.

Of the Bud, Branch, and Leaf.

THE Parts of the Germen and Branch the same with those of the Trunk, §. 1, 2. The manner of their growth, 3. How nourished, 4. And the use of Knots, 5. How secur’d, 6. The Parts of a Leaf, 7. The Positions of the Fibres of the Stalks of Leaves, 8. For what Uses, 9, 10. The visible cause of the different circumference of Leaves, 11. And of their being flat, 12. And filamentous, 13. The Foulds of Leaves, their Kinds and Use, 14, 15, 16. The Protections of Leaves, 17. The use of the Leaf, 18, to the end.

The Appendix.

Of Thorns, Hairs and Globulets.

Thorns of two Kinds; the Lignous, §. 1. The Cortical, 2. An argument of the Magnetick Descent of the Cortical Body, 3. Hairs of divers Kinds, 4, 5. Their Use, 6. Globulets of two Kinds, 7, 8.

CHAP. V.

Of the Flower.

ITs three Parts, §. 1. The Impalement, of divers kinds, 2. Their use, 3, 4. The Foliation, its nature, 5. Foulds, 6. Protections, 7. Downs, 8, 9. Globulets, 10. Its Use, 11, 12. The Attire of two kinds. The Description of the first, 13, 14, 15, 16. Of the other, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21. Their use, 22, to the end.

CHAP. VI.

Of the Fruit.

THE Vital Parts of all, the same, §. 1. The Number, Description, and Original of the Parts of an Apple, 2. Of a Pear, 3, 4. Of a Plum, 5, 6, 7. Of a Nut, 8. Of a Berry, 9. The use of the Fruit, 10, to the end.

CHAP. VII.

Of the Seed in its State of Generation.

WHat here further observed, not in the First Chapter, §. 1. The Case, its Figures, 2. The outer Coat, its Figures, 3. Various Surface, 4. And Mucilages, 5. The nature of the outer Coat, 6. Its Apertures, 7. Next to which the Radicle usually placed, 8. The Original of the Outer Coat, 9. The Original of the Inner, 10. Its Nature, 11, 12. The Essential Parts of a Plant, 13, 14. The Secondine, 15. The Colliquamentum herein, 16. The Navel Fibres, 17. In the Generation of the Seed, the Sap first prepared in the Seed-Branch, 18, 19. Next in the inner Coat, 20. With the help of the Outer, 21, 22. The use of the Secondine, 23. Of the Ramulets of the Seed-Branch, 24. Of their Inosculation, 25. How the Colliquamentum becometh a Parenchyma, 26, to the end.

THE

ANATOMY

PLANTS,

BEGUN.

With a General Account of Vegetation, Founded thereupon.

CHAP. I.

Of the Seed in its State of Vegetation.

BEING to speak of Plants; and, as far as Inspection, and consequent Reason, may conduct, to enquire into the visible Constitutions, and Uses of their several Parts: I choose that Method, which, to the best advantage, may suit with what we have to say hereon. And that is the Method of Nature her self, in her continued Series of Vegetations; proceeding from the Seed sown, to the formation of the Root, Trunk, Branch, Leaf, Flower, Fruit, and last of all, of the Seed also to be sown again; all which, we shall, in the same order, particularly speak of.

2. §. The Essential Constitutions of the said Parts are in all Plants the same: But for Observation, some are more convenient; in which I shall chiefly instance. And first of all, for the Seed, we choose the great Garden-Bean.

3. §. If then we take a Bean and dissect it, we shall find it cloathed with a doubled Vest or Coat. These Coats, while the Bean is yet green, are separable, and easily distinguished. Or in an old one, after it hath lay’n two or three days in a mellow Soil; or been soaked as long a time in Water: as in Tab. 1. ♦ Tab. 1. f. 2. ♦ When ’tis dry, they cleave so closely together, that the Eye not before instructed, will judge them but one; the inner Coat (which is of the most rare contexture) so far shrinking up, as to seem only the roughness of the outer, somewhat resembling Wafers under Maquaroons.

4. §. The Inner Coat, in its Natural State, is every where twice, and in some places, thrice as thick, as the Outer. Next to the Radicle, which I shall presently describe, it is six or seven times thicker; and encompasses the Radicle round about, as in the same Figure appears. ♦ Tab. 1. f. 2. ♦

5. §. At the thicker end of the Bean, in the outer Coat, a very small Foramen presents it self, even to the bare Eye. In Dissection ’tis found to terminate against the point of that Part which I call the Radicle. ♦ Tab. 1. f. 1–2. ♦ It is of that capacity, as to admit a small Virginal Wyer; and is most of all conspicuous in a green Bean. Especially, if a little magnified with a good Spectacle-Glass. This Foramen is not a hole casually made, or by the breaking off of the Stalk; but designedly formed, for the uses hereafter mentioned. It may be observed not only in the great Garden-Bean, but likewise in the other kinds; in the French-Bean very plainly; in Pease, Lupines, Vetches, Lentiles, and other Pulse ’tis also found; and in many Seeds not reckoned of this kindred, as in that of Fœnugreek, Medica Tornata, Goats-Rue, and others: In many of which, ’tis so very small, as scarcely, without the help of Glasses to be discovered; and in some, not without cutting off part of the Seed, which otherwise would intercept the light hereof.

6. §. That this Foramen is truly permeable, even in old Setting-Beans, and the other Seeds above named, appears upon their being soaked for some time in Water. For then, taking them out, and crushing them a little, many small bubles will alternately arise and break upon it.

7. §. Of all Seeds which have thick or hard Covers, it is also observable, That they have the same likewise Perforated, as above said, or in some other manner. And accordingly, although the Coats of such Seeds as are lodg’d in Shells or Stones, being thin, are not visibly perforated; yet the Stones and Shells themselves always are; as in Chap. 7. shall be seen how. To which Chapter, what is farther observable, either as to the nature and number of the Covers of the Seed, I also refer.

8. §. The Coats of the Bean being stripp’d off, the proper Seed shews it self; The parts whereof it is composed, are three; sc. the Main Body, and two more, appendant to it; which we may call the Three Organical Parts of the Bean.

9. §. The Main Body is not one entire piece, but always divided, lengthwise, into two halves or Lobes, which are both joyn’d together at the Basis of the Bean. These Lobes in dry Beans, are but difficultly separated or observ’d; ♦ Tab. 1. f. 2, 3. ♦ but in young ones, especially boil’d, they easily slip asunder.

10. §. Some very few Seeds are divided, not into two Lobes, but into more; as that of Cresses into Six. ♦ Tab. 1. f. 4. f. 5. ♦ And some are not at all divided, but entire; as the Grains of Corn. Excepting which few, all other Seeds, even the smallest, are divided, like as the Bean, into just two Lobes. Whereof, though in most Seeds, because of their minuteness, we cannot by dissection be inform’d; yet otherwise, we easily may, as in this Chapter shall be seen.

11. §. At the Basis of the Bean, the two other Organical Parts stand appendent; by mediation whereof, the two Lobes meet and join together. The greater of these two Parts stands without the two Lobes, and upon divesting the Bean of its Coats, is immediately visible. ♦ Tab. 1. f. 2. & 3 a ♦ ’Tis of a white colour, and more glossie than the Main Body, especially when the Bean is young. In the Bean, and many other Seeds, ’tis situated somewhat above the thicker end, as you hold the Bean in its most proper posture for growth. In Oak-Kernels, which we call Acorns, Apple-Kernels, Almonds, and many other Seeds, it stands prominent just from the end; ♦ Tab. 1. f. 6 c. ♦ the Basis and the End being in these the same, but in the Bean divers.

12 §. This Part is found not only in the Bean, and the Seeds above mentioned; but in all others: being that, which upon the Vegetation of the Seed, becomes the Root of the Plant; which therefore may be called the Radicle: by which, I mean the Materials, abating the Formality, of a Root. In Corn, it is that Part, which Malsters, upon its shooting forth, call the Come. ’Tis not easie to be observed, saving in some few Seeds, amongst which, that of the Bean is the most fair and ample of all I have seen. But that of some other Seeds, is, in proportion, greater; ♦ Tab. 1. f. 7 e. ♦ as of Fœnugreek, which is full as big as one of its Lobes.

13. §. The lesser of the two said Appendents lies occult between the two Lobes of the Bean, by separation whereof only it is to be seen. ’Tis enclos’d in two small Cavities, form’d in the Lobes for its reception. ♦ Tab. 1. f. 3 b. ♦ Its colour comes near to that of the Radicle; and it is founded upon the Basis thereof, having a quite contrary production, sc. towards the Cone of the Bean; as being that very Part, which, in process, becomes the Body or Trunk, of the Plant. In Corn, it is that Part, which after the Radicle is sprouted forth, or come, shoots towards the smaller end of the Grain; and by many Malsters, is called the Acrospire.

14. §. This Part is not, like the Radicle, an entire Body, but divided, at its loose end, into divers pieces, all very closely couched together, as Feathers in a Bunch; for which reason it may be called the Plume. They are so close, that only two or three of the outmost are at first seen: but upon a nice and curious separation of these, the more interiour still may be discovered. In the Bean, this may be done: but in very few other Seeds; because of the extreme smallness of the Plume. Now as the Plume is that Part which becomes the Trunk of the Plant, so these pieces are so many true, and already formed, though not display’d Leaves, intended for the said Trunk, and foulded up in the same plicature, wherein upon the sprouting of the Bean, they afterwards appear. In a French Bean, and especially in the larger white Kind, or in the great Indian Phaseolus, the two outmost are very fair and elegant. ♦ Tab. 1. f. 8 b. ♦ In the great Garden-Bean two extraordinary small Plumes often, if not always, stand one on either side the great one now describ’d: From which, in that they differ in nothing save in their size, I therefore only here just take notice of them. And these three Parts, sc. the Main Body, the Radicle, and the Plume, are concurrent to the making up of a Seed; and no more than these.

15. §. Having thus taken a view of the Organical Parts of the Bean, and other Seeds; let us next examine the Similary, sc. those whereof the Organical are compos’d: a distinct observation of which, for a clear understanding of the Vegetation of the Seed, and of the whole Plant arising thence is requisite: To obtain which, we must proceed in our Anatomy.

16. §. Dissecting a Bean then, the first Part occurring is its Cuticle. The Eye and first Thoughts, suggest it to be only a more dense and glossy Superficies; but better enquiry discovers it a real Cuticle. ’Tis so exquisitely thin, and for the most part, so firmly continuous with the Body of the Bean, that it cannot, except in some small Rag, be distinctly seen, which, by carrying your Knife aslant into the Bean, and then very gently bearing upward what you have cut, will separate, and shew it self transparent. This Cuticle is not only spread upon the Convex of the Lobes, but also on their Flats, where they are contiguous, extending it self likewise upon both the Radicle and Plume, and so over the whole Bean.

17. §. This Part, though it be so far common with the Coats of the Bean, as to be like those, an Integument; yet are we in a quite different Notion to conceive of it: For whereas the Coats, upon setting the Bean, do only administer the Sap, and, as being superseded from their Office, then die; as shall be seen: this, on the contrary, with the Organical Parts of the Bean, is nourished, augmented, and by a real Vegetation co-extended.

18. §. Next to the Cuticle, we come to the Parenchyma it self; the Part throughout which the Inner Body, whereof we shall speak anon, is disseminated; for which reason I call it the Parenchyma. Not that we are so meanly to conceive of it, as if (according to the stricter sense of that word,) it were a meer concreted Juyce. For it is a Body very curiously organiz’d, consisting of an infinite number of extreme small Bladders; as in Tab. 1. is apparent. ♦ Tab. 1. f. 9. ♦ The Surface hereof is somewhat dense, but inwardly, ’tis of a laxer Contexture. If you view it in a Microscope, or with a very good Spectacle-Glass, it hath some similitude to the Pith, while sappy in the Roots and Trunks of Plants; and that for good reason, as in Ch. 2. shall be seen. This is best seen in green Beans.

19. §. This Part would seem by its colour to be peculiar to the Lobes of the Bean; but as is the Cuticle, so is this also, common both to the Radicle and Plume; that is, the Parenchyma or Pulp of the Bean, as to its essential substance, is the same in all three. The reason why the colour of the Plume, and especially of the Radicle, which are white, is so different from that of the Lobes, which are green, may chiefly depend upon their being more compact and dense, and thence their different Tinctures. And therefore the Lobes themselves, which are green while the Bean is young; yet when it is old and dry, become whitish too. And in many other Seeds, as Acorns, Almonds, the Kernels of Apples, Plums, Nuts, &c. the Lobes, even fresh and young, are pure white as the Radicle it self.

20. §. But although the Parenchyma be common, as is said, to all the Organical Parts; yet in very differing proportions. In the Plume, where it is proportionably least, it maketh about three Fifths of the whole Plume; in the Radicle, it maketh above five Sevenths of the whole Radicle; and in each Lobe, is so far over-proportionate, as to make at least nine Tenths of the whole Lobe.

21. §. By what hath been said, that the Parenchyma or Pulp is not the only constituting Part, besides the Cuticle, is imply’d: there being another Body, of an essentially different substance, embosom’d herein: which may be found not only in the Radicle and Plume, but also in the Lobes themselves, and so in the whole Bean.

22. §. This Inner Body appears very plain and conspicuous in cutting the Radicle athwart, and so proceeding by degrees towards the Plume, through both which it runneth in a large and strait Trunk. ♦ Tab. 1. f. 10, 11, & 12. ♦ In the Lobes, being it is there in so very small proportion, ’tis difficultly seen, especially towards their Verges. Yet if with a sharp Knife you smoothly cut the Lobes of the Bean athwart, divers small Specks, ♦ Tab. 1. f. 13. ♦ of a different colour from that of the Parenchyma, standing therein all along in a Line, may be observ’d; which Specks are the Terminations of the Branches of this Inner Body.

23. §. For this Inner body, as it is existent in every Organical Part of the Bean; so is it, with respect to each Part, most regularly distributed. In a good part of the Radicle ’tis one entire Trunk; towards the Basis thereof, ’tis divided into three main Branches; ♦ Tab. 1. f. 14. ♦ the middlemost runneth directly into the Plume; the other two on either side of it, after a little space, pass into the Lobes; where the said Branches dividing themselves into other smaller; and those into more, and smaller again, are terminated towards the Verges of each Lobe; in which manner the said Inner Body being distributed it becomes in each Lobe a true and perfect Root.

24. §. Of this Seminal Root, as now we’ll call it, from the Description here given, it is further observable; That the two main Branches hereof; in which the several Ramifications in each Lobe are all united, are not committed into the Seminal Trunk of the Plume, nor yet stand at right angles with That and the Radicle, and so with equal respect towards them both: but being produced through part of the Parenchyma of the Radicle, are at last united therein to the main Trunk, and make acute Angles therewith: as may be seen in the same. f. 14. ♦ Tab. 1. f. 14. ♦

25. §. This Seminal Root being so tender, cannot be perfectly excarnated, (as may the Vessels in the Parts of an Animal) by the most accurate Hand. Yet by dissection begun and continu’d, as is above declared, its whole frame and distribution may be easily observ’d. Again, if you take the Lobe of a Bean, and lengthwise pare off its Parenchyma by degrees, and in extreme thin slices, many Branches of the Seminal Root, (which by the other way of Dissection were only noted by so many Specks) both as they are fewer about the Basis of the Bean, and more numerous towards its Verges, in some good distinction and entireness will appear. For this you must have new Beans: or else soaked in Water, or buryed for some time.

26. §. As the Inner Body is branched out in the Lobes, so is it in the Plume: For if you cut the Plume athwart, and from the Basis proceed along the Body thereof, you’ll therein find, first, one large Trunk or Branch, and after four or five very small Specks round about it, which are the terminations of so many lesser Branches therewith distributed to the several parts of the Plume. ♦ Tab. 1. f. 11 c. ♦ The distribution of the Inner Body, as it is continuous throughout all the Organical Parts of the Bean, is represented, Tab. 1. f. 14.

27. §. This Inner Body is, by dissection, best observable in the Bean and great Lupine. In other larger Pulse it shews likewise some obscure Marks of it self. But in no other Seeds, which I have observed, though of the greatest size: as of Apples, Plums, Nuts, &c. is there any clear appearance hereof, upon dissection, saving in the Radicle and Plume; the reason of which is partly from its being, in most Seeds, so extraordinary little; partly from its Colour, which in most Seeds, is the same with that of the Parenchyma it self, and so not distinguishable from it.

28. §. Yet in a Gourd-Seed, the whole Seminal Root, not only its Main Branches, ♦ Tab. 1. f. 15. c. ♦ but also the Sub-divisions and Inosculations of the lesser ones, are without any dissection, upon the separation of the Lobes, on their contiguous Flats immediately apparent.

And as to the existence of this Seminal Root, what Dissection cannot attain, yet an ocular inspection in hundreds of other Seeds, even the smallest, will demonstrate; as in this Chapter shall be seen how.

29. §. In the mean time, let us only take notice; That when we say, every Plant hath its Root, we reckon short. For every Plant hath really two, though not contemporary, yet successive Roots; its Original or Seminal-Root within the Lobes or Main Body of its Seed; and its Plant-Root, which the Radicle becometh in its growth: the Parenchyma of the Seed, being in some resemblance, that to the Seminal Root at first, which the Mould is to the Plant-Root afterwards; and the Seminal Root being that to the Plant-Root, which the Plant-Root is to the Trunk. For our better understanding whereof, having taken a view of the several Parts of a Bean, as far as Dissection conducts; we will next briefly enquire into the Use of the said Parts, and in what manner they are the Fountain of Vegetation, and concurrent to the being of the future Plant.

♦ An Account of the Vegetation of the Seed. ♦ 30. §. THE GENERAL Cause of the growth of a Bean, or other Seed, is Fermentation. That is, the Bean lying in the Mould, and a moderate access of some moisture, partly dissimilar, and partly congenerous, being made, a gentle Fermentation thence ariseth. By which, the Bean swelling, and the Sap still encreasing, and the Bean continuing still to swell, the work thus proceeds: as is the usual way of explicating. But that there is simply a Fermentation, and so a sufficient supply of Sap is not enough: but that this Fermentation, and the Sap wherein ’tis made, should be under a various Government, by divers Parts thereto subservient, is also requisite; and as the various preparation of the Aliment in an Animal, equally necessary: the particular process of the Work according whereto, we find none undertaking to declare.

31. §. Let us look upon a Bean then, as a piece of Work so fram’d and set together, as to declare a Design for the production of a Plant; which, upon its lying in some convenient Soil, is thus effected. First of all, the Bean being enfoulded round in its Coats, the Sap wherewith it is fed, must of necessity pass through these: By which means, it is not only in a proportionate quantity, and by degrees; but also in a purer body; and possibly not without some Vegetable Tincture, transmitted to the Bean. Whereas, were the Bean naked, the Sap must needs be, as over-copious, so but crude and immature, as not being filtred through so fine a Cotton as the Coats be. And as they have the use of a Filtre to the transient Sap; so of a Vessel to that which is still deposited within them; being alike accommodated to the securer Fermentation hereof, as Bottles or Barrels are to Beer, or any other Fermentative Liquor.

32. §. And as the Fermentation is promoted by some Aperture in the Vessel; so have we the Foramen in the upper Coat also contrived. That if there should be need of some more Aiery Particles to excite the Fermentation; through this, they may obtain their Entry. Or, on the contrary, should there be any such Particles or Steams, as might damp the genuine proceeding thereof, through this again, they may have easie issue. Or if, by being over copious, they should become too high a Ferment; and so precipitate those soft and slow degrees, as are necessary to a due Vegetation. The said Aperture being that, as a common Pasport, here to the Sap, which what we call the Bung-hole of the Barrel, is to the new tunn’d Liquor.

33. §. And the Radicle being designed to shoot forth first, as presently shall be shew’d how; therefore is it distinctly surrounded with the Inner and more succulent Coat. That being thereby suppled on every side, its eruption may be the better promoted.

34. §. The Sap being passed through the Coats, it next enters the Body of the Bean; yet not indiscriminately neither; but, being filtred through the Outer Coat, and fermented in the Body of the Inner, is by mediation of the Cuticle, again more finely filtr’d, and so entereth the Parenchyma it self under a fourth Government.

35. §. Through which Part the Sap passing towards the Seminal Root, as through that which is of a more spatious content; besides the benefit it hath of a farther percolation, it will also find room enough for a more free and active fermenting and maturation herein. And being moreover, part of the true Body of the Bean, and so with its proper Seminalities or Tinctures copiously repleat; the Sap will not only find room, but also matter enough, by whose Energy its Fermentation will still be more advanced.

36. §. And the Sap being duly prepared here, it next passeth into all the Branches of the Seminal Root, and so under a fifth Government. Wherein how delicate ’tis now become, we may conceive by the proportion betwixt the Parenchyma and this Seminal Root; so much only of the best digested Sap being discharged from the whole Stock in that, as this will receive. And this, moreover, as the Parenchyma, with its proper Seminalities being endowed; the Sap for the supply of the Radicle, and of the young Root from thence, is duly prepared therein, and with its highest Tincture and Impregnation at last enriched.

37. §. The Sap being thus prepared in the Lobes of the Bean, ’tis thence discharg’d; and either into the Plume, or the Radicle, must forthwith issue. And since the Plume is a dependent on the Radicle; the Sap therefore ought first to be dispenced to this: which accordingly, is ever found to shoot forth before the Plume: and sometimes an inch or two in length. Now because the primitive course of the Sap into the Radicle, is thus requisite; therefore, by the frame of the Parts of the Bean is it also made necessary. The two main Branches of the Seminal Root, being produced, as is before observed, not into the Plume, but the Radicle. Now the Sap being brought as far as the Seminal Root, in either Lobe; and according to the conduct thereof continuing still to move: it must needs immediately issue into the same Part, ♦ Tab. 1. f. 14. ♦ whereinto the main Branches themselves do; that is, into the Radicle. By which Sap, thus bringing the several Tinctures of the Parts aforesaid with it, being now fed; it is no longer a meer Radicle, but is made also Seminal, and so becomes a perfect Root.

38. §. The Plume, all this while, lyes close and still. For the sake of which, chiefly it is, that the Bean and other Seeds are divided into Lobes, viz. That it might be warmly and safely lodged up between them, and so secur’d from the Injuries so tender a Part would sustain from the Mould; whereto, had the Main Body been entire, it must, upon the cleaving of the Coats, have lay’n contiguous.

39. §. But the Radicle being thus impregnated and shot into a Root; ’tis now time for the Plume to rouze out of its Cloysters, and germinate too: In order whereto, ’tis now fed from the Root, with laudable and sufficient Aliment. For as the Supplies and Motion of Sap were first made from the Lobes, towards the Root: so the Root being well shot into the Mould, and now receiving a new and more copious Sap from thence; the motion hereof must needs be stronger, and by degrees proceed in a contrary course, sc. from the Root toward the Plume: and, by the continuation of the Seminal Root, is directly conducted thereinto; by which being fed, it gradually enlarges and displays it self.

40. §. The course of the Sap thus turned, it issues, I say, in a direct Line from the Root into the Plume: but collaterally, into the Lobes also; sc. by those two aforesaid Branches which are obliquely transmitted from the Radicle into either Lobe. By which Branches the said Sap being disbursed back into all the Seminal Root, and from thence, likewise into the Parenchyma of the Lobes, they are both thus fed, and for some time augmenting themselves, really grow: as in Lupines is evident.

41. §. Yet is not this common to all Seeds. Some rot underground; as Corn; being of a laxer and less Oleous Substance, differing herein from most other Seeds; and being not divided into Lobes, but one entire thick Body. And some, although they continue firm, and are divided into Lobes, yet rise not; as the great Garden Bean. In which, therefore, it is observable, That the two Main Branches of the Lobes, in comparison with that which runs into the Plume, are but mean; ♦ Tab. 1. f. 14. ♦ and so insufficient to the feeding and vegetation of the Lobes; the Plume, on the contrary, growing so lusty, as to mount up without them.

42. §. Excepting a few of these Two Kinds, all other Seeds whatsoever, (which I have observed) besides that they continue firm; upon the Vegetation of the Plume, do mount also upwards, and advance above the Ground together with it; as all Seeds which spring up with one or more Dissimilar Leaves: These Dissimilar Leaves, for the most part Two, which first spring up, and are of a different shape from those that follow, being the very Lobes of the Seed, divided, expanded, and thus advanced.

43. §. The Impediments of our apprehension hereof are the Colour, Size and Shape of the Dissimilar Leaves. Notwithstanding, that they are nothing else but the Main Body of the Seed, how I came first to conceive, and afterwards to know it, was thus. First, I observed in general, that the Dissimilar Leaves, were never jagg’d, but even edg’d: And seeing the even verges of the Lobes of the Seed hereto respondent, I was apt to think, that those which were so like, might prove the same. Next descending to particular Seeds, I observed, first, of the Lupine; that, as to its Colour, advancing above the Ground, (as it useth to do) it was always changed into a perfect Green. And why might not the same by parity of Reason be inferred of other Seeds? That, as to its size, it grew but little bigger than when first set. Whence, as I discern’d (the Augmentation being but little) we here had only the two Lobes: ♦ Tab. 2. f. 1. ♦ So, (as some augmentation there was) I inferr’d the like might be, and that, in farther degrees, in other Seeds.

44. §. Next of the Cucumber-Seed, That, as to its Colour, often appearing above ground, in its primitive white, from white it turns to yellow, and from yellow to green; the proper colour of a Leaf. That, as to its size, though at its first arise, the Lobes were little bigger than upon setting; yet afterwards, as they chang’d their Colour, ♦ Tab. 2. f. 2. ♦ so their dimensions also, growing to a three-four-five-fold amplitude above their primitive size. But whereas the Lobes of the Seed, are in proportion, narrow, short and thick: how then come the Dissimilar Leaves, to be so exceeding broad, or long, and thin? The Question answers it self: For the Dissimilar Leaves, for that very reason are so thin, because so very broad or long; as we see many things, how much they are extended in length or breadth, so much they lose in depth, or grow more thin; which is that which here befalls the now effoliated Lobes. For being once dis-imprisoned from their Coats, and the course of the Sap into them, now more and more encreased; they must needs very considerably amplifie themselves: and from the manner wherein the Seminal Root is branched in them, that amplification cannot be in thickness, but in length or breadth. In both which, in some Dissimilar Leaves, ’tis very remarkable; ♦ Tab. 2. f. 3. ♦ especially in length, as in those of Lettice, Thorn-Apple, and others; whose Seeds, although very small, yet the Lobes of those Seeds growing up into Dissimilar Leaves, are extended an Inch, and sometimes more, in length. Though he that shall attempt to get a clear sight of the Lobes of Thorn-Apple, and some others, by Dissection, will find it no easie Task; yet is that which may be obtained; and in the Last Book shall be shew’d. From all which, and the observation of other Seeds, I at last found, that the Dissimilar Leaves of a young Plant, are nothing else but the Lobes or Main Body of its Seed. So that, as the Lobes did at first feed and impregnate the Radicle into a perfect Root; so the Root, being perfected, doth again feed, and by degrees amplifie each Lobe into a perfect Leaf.

45. §. The Original of the Dissimilar Leaves thus known, we understand, why some Plants have none; because the Seed either riseth not, as Garden-Beans, Corn, &c. Or upon rising, the Lobes are little alter’d, as Lupines, Pease, &c. Why, though the proper Leaves are often indented round; the Dissimilar like the Lobes are even-edg’d. Why, though the proper Leaves are often hairy, yet these are ever smooth. Why some have more Dissimilar Leaves than two, as Cresses, which have six, as the Ingenious Mr. Sharrock also observes. ♦ Hist. of the Prop. of Vege. ♦ The reason whereof is, because the Main Body is not divided into Two, but Six, distinct Lobes, as I have often counted. Why Radishes seem at first to have four, which yet after appear plainly two: because the Lobes of the Seed, have both a little Indenture, and are both plaited, one over the other. To which, other Instances might be added.

46. The use of the Dissimilar Leaves is, first, for the protection of the Plume; which being but young, and so but soft and tender, is provided with these, as a double Guard, one on either side of it. For this reason it is, that the Plume, in Corn, is trussed up within a membranous Sheath: and that of a Bean, cooped up betwixt a pair of Surfoyls: ♦ Tab. 3. ♦ But where the Lobes rise, there the Plume hath neither of them, being both needless.

47. §. Again, since the Plume, being yet tender, may be injur’d not only by the Aer, but also for want of Sap, the supplies from the Root being yet but slow and sparing; that the said Plume therefore, by the Dissimilar Leaves, may have the advantage likewise of some refreshment from Dew or Rain. For these having their Basis a little beneath that of the Plume, and expanding themselves on all sides of it, they often stand after Rain, like a Vessel of Water, continually soaking and suppling it, lest its new access into the Ayr, should shrivel it.

48. §. Moreover, that since the Dissimilar Leaves by their Basis intercept the Root and Plume, the greater and grosser part of the Sap, may be, by the way, deposited into those; and so the purest proceed into the yet but young and delicate Plume, as its fittest Aliment.

49. §. Lastly, we have here a demonstration of the being of the Seminal Root: which, since through the colour or smalness of the Seed, it could not by Dissection be observ’d, except in some few; Nature hath here provided us a way of viewing it in the now effoliated Lobes, not of one or two Seeds, but of hundreds; the Seminal Root visibly branching it self towards the Cone or Verges of the said Lobes, or now Dissimilar Leaves.

CHAP. II.

Of the ROOT.

HAVING Examin’d and pursu’d the Degrees of Vegetation in the Seed, we find its two Lobes have here their utmost period: and, that having conveyed their Seminalities into the Radicle and Plume; these therefore, as the Root and Trunk of the Plant, still survive. Of these, in their order, we next proceed to speak; and first, of the Root: whereof, as well as of the Seed, we must by Dissection inform our selves.

2. §. In Dissection of a Root then, we shall find it with the Radicle, as the Parts of an Old Man with those of a Fœtus, substantially, one. The first Part occurring is its Skin, the Original whereof is from the Seed: For that extreme thin Cuticle which is spread over the Lobes of the Seed, and from thence over the Radicle, upon the shooting of the Radicle into a Root, is co-extended, and becomes its Skin.

3. §. The next Part is the Cortical Body. Which, when it is thin, is commonly called the Barque. The Original hereof, likewise is from the Seed; or the Parenchyma, which is there common both to the Lobes and Radicle, being by Vegetation augmented and prolonged into the Root, the same becomes the Parenchyma of the Barque. ♦ Tab. 2. f. 4. ♦

4. §. The Contexture of this Parenchyma may be well illustrated by that of a Sponge, being a Body Porous, Dilative and Pliable. Its Pores, as they are innumerable, so, extream small. These Pores are not only susceptive of so much Moisture as to fill, but also to enlarge themselves, and so to dilate the Cortical Body wherein they are: which by the shriv’ling in thereof, upon its being expos’d to the Air, is also seen. In which dilatation, many of its Parts becoming more lax and distant, and none of them suffering a solution of their continuity; ’tis a Body also sufficiently pliable; that is to say, a most exquisitely fine-wrought Sponge.

5. §. The Extention of these Pores is much alike by the length and breadth of the Root; which from the shrinking up of the Cortical Body, in a piece of a cut Root, by the same dimensions, is argu’d.

6. §. The proportions of this Cortical Body are various: If thin, ’tis, as is said, called a Barque; and thought to serve to no other end, than what is vulgarly ascrib’d to a Barque; which is a narrow conceit. If a Bulky Body, in comparison with That within it, as in the young Roots of Cichory, Asparagus, &c. ’tis here, because the fairest, therefore taken for the prime Part; which, though, as to Medicinal use, it is; yet, as to the private use of the Plant, not so. The Colour hereof, though it be originally white, yet in the continued growth of the Root, divers Tinctures, as yellow in Dock, red in Bistort, are thereinto introduced.

7. §. Next within this Part stands the Lignous Body: This Lignous Body, lyeth with all its parts, so far as they are visible, in a Circle or Ring. ♦ Tab. 2. f. 4. b. ♦ Yet are there divers extreme small Fibres thereto parallel, usually mixed with the Cortical Body; and by the somewhat different colour of the said Cortical Body where they stand, may be noted. These Fibres the Cortical Body, and Skin, altogether, properly make the Barque. The Original of this Lignous Body, as of the two former, is from the Seed; or, the Seminal Roots of both the Lobes, being united in the Radicle, and with its Parenchyma co-extended, is here in the Root of the Plant, the Lignous Body.

8. §. The Contexture hereof, in many of its parts, is much more close than that of the Cortical; and their Pores very different. For whereas those of the Cortical are infinitely numerous, these of the Lignous are in comparison nothing so. But these, although fewer, yet are they, many of them, more open, fair and visible: as in a very thin Slice cut athwart the young Root of a Tree, and held up against the light, is apparent. Yet not in all equally; in Coran-Tree, Goosberry-Tree, &c. less, in Oak, Plums, and especially Damascens, more; ♦ Tab. 2. f. 5. ♦ in Elder, Vines, &c. most conspicuous. And as they are different in number and size, so also (whereon the numerousness of the Pores of the Cortical Body principally depends) in their shape. For whereas those of the Cortical Body are extended much alike both by the length and breadth of the Root; these of the Lignous, are only by the length; which especially in Vines, and some other Roots is evident. Of these Pores, ’tis also observable, that although in all places of the Root they are visible, yet most fair and open about the filamentous Extremities of some Roots, ♦ Tab. 2. f. 7. a. b. ♦ where about, the Roots have no Pith; as in Fenil. And in many Roots, higher.

9. §. The proportion betwixt this Lignous Body and the Cortical, is various, as was said; yet in this, constant, sc. that in the filamentous and smaller Parts of the Root, the Lignous Body is very much the less; running like a slender Wyer or Nerve through the other surrounding it. Whereas in the upper part, it is often times of far greater quantity than the Cortical, although it be encompass’d by it. They stand both together pyramidally, which is most common to Infant Roots, but also to a great many others.

10. §. The next Part observable in the Root, is the Insertment. The existence hereof, so far as we can yet observe, is sometimes in the Radicle of the Seed it self; I cannot say always. As to its substantial nature, we are more certain; that it is the same with that of the Parenchyma of the Radicle; being always at least augmented, and so, in part, originated from the Cortical Body, and so, at second hand, from the said Parenchyma. For in dissecting a Root, I find, that the Cortical Body doth not only environ the Lignous, but is also wedg’d, and in many Pieces inserted into it; and that the said inserted Pieces make not a meer Indenture, but transmit and shoot themselves quite through as far as the Pith: ♦ Tab. 2. f. 5. ♦ which in a thin Slice cut athwart the Root, as so many lines drawn from the Circumference towards the Center, shew themselves.

11. §. The Pores of the Insertment are sometimes, at least, extended somewhat more by the breadth of the Root, as about the top of the Root of Borage may be seen; and are thus different from those of the Cortical Body, which are extended by the length and breadth much alike; and from those of the Lignous, being only by its length.

12. §. The number and size of these Insertions are various. In Hawthorn, and some others, and especially Willows, they are most extream small; in Cherries and Plums they are Biger; ♦ Tab. 2. f. 5. & 6. ♦ and in the Vine and some other Trees, very fairly apparent. In the Roots of most Herbs they are generally more easily discoverable; which may lead to the observation of them in all.

13. §. These Insertions, although they are continuous through both the length and breadth of the Root; yet not so in all Parts, but by the several shootings of the Lignous Body they are frequently intercepted. For of the Lignous Body it is (here best) observable; That its several Shootings, betwixt which the Cortical is inserted, are not, throughout the Root, wholly distinct, strait and parallel; but that all along being enarch’d, the Lignous Body, both in length and breadth, is thus disposed into Braces or Osculations. Betwixt these several Shootings of the Lignous Body thus osculated, the Cortical shooting, ♦ Tab. 2. f. 8. ♦ and being also osculated answerably Brace for Brace, that which I call the Insertment is framed thereof.

14. §. These Osculations are so made, that the Pores or Fibres of the Lignous Body, I think, notwithstanding, seldom or never run one into another; being, though contiguous, yet still distinct. In the same manner as some of the Nerves, though they meet, and for some space are associated together, yet ’tis most probable, that none of their Fibres are truly inosculated, saving perhaps, in the Plexures.

15. §. These Osculations of the Lignous Body, and so the interception of the Insertions of the Cortical, are not to be observ’d by the traverse cut of the Root, but by taking off the Barque. In the Roots of Trees, they are generally obscure; but in Herbs often more distinctly apparent; and especially in a Turnep: the appearance whereof, the Barque being stripp’d off, is as a piece of close-wrought Net-work, fill’d up with the Insertions from thence.

16. §. The next and last distinct Part of the Root is the Pith. The substantial nature thereof, is, as was said of the Insertment, the same likewise with that of the Parenchyma of the Seed. And according to the best observation I have yet made, ’tis sometimes existent in its Radicle; in which, the two main Branches of the Lobes both meeting, and being osculated together, are thus dispos’d into one round and tubular Trunk, and so environing part of the Parenchyma, make thereof a Pith; as in either the Radicle, or the young Root of the great Bean or Lupine, may, I think, be well seen.

17. §. But many times the Original hereof is immediately from the Barque. For in dissection of divers Roots, both of Trees and Herbs, as of Barberry or Mallows, it is observable, That the Cortical Body and Pith, are both of them participant of the same Colour; in the Barberry, both of them tinged yellow, and in Mallows, green. In cutting the smaller Parts of the Roots of many Plants, as of Borage, Mallows, Parsley, Columbine, &c. ’tis also evident, That the Lignous Body is not there, in the least Concave, but standeth Solid, or without any Pith, ♦ Tab. 2. f. 9. a. ♦ in the Center; and that the Insertions being gradually multiplied afterwards, the Pith, at length, towards the thicker parts of the Root, shews and enlarges it self. Whence it appears, that in all such Roots, the Pith is not only of the same substantial nature, and by the Insertions doth communicate with the Barque; and that it is also augmented by it; which is true of the Pith of all Roots; but is moreover, by mediation of the said Insertions, wholly originated from it; that is to say, from the Parenchymous Part thereof. The various appearances of the Insertions and Pith from the filamentous Parts to the top of the Root, see in Tab. 2. ♦ Tab. 2. f. 9. ♦ The Pores of the Lignous Body, as it stands entire in the said filamentous Parts, are best seen when they have lain by a night to dry, after cutting.

18. §. A farther evidence hereof are the Proportions betwixt the Cortical Body and Pith. For as about the inferiour Parts of the Root, where the Pith is small, the Cortical Body is proportionably great; so about the top, where the Pith is enlarged, the Cortical Body (now more properly becoming a Barque) groweth proportionably less, sc. because the Insertions do still more and more enlarge the Pith. Likewise the peculiar frame of some Roots, wherein besides the Pith, the Lignous Body being divided into two or more Rings, there are also one or more thick Rings, of a white and soft substance, which stand betwixt them; and are nothing else but the Insertions of the Cortical Body collected into the said Rings; but, towards the top of the Root, being inserted again, thus make a large and ample Pith; ♦ Tab. 2. f. 8. ♦ as in older Fennel-Roots, those of Beet, Turnep, and some other Herbs, is seen.

19. §. The Pores of the Pith, as those of the Cortical Body, are extended both by the breadth and length of the Root, much alike; yet are they more or less of a greater size than those of the Cortical Body.

20. §. The Proportions of the Pith, are various; in Trees, but small; in Herbs, generally, very fair; in some making by far the greatest part of the Root; as in a Turnep: By reason of the wide circumference whereof, and so the finer Concoction and Assimilation of its Sap; that Part which in most old Trunks is a dry and harsh Pith, here proves a tender, pleasant meat.

21. §. In the Roots of very many Plants, as Turneps, Carrots, &c. the Lignous Body, besides its main utmost Ring, hath divers of its osculated Fibres dispersed throughout the Body of the Pith; sometimes all alike, and sometimes more especially in, or near, its Center; which Fibres, as they run towards the top of the Root, still declining the Center, at last collaterally strike into its Circumference; either all of them, or some few, keeping the Center still. Of these principally, the Succulent part of the Lignous Body of the Trunk is often originated.

22. §. Some of these Pith-Fibres, although they are so exceeding slender, yet in some Roots, as in that of Flower de liz, they are visibly concave, each of them, in their several Cavities also embosoming a very small Pith; the sight whereof, the Root being cut traverse, and laid in a Window for a day or two to dry, may without Glasses be obtain’d. And this is the general account of the Root; the declaration of the manner of its growth, with the use and service of its several Parts, we shall next endeavour.

♦ An Account of the Growth of the Root. ♦ 23. §. I SAY THEN, That the Radicle being impregnate, and shot into the Moulds, the contiguous moisture, by the Cortical Body, being a Body laxe and Spongy, is easily admitted: Yet not all indiscriminately, but that which is more adapted to pass through the surrounding Cuticle. Which transient Sap, though it thus becomes fine, yet is not simple; but a mixture of Particles, both in respect of those originally in the Root, and amongst themselves, somewhat heterogeneous. And being lodg’d in the Cortical Body moderately laxe, and of a Circular form; the effect will be an easie Fermentation. The Sap fermenting, a separation of Parts will follow; some whereof will be impacted to the Circumference of the Cortical Body, whence the Cuticle becomes a Skin; as we see in the growing of the Coats of Cheeses, of the Skin over divers Liquors, and the like. Whereupon the Sap passing into the Cortical Body, through this, as through a Manica Hippocratis, is still more finely filtred. With which Sap, the Cortical Body being dilated as far as its Tone, without a solution of Continuity, will bear; and the supply of the Sap still renew’d: the purest part, as most apt and ready, recedes, with its due Tinctures, from the said Cortical Body, to all the parts of the Lignous; both those mixed with the Barque, and those lying within it. Which Lignous Body likewise super-inducing its own proper Tinctures into the said Sap; ’tis now to its highest preparation wrought up, and becomes (as they speak of that of an Animal) the Vegetative Ros or Cambium: the noblest part whereof is at last coagulated in, and assimilated to the like substance with the said Lignous Body. The remainder, though not united to it, yet tinctur’d therein, thus retreats, that is, by the continual appulse of the Sap, is in part carried off into the Cortical Body back again, the Sap whereof it now tinctures into good Aliment. So that whereas before, the Cortical Body was only relaxed in its Parts, and so dilated; ’tis now increas’d in real quantity or number of parts, and so is truly nourish’d. And the Cortical Body being saturate with so much of this Vital Sap as serves it self; and the second Remainders discharged thence to the Skin; this also is nourish’d and augmented therewith. So that as in an Animal Body there is no instauration or growth of Parts made by the Bloud only, but the Nervous Spirit is also thereunto assistant; so is it here: the Sap prepared in the Cortical Body, is as the Bloud, and that part thereof prepared by the Lignous, is as the Nervous Spirit; which partly becoming Nutriment to it self, and partly being discharged back into the Cortical Body, and diffusing its Tincture through the Sap there, that to the said Cortical Body and Skin, becomes also true Nutriment, and so they all now grow.

24. §. In which growth, a proportion in length and breadth is requisite: which being rated by the benefit of the Plant, both for firm standing and sufficient Sap, must therefore principally be in length. And because it is thus requisite, therefore by the constitution of one of its Parts, sc. the Lignous Body, it is also made necessary. For the Pores hereof, in that they are all extended by its length, the Sap also according to the frame and site of the said Pores will principally move; and that way as its Sap moves, the same way will the generation of its Parts also proceed; sc. by its length. And the Lignous Body first (that is by a priority causal) moving in length it self; the Cortical also moves therewith. For that which is nourish’d, is extended: but whatever is extended, is mov’d: that therefore which is nourish’d, is mov’d: The Lignous Body then being first nourish’d, ’tis likewise first mov’d, and so becomes and carries in it the Principle of all Vegetative motion in the Cortical; and so they both move in length.

25. §. Yet as the Lignous Body is the Principle of Motion in the Cortical; so the Cortical is the Moderator of that in the Lignous: As in Animal Motions, the Principle is from the Nerves; yet being once given to the Muscle or Limb, and that moving proportionably to its structure, the Nerves also are carried in the same motion with it. We suppose therefore, that as the principal motion of the Lignous Body is in length, so is its proper tendency also to Ascend. But being much exceeded both in Compass and Quantity by the Cortical, as in the smaller parts of the Root it is; it must needs therefore be over-born and governed by it; and so, though not lose its motion, yet make it that way wherein the Cortical Body may be more obedient to it; which will be by descent. Yet both of them being sufficiently pliable, they are thus capable, where the Soyl may oppose a direct descent, there to divert any way, where it is more penetrable, and so to descend obliquely. For the same reason it may also be, that though you set a Bean with the Radicle upward; yet the Radicle, as it shoots, declining also gradually, is thus arch’d in form of an Hook, and so at last descends. For every declination from a perpendicular Line, is a mixed motion betwixt Ascent and Descent, as that of the Radicle also is, and so seeming to be dependent upon the two Contrary Tendencies of the Lignous and Cortical Bodies. What may be the cause of those Tendencies (being most probably external, and a kind of Magnetisme) I shall not make my Task here to enquire.

26. §. Now although the Lignous Body, by the position and shape of its Pores, principally groweth in length; yet will it in some degree likewise in breadth: For it cannot be supposed that the purest Sap is all received into the said Pores; but that part thereof likewise, staying about its Superficial Parts, is there tinctur’d and agglutinated to them. And because these Pores are prolonged by its length; therefore it is much more laxe and easily divisible that way; as in slitting a Stick, or cleaving of Timber, and in cutting and hewing them athwart is also seen. Whence it comes to pass, that in shooting from the Center towards the Circumference, and there finding more room, its said original Laxity doth easily in divers places now become greater, and at length in open Partments plainly visible. Betwixt which Partments, the Cortical Body, being bound in on the one hand, by the surrounding Skin and Moulds, and pressed upon by the Lignous on the other, must needs insert it self, and so move contrary to it, from the Circumference towards the Center. Where the said contrary motions continued as begun, they at last meet, unite, and either make or augment the Pith. And thus the Root is fram’d, and the Skin, the Cortical and Lignous Bodies, so as is said, thereunto concurrent. We shall next shew the use of the two other Parts, sc. the Insertment and Pith; and first of the Pith.

27. §. ONE true use of the Pith is for the better Advancement of the Sap, whereof I shall speak in the next Chapter. The use I here observe, is for the quicker and higher Fermentation of the Sap: For although the Fermentation made in the Cortical Body was well subservient to the first Vegetations, yet those more perfect ones in the Trunk which after follow, require a Body more adapted to it, and that is the Pith; which is so necessary, as not to be only common to, but considerably large in the Roots of most Plants; if not in their inferiour parts, yet at their tops. Where though either deriv’d or amplify’d from the Cortical Body, yet being by its Insertions only, we may therefore suppose, as those, so this, to be more finely constituted. And being also from its coarctation, while inserted, now free; all its Pores, upon the supply of the Sap, will more or less be amplified: Upon which accounts, the Sap thereinto received, will be more pure, and its fermentation therein more active. And as the Pith is superiour to the Cortical Body by its Constitution, so by its Place. For as it thus stands central, it hath the Lignous Body surrounding it. Now as the Skin is the Fence of the Cortical Body, and that of the Lignous; so is the Lignous again a far more preheminent one unto the Pith; the Sap being here a brisk Liquor, tunn’d up as in a wooden Cask.

28. §. And as the Pith subserves the higher Fermentation of the Sap; so do the Insertions its purer Distribution; that separation which the parts of the Sap, by being fermented in the Pith, were dispos’d for; being, upon its entrance into the Insertions, now made: So that as the Skin is a Filtre to the Cortical Body, so are the Insertions a more preheminent one to the Lignous. And as they subserve the purer, so the freer and sufficient distribution of the Sap: For the Root enlarging, and so the Lignous Body growing thicker, although the Cortical and the Pith might supply Sap sufficient to the nutrition of its Parts next adjacent to them; yet those more inward, must needs be scanted of their Aliment; and so, if not quite starved, yet be uncapable of equal growth: Whereas the Lignous Body being through its whole breadth frequently disparted, and the Cortical Body inserted through it; the Sap by those Insertions, as the Bloud by the disseminations of the Arteries, is freely and sufficiently convey’d to its intimate Parts, even those, which from either the Barque or from the Pith, are most remote. Lastly, as the consequent hereof, they are thus assistant to the Latitudinal growth of the Root; as the Lignous Body to its growth in Length; so these Insertions of the Cortical, to its better growth in Breadth.

29. §. Having thus seen the solitary uses of the Several Parts of the Root, I shall lastly propound my Conjectures of that Design whereto they are altogether concurrent, and that is the Circulation of the Sap.

30. §. That the Sap hath a Double, and so a Circular Motion, in the Root; is probable, from the proper Motion of the Root, and from its Office. From its Motion, which is Descent: for which, the Sap must likewise, some where, have such a Motion proper to it. From its Office, which is, To feed the Trunk: for which, the Sap must also, in some Part or other, have a more especial Motion of Ascent.

31. §. We may therefore suppose, That the Sap moving in the Barque, towards the Pith, through the Insertions, thereinto obtains a pass, Which passage, the upper Insertions will not favour; because the Pith standing in the same height with them, is there large, the fermenting and course of the Sap quick, and so its opposition strong. But through the lower it will much more easily enter; because there, from the smallness of the Pith, the opposition is little, and from the shortness of the Insertions, the way more open. So that the Sap here meeting with the least opposition, here it will bestow it self (feeding the Lignous Body in its passage) into the Pith. Into which, fresh Sap still entring, this being yet but crude, will subside: that first receiv’d, and so become a Liquor higher wrought, will more easily mount upwards. And moving in the Pith, especially in the Sap-Fibers there dispers’d, as in the Arterys, in equal altitude with the upper-Insertions; the most volatile parts of all will still continue their direct ascent towards the Trunk. But those of a middle nature, and, as not apt to ascend, so being lighter than those beneath them, not to descend neither; they will tend from the Pith towards the Insertions in a Motion betwixt both. Through which Insertions (feeding the Lignous Body in its passage) it is, by the next subsequent Sap, discharged off into the Cortical Body, and so into the Sap-Fibres themselves, as into the Veins, back again. Wherein, being still pursu’d by fresh Sap from the Center, and more occurring from the Circumference, towards the lower Insertions, it thus descends. Through which, together with part of the Sap afresh imbib’d from the Earth, it re-enters the Pith. From whence, into the Cortical Body, and from thence into the Pith, the cruder part thereof, is reciprocally disburs’d; while the most Volatile, not needing the help of a Circulation, more directly ascendeth towards the Trunk.

CHAP. III.

Of the TRUNK.

HAVING thus declar’d the degrees of Vegetation in the Root; the continuance hereof in the Trunk shall next be shew’d: in order to which, the Parts whereof this likewise is compounded, we shall first observe.

1. §. That which without dissection shews it self, is the Coarcture: I cannot say of the Root, nor of the Trunk; but what I choose here to mention, as standing betwixt them, and so being common to them both; all their Parts being here bound in closer together, as in the tops of the grown Roots of very many Plants, is apparent.

2. §. Of the Parts of the Trunk, the first occurring is its Skin: The Formation whereof, is not from the Air, but in the Seed, from whence it is originated; being the production of the Cuticle, there investing the two Lobes and Plume.

3. §. The next Part is the Cortical Body; which here in the Trunk is no new substantial Formation; but, as is that of the Root, originated from the Parenchyma of the Plume in the Seed; and is only the increase and augmentation thereof. ♦ Tab. 3. f. 1, & 4. ♦ The Skin, this Cortical Body or Parenchyma, and (for the most part) some Fibers of the Lignous mixed herewith, altogether make the Barque.

4. §. Next, the Lignous Body, which, whether it be visibly divided into many softer Fibers or small Threads, as in the Bean, Fennel, and most Herbs; ♦ Tab. 3. f. 1. ♦ or that its Parts stand more compact and close, shewing one hard, firm and solid piece, as in Trees; it is, in all, one and the same Body; and that not formed originally in the Trunk, but in the Seed; being nothing else but the prolongation of the Seminal Root distributed in the Lobes and Plume thereof.

5. §. Lastly, The Insertions and Pith are here originated likewise from the Plume, as the same in the Root, from the Radicle: So that as to their Substantial Parts, the Lobes of the Seed, the Radicle and Plume, the Root and Trunk are all one.

6. §. Yet some things are more fairly observable in the Trunk. First, the Latitudinal shootings of the Lignous Body, which in Trunks of several years growth, are apparent in so many Rings, as is commonly known. For several young Fibers of the Lignous Body, ♦ Tab. 3. f. 5, & 8. ♦ as in the Root, so here, shooting in the Cortical one year, and the spaces betwixt them being after fill’d up with more (I think not till) the next, at length they become altogether a firm compact Ring; the Perfection of one Ring, and the Ground-work of another, being thus made concomitantly.

7. §. From these Annual younger Fibers it is, that although the Cortical Body and Pith are both of the same substantial nature, and their Pores little different; yet whereas the Pith, which the first year is green, and of all the Parts the fullest of Sap, becomes afterwards white and dry: The Cortical Body, on the contrary, so long as the Tree grows, ever keepeth green and moist, sc. because the said Sap-Fibers, annually grow therein, and so communicate with it.

8. §. The Pores likewise of the Lignous Body, many of them, in well-grown Timber, as in Oaken boards, are very conspicuous, in cutting both lengthwise and traverse. They very seldom, if ever, run one into another, but keep, like so many several Vessels, all along distinct; ♦ Tab. 3. f. 2. & 3. ♦ as by cutting, and so following any one of them as far as you please, for a Foot or half a Yard, or more together, may be observ’d. And so, the like, in any Cane.

9. §. Besides these, there are a lesser sort; which, by the help only of a good Spectacle Glass may be observ’d.

10. §. And these are all the Pores visible without a Microscope. The use of which, excepting in some few particulars, I have purposely omitted in this first Book. ♦ Micrography. ♦ Mr. Hook sheweth us, besides these, a third, and yet smaller Sort; and (as a confirmation of what, in the Second Chapter, ♦ C. 2. §. 8. ♦ I have said of the Pores of the Lignous Body in general) that they are all continuous and prolonged by the length of the Trunk, as are the greater ones: whereof he maketh Experiment, by filling up, in a piece of Char-coal, all the said Pores with Mercury; which appears to pass quite through them, in that by a very good Glass it is visible in their Orifices at both ends; and without a Glass, by the weight of the Coal alone, is also manifest. All these I have seen, with the help of a good Microscope, in several sorts of Woods. ♦ Tab. 3. f. 7. ♦ As they all appeare in a piece of Oak, cut transversely, See Tab. 3.

11. §. Upon further Enquiry, I likewise find, That the Pores of the Lignous Body in the Trunks of Herbs, which at first I only supposed, by the help of good Glasses, are very fairly visible: each Fibre being sometimes perforated by 30, 50, 100, or hundreds of Pores. Or what I think is the truest notion of them, That each Fibre, though it seem to the bare eye to be but one, yet is, indeed, a great number of Fibres together; and every Pore, being not meerly a space betwixt the several parts of the Wood, but the Concave of a Fiber. So that if it be asked, what all that Part of a Plant, either Herb or Tree, which is properly called the Woody-Part; what all that is, I suppose, That it is nothing else but a Cluster of innumerable and most extraordinary small Vessels or Concave Fibers: ♦ Tab. 3. f. 6. ♦ as in a Slice of the Trunk of Burdock is apparent.

12. §. Next the Insertions of the Cortical Body, which in the Trunk of a Tree saw’d athwart, are plainly discerned as they run from the Circumference toward the Center; the whole Body of the Tree being visibly compounded of two distinct Substances, that of the several Rings, and that of the Insertions, running cross; shewing that in some resemblance in a Plain, ♦ Tab. 3. f. 5. & 8. ♦ which the Lines of Latitude and of the Meridian do in a Globe. The entrance of the Insertions into the Wood, is also, upon striping off the Barque, very apparent; as in the same Fig. 8.

13. §. These Insertions are likewise very conspicuous in Sawing of Trees length-ways into Boards, and those plain’d, and wrought into Leaves for Tables, Wainscot, Trenchers, and the like. In all which, as in course Trenchers made of Beech, and Tables of Oak, there are many parts which have a greater smoothness than the rest; ♦ Tab. 3. f. 2. & Tab. 4. f. 1. ♦ and are so many inserted Pieces of the Cortical Body; which being by those of the Lignous, frequently intercepted, seem to be discontinuous, although in the Trunk they are really extended, in continued Plates, throughout its Breadth.

14. §. These Insertions, although as is said, of a quite distinct substance from the Lignous Body, and so no where truly incorporated with it, yet being they are in all parts, the one as the Warp, the other as the Woof, mutually braced and interwoven together, they thus constitute one strong and firmly coherent Body; ♦ Tab. 4. f. 1. ♦ as the Timber of any Tree.

15. §. As the Pores or Vessels are greater or less, so are the Insertions also: To the bare eye usually the greater only are discernable: But through an indifferent Microscope there are others also, much more both numerous and small, distinctly apparent, ♦ Tab. 3. f. 7. ♦ as in a transverse piece of Oak.

16. §. In none of all the Pores can we observe any thing which may have the true nature and use of Valves, which is, Easily to admit that, to which they will by no means allow a regress. And their nonexistence is enough evident, from what in the first Chapter ♦ C. 1. §. 42. ♦ we have said of the Lobes of the Seed: in whose Seminal Root, were there any Valves, it could not be, that by a contrary Course of the Sap, they should ever grow; which yet, where-ever they turn into Dissimilar Leaves, they do. Or if we consider the growth of the Root, which oftentimes is upward and downward both at once. And being cut transversely, will bleed, both the same ways, with equal freedom.

17. §. The Insertions here in the Trunk give us likewise a sight of the position of their Pores. For in a plained piece of Oak, as in Wainscot, Tables, &c. besides the larger Pores of the Lignous Body, which run by the length of the Trunk; ♦ Tab. 3. f. 2. ♦ the Tract likewise of those of the Insertions may be observed to be made by the breadth, and so directly cross. Nor are they continuous as those of the Lignous Body, but very short, as those both of the Cortical Body and Pith, with which the Insertions, as to their substance, are congenerous. Yet they all stand so together, as to be plainly ranked in even Lines or Rows throughout the breadth of the Trunk: As the Tract of those Pores appears to the naked Eye, see in Tab. 3. Fig. 9. The Pores themselves may be seen in the Root of a Vine described and figured in the Second Book, as it appears through a good Microscope. ♦ Tab. 17. ♦

18. §. The Pores of the Pith likewise being larger here in the Trunk, are better observable than in the Root: the width whereof, in comparison with their Sides so exquisitely thin, may by an Hony-Comb be grosly exemplified; and is that also which the vast disproportion betwixt the Bulk and Weight of a dry Pith doth enough declare. In the Trunks of some Plants, they are so ample and transparent, that in cutting both by the length and breadth of the Pith, some of them through the transparency of the Skins by which they are bounded, or of which they consist, would seem to be considerably extended by the length of the Pith; but are really discontinuous and short, and as ’tis said, somewhat answerable to the Cells of an Hony-Comb. This is the nearest we can come to them, by the bare Eye without the assistance of a good Microscope. Mr. Hook sheweth in his Micrography, That the Pores of the Pith, particularly of Elder-Pith, so far as they are visible, are all alike discontinuous; and that the Pith is nothing else but (as he calls them) an heap of Bubbles. Although, in regard they are not fluid, but fixed Parts, I shall choose rather to call them, Bladders. As they appear through a good Glass, in a piece of Burdock, See in Tab. 3. ♦ Tab. 3. f. 6. ♦ But a more particular Description of the Sizes, Figures, and admirable Textures hereof, I have given in several places in the following Books.

19. §. Besides what this Observation informs us of here, it farther confirms what in the Second Chapter ♦ C. 2. §. 3, 16, 17. ♦ we have said of the Original of the Pith and Cortical Body, and of the sameness of both their natures with the Parenchyma of the Seed: which is nothing else but a Mass of Bladders; ♦ C. 1. §. 18. & Tab. 1. f. 9. ♦ as in the First Chapter hath been said.

20. §. In the Piths of many Plants, the greater Pores or Bladders have some of them lesser ones within them, and some of them are divided with cross Membranes: And betwixt their several sides, have, I think, other smaller Bladders visibly interjected. However, that they are all permeable, is most certain. They stand together not confusedly, but in even Ranks or Trains; as those of the Insertions by the breadth, so these by the length of the Trunk. And thus far there is a general corresponding betwixt the parts of the Root and Trunk. Yet are there some considerable Disparities betwixt them; wherein, and how they come to pass, and to what especial Use and End, shall next be said.

♦ An Account of the Growth of the Trunk. ♦ 21. §. WE SAY then, that the Sap being in the Root by Filtrations, Fermentations (and in what Roots needful, perhaps by Circulation also) duly prepar’d; the prime part thereof passing through the intermediate Coarcture, in due moderation and purity is entertain’d at last into the Trunk. And the Sap of the Trunk being purer and more volatile, and so it self apt to ascend; the motion of the Trunk likewise will be more noble, receiving a disposition and tendency to ascend therewith. And what by the Sap the Trunk is in part dipos’d to, by the respective position and quantity of its Parts it is effectually enabled. For whereas in the Root the Lignous Body being in proportion with the Cortical, but little, and all lying close within its Center; it must therefore needs be under its controul: on the contrary, being here comparatively of greater quantity, and also more dilated, and having divers of its Branches standing more abroad towards the Circumference, as both in the Leaves and Body of the young Trunk and Plume, is seen; it will in its own magnetical tendency to ascend, reduce the Cortical Body to a compliance with it.

22. §. And the Trunk thus standing from under the restraint of the Ground in the open Air, the disposition of its Parts, originally different from that of the Parts in the Root, will not only be continued, but improved. For by the force and pressure of the Sap in its collateral Motion, the Lignous Body will now more freely and farther be dilated. And this being dilated, the Cortical Body also, must needs be inserted; and is therefore in proportion always, more or less, smaller here in the Trunk, than in the Root. And as the Cortical Body lessens, so the Pith will be enlarged, and by the same proportion is here greater. And the Pith being enlarged it self, its Pores (the Lignous Body, upon its dilatation, as it were tentering and stretching out all their sides) must needs likewise be enlarged with it; and accordingly, are ever greater in the Pith of the Trunk, than of the Root. And the dilatation of the Lignous Body still continued, it follows, that whereas the Pith descendent in the Root, is not only in proportion less and less, but also in the smaller extremities thereof, and sometimes higher, altogether absent: Contrariwise, in the Trunk, it is not only continued to its top and smallest Twigs, but also there, in proportion, equally ample with what it is in any other inferiour part.

23. §. But although the openness of the Aer permitting, be always alike; yet the Energy of the Sap effecting, being different; as therefore that doth, the dilatation of the Trunk, will also vary. If that be less, so is this; as in the Trunks of most Trees: If that be greater, so this; as in Herbs is common; the Lignous Body being usually so far dilated, that the utmost Shootings thereof may easily be seen to jut out, and adjoyn to the Skin. And if the Sap be still of greater energy, it so far dilates the Lignous Body, as not only to amplifie the Pith and all its Pores; but also so far to stretch them out, as to make them tear. Whereupon either running again into the Cortical Body, or shrinking up towards it, the Trunk thus sometimes becomes an hollow Stalk, the Pith being wholly, or in part voided. But generally it keeps entire; and where it doth, the same proportion and respect to the Lignous and Cortical Bodies, as is said. The Consequences of all which will be, the Strength of the Trunk, the Security and Plenty of the Sap, its Fermentation will be quicker, its Distribution more effectual, and its Advancement more sufficient.

24. §. First, the Erect Growth and Strength of the Trunk; this being, by the position of its several Parts, effected: for besides the slendering of the Trunk still towards the top, the Circumferential position of the Lignous Body, likewise is, and that eminently, hereunto subservient. So that as the Lignous Body, in the smaller parts, of the Root standing Central, we may thence conceive and see their pliableness to any oblique motion; so here, on the contrary, the Lignous Body standing wide, it thus becomes the Strength of the Trunk, and most advantageous to its Perpendicular Growth. We see the same Design in Bones and Feathers: The strongest Bones, as those in the Legs, are hollow. Now should we suppose the same Bone, to be contracted into a Solid; although now it would be no heavier, and in that respect, as apt for motion; yet would it have far less strength, than as its Parts are dilated to a Circumferential posture. And so for Quills, which, for the same Reasons, in subserviency to flying, as they are exceeding light; So, in comparison with the thinness of their Sides, they are very strong, and much less apt to bend, than if contracted into a Solid Cylinder. We see it not only in Nature, but Art. For hence it is, that Joyners and Carpenters unite and set together their Timber-pieces and several Works oftentimes with double Joynts; which, although they are no thicker, than a single one might be made; yet standing at a distance, have a greater strength than That could have. And the same Architecture, will have the same use, in the Trunks of Plants; in most whereof ’tis very apparent; as for instance, in Corn. For Nature designing its Sap a great Ascent; for its higher maturity, hath given it a tall Trunk: But to prevent its ravenous despoiling either of the Ear, or Soyl; although it be tall, yet are its sides but thin: And because again, it should grow not only tall and thriftily, but for avoiding propping up, strongly too; therefore, the same proportion as its heigth bears, to the thinness of its sides, doth the greatness of its Circumference also; being so far dilated as to parallel a Quil it self.

25. §. Besides the position of the Lignous Body within the compass of a Ring, there are some Shootings thereof, often standing beyond the Circumference of the said Ring, making sometimes a triangular, oftner a quadrangular Body of the Trunk. To the end, that the Ring, being but thin, and not self-sufficient, these, like Splinters to Bones, might add strength and stability to it.

26. §. Next, the security and plenty of the Sap. For should the Lignous Body, as it doth in the smaller Parts of the Root, stand Central here also, and so the Cortical wholly surround it: the greater part of the Sap would thus be more immediately expos’d to the Sun and Aer; and being lodged in a laxe Body, by them continually be prey’d upon, and as fast as supplied to the Trunk, be exhausted. Whereas, the Pith standing in the Center, the Sap therein being not only most remote from the Aer and Sun, but by the Barque, and especially the Wood, being also surrounded and doubly immur’d, will very securely and copiously be convey’d to all the Collateral Parts, and (as shall be said how) the top of the Trunk.

27. §. And the Sap by the amplitude, and great porosity of the Pith, being herein more copious, its Fermentation also will be quicker; which we see in all Liquors, by standing in a greater quantity together, proceeds more kindly: And being tun’d up within the Wood, is at the same time not only secur’d from loss, but all extream mutations; the Day being thus, not too hot; nor the Night, too cold for it.

28. §. And the Fermentation hereof being quicker, its motion also will be stronger, and its Distribution more effectual, not only to the dilatation of the Trunk, but likewise the shooting out of the Branches. Whence it is, that in the Bodies of Trees, the Barque of it self, though it be Sappy, and many Fibres of the Lignous Body mixed with it, yet seldom sendeth forth any; and that in Herbs, those with the least Pith (other advantages not supplying this defect) have the fewest or smallest Branches, or other collateral Growths: and that Corn, which hath no Pith, hath neither any Branches.

29. §. Lastly, the Advancement of the Sap will hence also be more ready and sufficient. For the understanding where, and how, we suppose, That in all Trunks whatsoever there are two Parts joyntly hereunto subservient. In some, the Lignous Body and the Cortical, as in older Trunks; the Pith being either excluded, or dried: But in most, principally, the Lignous Body and Pith; as in most Annual Growths of Trees; but especially Herbs, where the Cortical Body is usually much and often wholly Inserted.

30. §. Of the Lignous Body it is so apparent by its Pores, or rather by its Vessels, that we need no farther Evidence. For to what end are Vessels, but for the conveyance of Liquor? And is that also, which upon cutting the young Branch of a Sappy Tree or Herb, by an accurate and steady view may be observed. But when I say the Vessels of the Lignous Body, I mean principally them of the younger shootings, both those which make the new Ring, and those which are mixed with the Cortical Body in the Barque: that which ascendeth by the Pores or Vessels of the Wood, being probably, because in less quantity, more in form of a Vapour, than a Liquor. Yet that which drenching into the sides of its Pores, is with all thereunto sufficient Aliment; as we see Orpine, Onions, &c. only standing in a moyster Aer will often grow. And being likewise in part supplied by the Insertions from the younger Shoots: But especially because as it is but little, so (considered as Aliment) it serveth only for the growth of the Wood, and no more; whereas, the more copious Aliment ascendent by the younger Shoots, subserves not only their own growth, but the generation of others; and is besides with that in the Cortical Body the Fountain of Perspirations, which we know even in Animals are much more abundant than the Nutritive Parts; and doubtless in a Vegetable are still much more.

31. §. But these Pores, although they are a free and open way to the ascending Sap; yet that meer Pores or Vessels should be able of themselves to advance the Sap with that speed, strength and plenty, and to that height, as is necessary, cannot probably be supposed. It follows then, that herein we must grant the Pith a joynt service. And why else is the Pith in all Primitive Growths the most Sappy part, why hath it so great a stock of Sap, if not, after due maturation within it self, still to be disbursed into the Fibres of the Lignous Body? Why are the Annual Growths of all both Herbs and Trees, with great Piths, the quickest and the longest? But how are the Pores or Bladders of the Pith permeable? That they are so, both from their being capable of a repletion with Sap, and of being again wholly emptied of it, and again, instead thereof fill’d with Aer, is as certain as that they are Pores. That they are permeable, by the breadth, appears from the dilatation of the Lignous Body, and from the production of Branches, as hath been, and shall hereafter be said. And how else is there a Communion betwixt This and the Cortical Body? That they are so also, by the length, is probable, because by the best Microscope we cannot yet observe, that they are visibly more open by the breadth, than by the length. And withall are ranked by the length, as those of the Insertions by the breadth of the Trunk. But if you set a piece of dry Elder-Pith in some tinged Liquor, why then doth it not penetrate the Pores, so as to ascend through the Body of the Pith? The plain reason is, because they are all fill’d with Aer. Whereas the Pith in a Vegetating Plant, as its Parts or Bladders are still generated, they are at the same time also fill’d with Sap; which, as ’tis gradually spent, is still repaired by more succeeding, and so the Aer still kept out; as in all Primitive Growths, and the Pith of Elder it self: Yet the same Pith, by reason of the following Winter, wanting a more copious and quick supply of Sap, thus once become, ever after keeps dry. And since in the aforesaid Trial the Liquor only ascends by the sides of the Pith, that is of its broken Bladder, we should thence by the same reason conclude that they are not penetrable by the breadth neither, and so no way; and then it need not be ask’d what would follow. But certainly the Sap in the Bladders of the Pith is discharged and repaired every moment, as by its shriv’ling up, upon cutting the Plant, is evident.

32. §. We suppose then, that as the Sap ascendeth into the Trunk by the Lignous Body, so partly also by the Pith. For a piece of Cotton with one end immers’d in some tinged Liquor, and with the other erect above, though it will not imbibe the Liquor so far as to over-run at the top, yet so as to advance towards it, it will. So here, the Pith, being a porous and spongy Body, and in its Vegetating state, its Pores or Bladders being also permeable, as a curious Filtre of Natures own contrivance, it thus advanceth, or as people use to say, sucks up the Sap. Yet as it is seen of the Liquor in the Cotton; so likewise are we to suppose it of the Sap in the Pith; that though it riseth up for some way, yet is their some term, beyond which it riseth not, and towards which the motion of the ascending Sap is more and more broken, weak and slow, and so the quantity thereof less and less. But because the Sap moveth not only by the length, but breadth of the Pith; at the same time therefore as it partly ascendeth by the Pith, it is likewise in part pressed into the Lignous Body or into its Pores. And since the motion of the Sap by the breadth of the Pith not being far continued, and but collateral, is more prone and easie, than the perpendicular, or by its length; it therefore follows, that the collateral motion of the Sap, at such a height or part of the Pith, will be equally strong with the perpendicular at another part, though somewhat beneath it; and that where the perpendicular is more broken and weak, the collateral will be less; and consequently where the perpendicular tendency of the Sap hath its term, the collateral tendency thereof, and so its pressure into the Pores or Vessels of the Lignous Body, will still continue. Through which, in that they are small, and so their sides almost contiguous, the Sap as fast as pressed into them will easily run up; as in very small Glasse Pipes, or betwixt the two halves of a Stick first slit, and then tyed somewhat loosely together, may also any Liquor be observed to do. By which Advantage the facility and strength of that ascent will be continued higher in the said Vessels, than in the Pith. Yet since this also, as well as that in the Pith will have its term; the Sap, although got thus far, would at last be stagnant, or at least its ascent be very sparing, slow and feeble, if not some way or other re-inforced. Wherefore, as the Sap moving by the breadth of the Pith, presseth thence into the Vessels of the Lignous Body; so having well fill’d these, is in part by the same Collateral motion disbursed back, into a yet higher Region of the Pith. By which partly, and partly, by that portion of the Sap, which in its perpendicular ascent was before lodged therein; ’tis thus here, as in any inferiour place equally replenished. Whereupon the force and vigour of the perpendicular motion of the Sap herein, will likewise be renew’d; and so its Collateral motion also, and so its pressure into the Vessels of the Lignous Body, and consequently its ascent therein: and so by a pressure, from these into the Pith, and from the Pith into these, reciprocally carried on; a most ready and copious ascent of the Sap will be continued, from the bottom to the top, though of the highest Tree.

An Appendix.

Of Trunk-Roots and Claspers.

THE distinct Parts whereof these are composed, are the same with those of the Trunk, and but the continuation of them.

1. §. Trunk-Roots are of two kinds: Of the one, are those that vegetate by a direct descent: The place of their Eruption is sometimes all along the Trunk; as in Mint, &c. Sometimes only at its utmost point, as in the Bramble.

2. §. The other sort are such as neither ascend nor descend, but shoot forth at right Angles with the Trunk; which therefore, though as to their Office, they are true Roots, yet as to their Nature, they are a Middle Thing betwixt a Root and a Trunk.

3. §. Claspers, though they are but of one kind, yet their Nature is double; not a mean betwixit that of the Root and that of the Trunk, but a compound of both; as in their Circumvolutions, wherein they often mutually ascend and descend, is seen.

4. §. The use of these Parts may be observed as the Trunk Mounts, or as it Trails. In the mounting of the Trunk, they are for Support and Supply. For Support, we see the Claspers of Vines: the Branches whereof being very long, fragile and slender; unless by their Claspers, they were mutually contain’d together, they must needs by their own weight, and that of their Fruit, undecently fall; and be also liable to frequent breaking. So that the whole care is divided betwixt the Gardener and Nature; the Gardener, with his Ligaments of Leather, secures the main Branches; and Nature, with these of her own finding, secures the Less. Their Conveniency to which end, is seen in their Circumvolutions, a motion, not proper to any other Part: As also in their toughness, though much more slender than the Branches whereon they are appendent.

5. §. The Claspers of Bryony have a retrograde motion about every Third Circle, to the form a Doublet-Clasp. Probably for the more certain hold; which, if it miss one way, it may be sure to take another.

6. §. For Supply, we see the Trunk-Roots of Ivy. For mounting very high, and being of a closer or more compact Substance than that of a Vine; the Sap could not be sufficiently supplied to the upper Sprouts, unless these, to the Mother-Root, were joyntly assistant. Yet serve they for support likewise; whence they shoot out, not as in Cresses, Brook-lime, &c. reciprocally on each side, but commonly, all on one; that so they may be fastned at the nearest hand.

7. §. In the Trailing of the Trunk, they serve for stabiliment, propagation and shade. For stabiliment, the Claspers of Cucumbers are of good use. For the Trunk and Branches being long and fragile, the Brushes of the Winds would injuriously hoise them to and fro, to the dammage both of themselves and their tender Fruits, were they not by these Ligaments brought to good Association and Settlement.

8. §. As for this end, so for Propagation, the Trunk-Roots of Chamæmile do well serve. Whence we have the reason of the common observation, that it grows better by being trod upon: the Mould, where too laxe, being thus made to lie more conveniently about the said Trunk-Roots newly bedded therein; and is that which is sometimes also effected in Rowling of Corn.

9. §. For both these ends, Serve the Trunk-Roots of Strawberries; as also for shade; for in that all Strawberries delight; and by the trailing of the Plant is well obtain’d. So that as we are wont to tangle the Twigs of Trees together to make an Arbour Artificial; the same is here done to make a Natural one: as likewise by the Claspers of Cucumbers. For the Branches of the one by the Linking of their Claspers, and of the other by the Tethering of their Trunk-Roots, being couched together; their tender Fruits thus lie under the Umbrage of a Bower made of their own Leaves.

CHAP. IV.

Of the GERMEN, BRANCH, and LEAF.

THE Parts of the Germen and Branch, are the same with those of the Trunk; the same Skin, Cortical and Lignous Bodies, Insertment and Pith, hereinto propagated, and distinctly observable herein.

2. §. For upon Enquiry into the Original of a Branch or Germen, it appears, That it is not from the Superficies of the Trunk; but so deep, as to take, with the Cortical, the Lignous Body into it self: and that, not only from its Circumference, but from its Inner or Central Parts; So as to take the Pith in also. Divers of which Parts may commonly be seen to shoot out into the Pith; from which Shoots, the surrounding and more superiour Germens are originated; in like manner as the Succulent Part of the Lignous Body of the Trunk is sometimes principally from those Fibrous Shoots which run along the Pith in the Root.

3. §. The manner wherein usually the Germen and Branch are fram’d, is briefly thus: The Sap (as is said, Chap. 3.) mounting in the Trunk, will not only by its length, but by its breadth also, through the Insertions partly move. Yet, its Particles being not all alike qualified, in different degrees. Some are more gross and sluggish; of which we have the formation of a Circle of Wood only, or of an Annual Ring. Others are more brisk; and by these, we have the Germen propagated. For by the vigour of their own motion from the Center, they impress an equal tendency on some of the inner Portions of the Lignous Body next adjacent to the Pith, to move with them. And since the Lignous Body is not entire, but frequently disparted; through these Dispartments, the said interiour Portions, upon their Nutrition, actually shoot; not only towards the Circumference, so as to make part of a Ring; but even beyond it, in order to the production of a Germen. And the Lignous Body thus moving, and carrying the Cortical along with it; they both make a force upon the Skin. Yet their motion being most even and gradual, that force is such likewise; not to cause the least breach of its parts, but gently to carry it on with themselves; and so partly, by the extension of its already existent parts, as of those of Gold in drawing of Guilded Wyer; and partly, by the accretion of new ones, as in the enlarging of a Bubble above the Surface of the Water; it is extended with them to their utmost growth. In which growth, the Germen being prolonged, and so displaying its several parts, as when a Prospective or Telescope is drawn out, thus becomes a Branch.

4. §. The same way as the propagation of the Parts of a Germen is contriv’d, is its due nutrition also. For being originated from the inner part of the Lignous Body, ’tis nourished with the best fermented Sap in the Trunk, sc. that next adjacent to it in the Pith. Besides, since all its Parts, upon their shooting forth, divaricate from their perpendicular, to a cross Line, as these and the other grow and thrive together, they bind and throng each other into a Knot: through which Knot the Sap being strain’d, ’tis thus, in due moderation and purity delivered up into the Branch.

5. §. And for Knots, they are so necessary, as to be seen not only where collateral Branches put forth; but in such Plants also, as shoot up in one single Trunk; as in Corn. Wherein, as they make for the strength of the Trunk; so by so many percolations, as they are Knots, for the transmission of the Sap more and more refined towards the Ear. So that the two general uses of Knots are, For firmer standing, and finer growth.

6. §. Lastly, as the due Formation and Nutrition of the Germen are provided for, so is its security also; which both in its position upon the Trunk, and that of its Parts among themselves, may be observed. The position of its Parts shall be considered in speaking of the Leaf. As to its standing in the Trunk, ’tis alwayes betwixt the trunk or older Branch, and the Basis of the Stalk of a Leaf; whereby it is not only guarded from the Injuries of any contingent Violence; but also from the more piercing assaults of the Cold; so long, till in time ’tis grown larger, and more hardy. The manner and uses of the position of every Germen, considered as after it becomes a Branch; hath already been, ♦ Hist. of the Prop. of Veget. ♦ by the Ingenious Mr. Sharrock very well observed; to whom I refer.

7. §. UPON THE prolongation of the Germen into a Branch, its Leaves are thus display’d. The Parts whereof are substantially the same with those of a Branch. For the Skin of the Leaf, is only the ampliation of that of the Branch; being partly by the accretion of new, and partly the extention of its already existent parts, dilated (as in making of Leaf-Gold) into its present breadth. The Fibres or Nerves dispersed through the Leaf, are only the Ramifications of the Branch’s Wood, or Lignous Body. The Parenchyma of the Leaf, which lies betwixt the Nerves, and as in Gentlewomens Needle-works, fills all up, is nothing else, but the continuation of the Cortical Body, or Parenchymous part of the Barque from the Branch into it self, as in most Plants with a thick Leaf, may easily be seen.

8. §. The Fibers of the Leaf neither shoot out of the Branch, or the Trunk, nor stand in the Stalk, in an even Line; but alwayes in either an Angular or Circular posture; and usually making either a Triangle, or a Semi-Circle, or Chord of a Circle; as in Cichory, Endive, Cabbage, &c. may be observed. ♦ Tab. 4. f. 2. to f. 11. ♦ And if the Leaf have but one main Fiber, that also is postur’d in a bowed or Lunar Figure; as in Mint and others. The usual number of these Vascular Threds or Fibres is 3, 5, or 7.

9. §. The reason of the said Positions of the Fibers in the Stalk of the Leaf, is for its more Erect growth, and greater Strength: which, were the position of the said Fibers in an even Line, and so the Stalk it self as well as the Leaf, flat; must needs have been defective; as from what we have said of the Circumferential posture of the Lignous Body in the Trunk, ♦ C. 3. §. 24. ♦ we may better conceive.

10. §. As likewise for the security of its Sap: For by this means it is, that the several Fibers, and especially the main or middle Fiber of the Leaf, together with a considerable part of the Parenchyma, are so disposed of, as to jut out, not from its upper, but its back, or nether Side. Whence the whole Leaf, reclining backward, becomes a Canopy to them, defending them from those Injuries which from colder Blasts, or an hotter Sun, they might otherwise sustain. So that by a mutual benefit, as These give suck to all the Leaf, so that again protection to These.

11. §. These Fibers are likewise the immediate Visible Cause of the Shape of the Leaf. For if the nethermost Fiber or Fibers in the Stalk (which thence runs chiefly through the length of the Leaf) be in proportion greater, the Leaf is long; as in Endive, Cichory, and others: If all of a more equal size, it spreads rounder, as in Ivy, Doves-foot, Colts foot, &c. And although a Dock-Leaf be very long, whose Fibers notwithstanding, as they stand higher in the Stalk, are disposed into a Circle all of an equal size; yet herein one or more peculiar Fibres, ♦ Tab. 4. ♦ standing, in or near the Center, betwixt the rest, and running through the length of the Leaf, may be observed.

12. §. In correspondence also to the size and shape of these Fibres, is the Leaf flat. In that either they are very small, or if larger, yet they never make an entire Circle or Ring; but either half of one, as in Borage, or at most three parts of one, as in Mullen, may be seen. ♦ Tab. 4. ♦ For if either they were so big, as to contain, or so entire, as perfectly to include a Pith, the Energy of the Sap in that Pith, would cause the said Lignous Ring to shoot forth on every side, as it doth in the Root or Trunk: But the said Fibers being not figur’d into an entire Ring, but so as to be open; on that hand therefore where open they cannot shoot any thing directly from themselves, because there they have nothing to shoot; and the Sap having also a free vent through the said opening, against that part therefore which is thereunto opposite, it can have no force; and so neither will they shoot forth on that hand; and so will they consequently, that way only, which the force of the Sap directs, which is only on the right and left.

13. §. The several Fibers in the Stalk, are all Inosculated in the Leaf, with very many Sub-divisions. According as these Fibers are Inosculated near, or at, or shoot directly to the edge of the Leaf, is it Even, or Scallop’d. Where these Inosculations are not made, there we have no Leaves, but only a company of Filaments; as in Fennel.

14. §. To the Formations of Leaves, the Fouldings immediately follow. And sometimes they have one Date, or are the contemporary works of Nature; each Leaf obtaining its distinct shape, and proper posture together; both being perfect, not only in the outer, but Central and minutest Leaves, which are five hundred times smaller than the outer: both which in the Cautious opening of a Germen may be seen.

15. §. Nor is there greater Art in the Forms, than in the Foulds or Postures of Leaves; both answerably varying, as this or that way they may be most agreeable. ♦ Treat. of the Quincunx. ♦ Of the Quincuncial posture, so amply instanc’d in by the Learned Sir Thomas Brown, I shall omit to speak. Others there are, which though not all so universal, yet equally necessary where they are, giving two general advantages to the Leaves, Elegancy and Security, sc. in taking up, so as their Forms will bear, the least room; and in being so conveniently couch’d, as to be capable of receiving protection from other Parts, or of giving it one to another; as for instance,

16. §. First, There is the Bow-Lap, where the Leaves are all laid somewhat convexly one over another, but not plaited; being to the length, breadth and number of Leaves most agreeable; as in the Buds of Pear-tree, Plum-tree, &c. But where the Leaves are not so thick set, as to stand in the Bow-Lap, there we have the Plicature, or the Flat-Lap; as in Rose-Tree, Strawberry, Cinquefoyl, Burnet, &c. For the Leaves being here plaited, and so lying in half their breadth, and divers of them thus also collaterally set together; the thickness of them all, and half their breadth, are much alike dimensions; by which they stand more secure within themselves, and in better consort with other Germen-Growths in the same Truss. If the Leaves be much indented or jagg’d, now we have the Duplicature; wherein there are divers Plaits in one Leaf, or Labels of a Leaf, but in distinct Sets, a lesser under a greater; as in Souchus, Tansey, &c. When the Leaves stand not collaterally, but single; and are moreover very broad; then we have the Multiplicature; as in Gooseberries, Mallows, &c. the Plaits being not only divers in the same Leaf, but of the same Set continuant, and so each Leaf gather’d up in five, seven or more Foulds, in the same manner as our Gentlewomens Fans. Where either the thickness of the Leaf will not permit a Flat-Lap, or the fewness of their number, or the smalness of their Fibers, will allow the Rowl, there This may be observed. Which is sometimes single, as in Bears-Ears, Arum, Flammula, Jerusalem Cowslip, &c. Sometimes double, the two Rowls beginning at each edge of the Leaf, and meeting in the middle. Which again, is either the Fore-Rowl, or the Back-Rowl. If the Leaf be design’d to grow long, now we have the Back-Rowl, as in Docks, Sorrels, and the rest of this Kindred: as also in Primrose, and other like Plants. For the main Fibers, and therewith a considerable part of the Cortical Body standing prominent from the Back-side of the Leaf, they thus stand securely couch’d up betwixt the two Rowls; on whose security the growth of the Leaf in length depends. But those of Bears-Ears, Violets, Doves Foot, Warden, and many more, upon contrary respects, are rowled up inwards. Lastly, there is the Tre-Rowl, as in Fern; the Labels whereof, though all rowled up to the main Stem, yet could not stand so firm and secure from the Injuries either of the Ground or Weather, unless to the Rowls in breadth, that by the length were super-induc’d; the Stalk or main Stem giving the same Protection here, which in other Plants by the Leaves, or some particular Mantling, is contriv’d. These, and other Foulds, See in the Figures belonging to the First =Part= of the Fourth =Book=.

17. §. According to the Form and Foulding of every Leaf or Germen, is its Protection order’d; about six ways whereof may be observ’d; sc. by Leaves, Surfoyls, Interfoyls, Stalks, Hoods and Mantlings. To add to what we have above given, one or two Instances. Every Bud, besides its proper Leaves, is covered with divers Leafy Pannicles or Surfoyls; which, what the Leaves are to one another, are that to them all: For not opening except gradually, they admit not the Weather, Wet, Sun or Aer, to approach the Leaves, except by degrees respondent, and as they are gradually inur’d to bear them. Sometimes, besides Surfoyls, there are also many Interfoyls set betwixt the Leaves, from the Circumference to the Center of the Bud; as in the Hasel. For the Fibres of these Leaves standing out so far from a plain surface; they would, if not thus shelter’d, lie too much expos’d and naked to the Severities of the Weather. Where none of all the Protections above-named, are convenient, there the Membranes of the Leaves by continuation in their first forming (together with some Fibres of the Lignous Body) are drawn out into so many Mantles or Veils; as in Docks, Snakeweed, &c. For the Leaves here being but few, yet each Leaf and its Stalk being both exceeding long; at the bottom whereof the next following Leaf still springs up; the form and posture of all is such, as supersedes all the other kinds of Protection, and so each Leaf apart is provided with a Veil to it self. These, and other Protections, See in the Figures belonging to the First =Part= of the Fourth =Book=.

18. §. The Uses of the Leaves, I mean in respect of their service to the Plant it self, are these: First, for Protection; which, besides what they give one to another, they afford also to the Flower and Fruit. To the Flower in their Foulds; that being, for the most part, born and usher’d into the open Aer by the Leaves. To the Fruit, when afterwards they are display’d, as in Strawberries, Grapes, Rasps, Mulberries, &c. On which, and the like, should the Sun-Beams immediately strike, especially while they are young, they would quite shrivel them up; but being by the Leaves screened off, they impress the circumjacent Aer so far only as gently to warm the said Fruits, and so to promote their Fermentation and Growth. And accordingly we see, that the Leaves above-named are exceeding large in proportion to the Fruits: whereas in Pear-trees, Apple-trees, &c. the Fruit being of a solider Parenchyma, and so not needing the like protection, are usually equal with, and often wider in Diameter than the Leaves.

19. §. Another use is for Augmentation; or, the capacity for the due spreading and ampliation of a Tree or other Plant, are its Leaves. For herein the Lignous Body being divided into small Fibres, and these running all along their lax and spongie Parenchyma; they are thus a Body fit for the imbibition of Sap, and easie Growth. Now the Sap having a free reception into the Leaves, it still gives way to the next succeeding in the Branches and Trunk, and the voyding of the Sap in these, for the mounting of that in the Root, and ingress of that in the Ground. But were there no Leaves to make a free reception of Sap, it must be needs be stagnant in all the Parts to the Root, and so the Root being clogg’d, its fermenting and other Offices will be voyded, and so the due Growth of the whole. As in the motion of a Watch, although the original term thereof be the Spring, yet, the capacity for its continuance in a due measure throughout all the Wheels, is the free and easie motion of the Ballance.

20. §. Lastly, As the Leaves subserve the more copious advancement, so the higher purity of the Sap. For this being well fermented both in the Root, and in its Ascent through the Trunk, and so its Parts prepar’d to a farther separation; the grosser ones are still deposited into the Leaves; the more elaborate and essential only thus supplied to the Flower, Fruit and Seed, as their convenient Aliment. Whence it is, that where the Flowers are many and large, into which the more odorous Particles are copiously receiv’d, the green Leaves have little or no smell; as those of Rose-tree, Carnations, French-Marigold, Wood-bind, Tulips, &c. But on the contrary, where the Flowers are none, or small, the green Leaves themselve are likewise of a strong savour; as those of Wormwood, Tansie, Baum, Mint, Rue, Geranium Moschatum, Angelica, and others.

An Appendix.

Of Thorns, Hairs and Globulets.

THorns are of two kinds, Lignous and Cortical. Of the first are such as those of the Hawthorn, and are constituted of all the same substantial Parts whereof the Germen or Bud it self, and in a like proportion: which also in their Infancy are set with the resemblances of divers minute Leaves. Of affinity with these are the Spinets or Thorny Prickles upon the Edges and Tops of divers Leaves, as of Barbery, Holly, Thistle, Furze, and others; all which I think are the filamentous extremities of the Lignous Body sheathed in the Skin. But this principal difference betwixt a Bud and these Lignous Thorns, is observable; That the Bud hath its Original from the Inner part of the Lignous Body, next the Pith: But these Thorns, from the outer, and less fecund Part; and so produceth no Leaves, but is, as it were, the Mola of a Bud.

2. §. Cortical Thorns are such as those of the Rasberry Bush, being not, unless in a most extraordinary small and invisible proportion propagated from the Lignous Body, but as, it seems, wholly from the Cortical and Skin, or from the exteriour part of the Barque.

3. §. The Growth of this Thorn may farther argue what in the ♦ C. 2. §. 25. ♦ Second Chapter we supposed; sc. That as the proper Tendency of the Lignous Body, is to Ascend; so of the Cortical to Descend. For as the Lignous Thorn, like other Parts of the Trunk, in its Growth ascends; This, being almost wholly Cortical, pointeth downward. ♦ Hist. of the Prop. of Veget. ♦ The use of Thorns the Ingenious Mr. Sharrock hath observed.

4. §. Upon the Leaves of divers Plants two Productions shew themselves, sc. Hairs and Gloubulets. Of Hairs, only one kind is taken notice of; although they are various. Ordinarily they are of a Simple Figure; which when fine and thick set, as on most Hairy Buds; or fine and long, as on those of the Vine, we call them Down.

5. §. But sometimes they are Branched out, from the bottom to the top, reciprocally on every side, in some resemblance to a Stags Horn; as in Mullen. And sometimes they are Astral, as upon Lavender, and some other Leaves, and especially those of Wild Olive; wherein every Hair rising in one round entire Basis a little way above the surface of the Leaf, is then disparted, Star-like, into several, four, five or six Points, all standing at right Angles with the said perpendicular Basts.

6. §. The Uses of Hairs are for Distinction and Protection. That of Distinction is but secondary, the Leaves being grown to a considerable size. That of Protection is the prime, for which they were originally form’d together with the Leaves themselves, and whose service they enjoy in their Infant-estate: For the Hairs being then in form of a Down, always very thick set, thus, give that Protection to the Leaves, which their exceeding tenderness then requires; so that they seem to be veiled with a Coat of Frize, or to be kept warm, like young and dainty Chickens, in Wool.

7. §. Globulets are seen upon Orach, both Garden and Wild; and yet more plainly on Mercury or Bonus Henricus. In these, growing almost upon the whole Plant, and being very large, they are by all taken notice of.

8. §. But strict Observation discovers, that these Globulets are the natural and constant Off-spring of very many other Plants. Both these Globulets, and likewise the diversity of Hairs, I find that Mr. Hook hath also observed. ♦ Micrography. ♦I take notice, that they are of two kinds; Transparent, as upon the Leaves of Hysop, Mint, Baume, and many more White, as upon those of Germander, Sage, and others. All which, though the naked Eye will discover, yet by the help of Glasses we may observe them most distinctly. The use of these we suppose the same, in part, with those of the Flower, whereof we shall speak.

CHAP. V.

Of the FLOWER.

WE next proceed to the Flower. The general Parts whereof are most commonly three; sc. the Empalement, the Foliation, and the Attire.

2. §. The Empalement, whether of one or more pieces, I call that which is the utmost Part of the Flower, encompassing the other two. ’Tis compounded of the three general Parts, the Skin, the Cortical and Lignous Bodies, each Empaler (where there are divers) being as another little Leaf; as in those of a Quince-Flower, as oft as they happen to be overgrown, is well seen. As likewise in the Primrose, with the green Flower; commonly so call’d, though by a mistake: For that which seems to be the Flower, is only the more flourishing Empalement, the Flower it self being White. But the continuation of all the three aforesaid Parts into each Empaler, is discoverable, I think, no where better than in an Artichoke, which is a true Flower, and whose Empalers are of that amplitude, as fairly to shew them all: As also, that the Original of the Skin of each Empaler or Leaf is not distinct from that of the rest; but to be all one piece, laid in so many Plaits or Duplicatures, as there are Leaves, from the outermost to the inner and most Central ones.

3. §. The Design of the Empalement, is to be Security and Bands to the other two Parts of the Flower: To be their Security before its opening, by intercepting all extremities of Weather: Afterwards to be their Bands, and firmly to contain all their Parts in their due and most decorous posture: so that a Flower without its Empalement, would hang as uncouth and taudry, as a Lady without her Bodies.

4. §. Hence we have the reason why it is various, and sometimes wanting. Some Flowers have none, as Tulips; for having a fat and firm Leaf, and each Leaf likewise standing on a broad and strong Basis, they are thus sufficient to themselves. Carnations, on the contrary, have not only an Empalement, but that (for more firmitude) of one piece: For otherwise, the Foot of each Leaf being very long and slender, most of them would be apt to break out of compass: yet is the top of the Empalement indented also; that the Indentments, by being lapp’d over the Leaves before their expansion, may then protect them; and by being spread under them afterwards, may better shoulder and prop them up. And if the Feet of the Leaves be both long and very tender too, here the Empalement is numerous, though consisting of several pieces; yet those in divers Rounds, and all with a counterchangeable respect to each other (which also the Learned Sir Thomas Brown observes) ♦ Treat. of the Quincunx. ♦ as in all Knapweeds, and other Flowers; whereby, how commodious they are for both the aforesaid ends, may easily be conceiv’d; and well enough exemplified by the Scales of Fishes, whereunto, as to their position, they have not an unapt resemblance.

5. §. THE FOLIATION also, is of the same substantial Nature with the green Leaf; the Membrane, Pulp, and Fibres whereof, being, as there, so here, but the continuation of the Skin, the Cortical and Lignous Bodies.

6. §. The Foulds of the Flower or Foliation are various, as those of the green Leaf; but some of them different. The most general are, First, The Close-Couch, as in Roses, and many other double Flowers. Then the Concave-Couch, as in Blattaria flore albo. Next the Plait, as in some of the Leaves of Pease-Blooms, in the Flowers of Coriander, &c. which is either single, as in those nam’d; or double, as in Blew-Bottle, Jacea, and more of that rank. Next, the Couch, and Plait together in the same Flower, as in Marigolds, Daisies, and all others of an agreeing form: where the first apparent Fould or Composture of the Leaves is in Couch; but the Leaves being erect, each likewise may be seen to lie in a double Plait within it self. Then the Rowl, as in the Flowers of Ladies-Bower, the broad top of each Leaf being by a double Rowl foulded up inwardly. Next, the Spire, which is the beginning of a Rowl; and may be seen in the Flowers of Mallows, and others. Lastly, the Plait and Spire together, where the Part analogous to the Foliation, is of one piece, the Plaits being here laid, and so carried on by Spiral Lines to the top of the Flower, as is in divers, and I think, in Convolvulus Doronici folio, more elegantly seen. These and other Foulds, See in the Figures belonging to the Second =Part= of the Fourth =Book=. The reason of all which varieties, a comparative consideration of the several Parts of the Flower may suggest. I’le only mention, That no Flower, that I find, hath a Back-Rowl, as hath the green Leaf. For two Reasons; because its Leaves have not their Fibres standing out much on their backside, as the green Leaves have; and because of its Attire, which it ever embosomes, and cannot so well do it by a Back-Rowl.

7. §. The usual Protections of Flowers by the Precedents are express’d, sc. Green Leaves and Empalements. Some have another more peculiar, that is a double Veil; as the Spring-Crocus. For having no Empalement, and starting up early out of the Mould, even before its Green Leaves, and that upon the first opening of the Spring; lest it should thus be quite starved, ’tis born swath’d up in a double Blanket, or with a pair of Sheets upon its Back.

8. §. The Leaves of divers Flowers at their Basis have an hairy Tuft; by which Tufts the Concave of the Empalement is filled up; That, being very choice and tender, they may thus be kept in a gentle and constant Warmth, as most convenient for them.

9. §. The Leaves of the Flower, though they are not hairy all over, yet in some particular parts they are often set with a fine Downy Velvet; that, being by their shape and posture in those parts contiguous to their delicate and tender Attire, they may thus give it a more soft and warmer touch. Thus in the Flower of Ladies Bower, those parts of its Leaves which rowl inward, and lie contiguous to the Attire, are Downy; whereas the other Parts are smooth or bald: So the Flowers of Pease, Spanish Broom, Toad-Flax, and many others, where contiguous to their Attires, are deck’d with the like Hairy Velvet.

10. §. As upon the Green Leaves, so upon the Flowers are Globulets somtimes seen; as upon the backside of that of Enula. On none more plainly than that kind of Blattaria with the white Flower; where they are all transparent, and growing both on the Stalk and Leaves of the Flower, each shewing likewise its Peduncle whereon it is erected.

11. §. The use of the Flower, or the Foliation whereof we now speak, (that is, as to its private service) is for the protection of the Attire; This, as its under, and the Empalement as its upper Garments. As likewise of the Fruit: The necessity of which Service, in some Cases, by the different situation of the Flower and Fruit, with respect to each other, is evident; Apples, Pears, and several other Fruits, standing behind or under the Flower; but Cherries, Aprecots, and divers others, within it. For these, being of a very tender and pulpous Body, and withal putting forth with the colder part of the Spring; could not weather it out against the Variations and Extremities of the Air, (as those of a more solid Parenchyma can) except lodged up within their Flowers.

12. §. And as the Flower is serviceable to the safety of the Fruit, so is it to its growth; sc. in its Infancy, or Embryo-estate; for which purpose, as there is a Flower, so that Flower is greater or less, according as the nature of the Fruit to which it belongs, and the plenty of the Sap by which the Fruit is fed, doth require. Thus, where the young Fruit is of a solider Substance and the ascent of the Sap less copious, were there here no Flower to promote the said ascent thereof into the Fruit (in the manner as is effected by the Green Leaves) it must needs pine and die, or prove less kindly. On the contrary, should the Flower be over-large, it would not only promote the ascent of the Sap up to the Fruit, but being as yet over-proportionate to it, would likewise it self exhaust the same Sap, as fast as ascendent; like a greedy Nurse, that prepares the Meat for her Child, and then eats it up her self. Thus we see Apples and Pears, with a Flower of a moderate Size; like their Body, of a middle Constitution, and their Sap, of a middle quantity: But Quinces, being more solid, besides that they have as great a Flower, the Impalers of their Flower also thrive so far as to become handsom Leaves; continuing also after the Flower is fallen, firm and verdent a great while; so long, till the Fruit be able to provide for it self. On the other hand, Plums being more tender and Sappy than Apples and Pears, besides that their Empalers are much alike, their Flower is less, and Goosberries and Currants, which are still more Pulpy, and the course of the Sap towards them more free, have yet a Flower far less. And Grapes, whose Sap is still of quicker Ascent, have scarce any Flower at all; only some small resemblance thereof, serving just upon the setting of the Fruit, and no longer.

13. §. THE ATTIRE, I find to be of two kinds, Seminiforme, and Florid. That which I call Seminiforme, is made up of two general Parts, Chives and Semets, one upon each Chive. These Semets (as I take leave to call them) have the appearance, especially in many Flowers, of so many little Seeds: but are quite another kind of Body. For, upon enquiry, we find, that these Semets, though they seem to be solid, and for some time after their first formation, are entire; yet are they really hollow; and their side, or sides, which were at first entire, at length crack asunder: And that moreover the Concave of each Semet is not a meer vacuity, but fill’d up with a number of minute Particles, in form of a Powder. Which, though common to all Semets, yet in some, and particularly those of a Tulip or a Lilly, being larger, is more distinctly observable. ♦ Tab. 4. f. 12. ♦

14. §. These Semets are somtimes fastned so, as to stand erect above their Chive, as those of Larks-heel. Somtimes, and I think usually, so as to hang a little down by the midle, in the manner and figure of a Kidney; as in Mallows. Their Cleft or Crack is sometimes single, but for the most part double: At these Clefts it is that they disburse their Powders; ♦ f. 12. a. ♦ which as they start out, and stand betwixt the two Lips of each Cleft, have some resemblance to the common Sculpture of a Pomegranate with its Seeds looking out at the Cleft of its Rind. This must be observ’d when the Clefts are recently made, which usually is before the expansion of the Flower.

15. §. The Particles of these Powders, though like those of Meal or other Dust, they appear not easily to have any regular shape; yet upon strict observation, especially with the assistance of an indifferent Glass, it doth appear, That they are a Congeries, usually, of so many perfect Globes or Globulets; Sometimes of other Figures, but always regular. That which obscures their Figure is their being so small: In Dogs-Mercury, Borage, and very many more Plants, they are extreamly so. In Mallows, and some others, more fairly visible.

16. §. Some of these Powders, are yellow, as in Dogs-Mercury, Goats-Rue, &c. and some of other Colours: But most of them I think are white; and those of yellow Henbane very elegant; the disburs’d Powders whereof, to the naked eye, are white as Snow; but each Globulet, through a Glass, transparent as Crystal; which is not a fallacy from the Glass, but what we see in all transparent Bodies whatsoever, lying in a Powder or small Particles together. The Parts of this Attire, see in Tab. 4. But especially, in the Figures belonging to the Second =Part= of the Fourth =Book=.

17. §. The Florid Attire, is commonly known by the blind and rude Name of Thrums; as in the Flowers of Marigold, Tansie, &c. How inadequate its imposition is, observation will determine. For the several Thrums or rather Suits, whereof the Attire is made up, however else they may differ in various Flowers, in this agree, that they are ever consistent of more than one, sometimes of Two, ♦ Tab. 4. f. 13. a. ♦ and for the most part of Three Pieces (for which I call them Suits) and each Piece of a different, but agreeable and comely form.

18. §. The outer Part of every Suit, is its Floret: whose Body or Tube is divided at the top (like that of the Cowslip) into five distinct Leaves. ♦ f. 13. b. ♦ So that a Floret, is the Epitome of a Flower: and is all the Flower that many Plants, as Mugwort, Tansie, and others, have. What the Learned Sir Thomas Brown observeth ♦ Treat. of the Quincunx. ♦ of the number Five, as to the Leaves of the Flower, is still more universally holding in these of the Floret.

19. §. Upon the Expansion of the Floret, the next Part of the Suit is from within its Tube brought to sight; which we may (with respect to that within it) call the Sheath. ♦ f. 13. c. ♦ For this also, like the Floret, is a Concave Body; in its shape very well resembling the Fistulous Pouches of Wake-Robin, or of Dragon.

20. §. The Sheath, after some time, dividing at the top, from within its Concave the Third and innermost part of the Suit, sc. the Blade advanceth and displayes it self. ♦ Tab. 4. f. 13. d. ♦ This Part is not hollow, as the other two, but solid; yet at its Point, is commonly, divided into two halves.

21. §. About the said Point especially, there appears, Globulets, which are of the same nature with those of a Semet, though not so copious. So that all Flowers have their Powders or Globulets. The whole Attire may in Aster Per, Blewbottle, &c. where the Suits are large, be plainly observed without a Glass. The Parts of this Attire, See in Tab. 4. But especially in the Figures belonging to the Second =Part= of the Fourth =Book=.

22. §. The use of the Attire, how contemptibly soever we may look upon it, is certainly great. And though for our own use we value the Leaves of the Flower, or the Foliation, most; yet of all the three Parts, this in some respects is the choycest, as for whose sake and service the other two are made. The use hereof, as to Ornament and Distinction, is unquestionable; but is not all. As for Distinction, though, by the help of Glasses, we may make it to extend far; yet in a passant view, which is all we usually make, we cannot so well. As for Ornament, and particularly in reference to the Semets, we may ask, If for that meerly these were meant, then why should they be so made as to break open, or to contain any thing within them? Since their Beauty would be as good if they were not hollow; and is better before they crack and burst open, than afterwards.

23. §. Other uses hereof therefore we must acknowledge, and may observe. One is, for food; for Ornament and Distinction to us, and for Food to other Animals. I will not say, but that it may serve even to these for Distinction too, that they may be able to know one Plant from another, and in their flight or progress settle where they like best: and that therefore the varieties of these small parts are many, and well observed by them, which we take no notice of. Yet the finding out of Food is but in order to enjoy it: Which, that it is provided for a vast number of little Animals in the Attires of all Flowers, observation perswades us to believe. For why else are they evermore here found? Go from one Flower to another, great and small, you shall meet with none untaken up with these Guests. In some, and particularly the Sun-Flower, where the parts of the Attire, and the Animals for which they provide, are larger, the matter is more visible. We must not think, that God Almighty hath left any of the whole Family of his Creatures unprovided for; but as the Great Master, some where or other carveth out to all; and that for a great number of these little Folk, He hath stored up their peculiar provisions in the Attires of Flowers; each Flower thus becoming their Lodging and their Dining-Room, both in one.

24. §. Wherein the particular parts of the Attire may be more distinctly serviceable, this to one Animal, and that to another, I cannot say: Or to the same Animal, as a Bee, whether this for the Honey, another for their Bread, a third for the Wax: Or whether all only suck from hence some Juice; or some may not also carry some of the Parts, as of the Globulets, wholly away.

25. §. Or lastly, what may be the Primary and Private Use of the Attire (for even this abovesaid, though great, yet is but Secondary) I now determine not.

CHAP. VI.

Of the FRUIT.

THE general composition of all Fruits is one, that is, their Essential and truly Vital Parts, are in all the same, and but the continuation of those which in the other Parts of a Plant, we have already observed. Yet because by the different Constitutions and Tinctures of these Parts, divers considerably different Fruits result; I shall therefore take a particular view of the more known and principal of them, sc. Apples, Pears, Plums, Nuts and Berries.

2. §. AN APPLE, if cut traverse, appears constituted of four distinct Parts, the Pilling, the Parenchyma, Branchery, and Coare. The Pilling is only the spreading and dilatation of the Skin, or utmost part of the Barque in the Branch. The Parenchyma, when full ripe, is a tender delicate Meat. Yet as the Pilling is but the Continuation of the utmost part of the Barque; so is this, but the continuance and ampliation, or (as I may call it) the swelth and superbience of the Inner Part thereof; which upon observation of a young and Infant-Apple especially, is evident. Thus we see the Pith, which is often tough; in many Roots, as Parsneps, Turneps, &c. is tender and edible. So here, the Parenchyma, though originally no more than the Barque, yet the copiousness and purity of its Sap being likewise effectual to the largness and fineness of its growth, it thus becomes a soft and tender meat. The Branchery is nothing else but the Ramifications of the Lignous Body throughout all the parts of the Parenchyma; the greater Branches being likewise by the Inosculations of the less (as in the Leaf) united together. The main Branches are usually Twenty: Ten are spred and distributed through the Parenchyma, most of them enarching themselves towards the Cork or Stool of the Flower: The other Ten, running from the Stalk in a directer Line, at last meet the former at the said Cork, and are there osculated with them. Of these latter, five are originated from one; which running along the Center of the Stalk, and part of the Parenchyma of the Fruit, is therein at last divided. To these the Coats of the Kernels are fastned. So that whereas most of these Branches were originally extended even beyond the Fruit, and inserted into the Flower for the due growth thereof; the Fruit afterwards growing to some head, and so intercepting and preying upon the Aliment of the Flower, starves that and therefrom supersedes the service of the said Branches to it self, fifteen for its Parenchyma, and five for its Seed. The Coar is originated from the Pith; for the Sap finding room enough in the Parenchyma, through which to dispence it self all abroad, quits the Pith, which thereby hardens into a Coar. Thus we see the Insertions, although originate from the Cortical Body, yet their Parts being, by the Inosculations of the Lignous, so much compress’d and made to co-incide together, they become a Body very compact and dense. And in the Barque the same thing is effected by Arefaction only, or a meer voydance of the Sap; the Inner Part whereof, though soft and sappy, yet its superficial Rind is often so hard and smooth, that it may be fairly writ upon. The Parts of an Apple, See in the Figures belonging to the Third =Part= of the Fourth =Book=.

3. §. IN A PEAR there are five distinct Parts, the Pilling, the Parenchyma, Branchery, Calculary, and Acetary. ♦ Tab. 4. f. 14. ♦ The three former are here and in an Apple much alike; saving that here the Inner or Seed-Branches ordinarily stand double. The Calculary (most observable in rough-tasted, or Choak-Pears) is a Congeries of little stony Knots. They are many of them dispersed throughout the whole Parenchyma: But lying more continuous and compact together towards the Center of the Pear, surround the Acetary there, in a somewhat Globular Form. About the Stalk they stand more distant; but towards the Cork or Stool of the Flower, they still grow closer, and there at last gather (almost) into the firmitude of a Plum-stone it self. Within this lies the Acetary; ’tis allways sour, and by the bounding of the Calculary of a Globular Figure. ’Tis a simple Body, having neither any of the Lignous branched in it, nor any Calculous Knots. It is of the same substantial nature with the outer Parenchyma; but whether it be absolutely one with it, or be derived immediately from the Pith, my Enquiries yet made, determine not.

4. §. The Original of the Calculary I seem to have neglected. But hereof we may here best say, that whereas all the other Parts are Essential and truly Vital; the Calculary is not: but that the several Knots whereof it consists, are only so many meer Concretions or Precipitations out of the Sap; as in Urines, Wines, and other Liquors, we often see. And that the Precipitation is made by the mixture and re-action of the Tinctures of the Lignous and Cortical Bodies upon each other: Even as all Vegetable Nutrition or Fixation of Parts is also made by the joynt efficiency of the two same Tinctures, as hath been said. Hence we find, that as the Acetary hath no Branches of the Lignous Body, so neither hath it any Knots. Hence likewise it is, that we have so different and contrary a tast in the Parenchyma beyond the Calculary, from that in the Acetary: For whereas this is sour, that, wherein the said Precipitations are made, is sweet; being much alike effect to what we find in mixing of Corals, &c. with Vinegar or other acid Liquors. The Parts of a Pear, See in Tab. 4. But especially in the Figures belonging to the Third =Part= of the Fourth =Book=.

5. §. IN A PLUM (to which the Cherry, Apricot, Peach, Walnut, &c. ought to be referr’d) there are four distinct Parts, the Pilling, the Parenchyma, Branchery and Stone. The Pilling and Parenchyma are, as to their Original, with those of an Apple or Pear, both alike. As likewise the Branchery; but differently ramified. In Plums (I suppose all) there are five main Out-Branches, which run along the Surface of the Stone from the Basis to the point thereof, four of them by one Ridge, and one by the other opposite to it. ♦ Tab. 4. f. 15. ♦ In an Apricot there is the same number, but the single Branch runs not upon the Surface, but through the Body of the Stone. There are likewise two or three smaller Branches, which run in like manner under the other Ridge for some space, and then advancing into the Parenchyma, therein disperse themselves: These latter sort in Peaches are numerous throughout.

6. §. But notwithstanding the different disposition of the Branches of the Fruits aforesaid; yet is there one Branch dispos’d in one and the same manner in them all. The entrance hereof into the Stone is at its Basis; from whence running through its Body, and still inclining or arching it self towards its Concave, is at last, about its Cone, thereinto emergent, ♦ Tab. 4. f. 15. ♦ where the Coats of the Seed are appendent to it. Of the Seed-Branch ’tis therefore observable that after its entrance into the Fruit, ’tis always prolonged therein to a considerable length; as is seen not only in Apples, &c. where the Seed stands a good distance from the Stalk; but in Plums likewise, where it stands very near it; in that here the Seed-Branch, as is said, never strikes through the Stone into the Coats of the Seed directly, but runs through a Chanel cut in the Stone, till it issues, near the Cone, into the Concave thereof.

7. §. The Stone though it seem a simple Body, yet it is compounded of different ones. The Inner Part thereof, as it is by far the thinnest, so is it the most dense, white, smooth and simple. The Original is from the Pith; difficult, but curious to observe: For the Seed-Branch, not striking directly and immediately quite through the Basis of the Stone, but in the manner as is above described, carries a considerable Part of the Pith, now gather’d round about it, as its Parenchyma, along with it self; which upon its entrance into the concave of the Stone about its farther end, is there in part spread all over it, as the Lining thereof. The outer and very much thicker Part, consisteth partly of the like Precipitations or concrete Particles, as in a Pear; being gathered here much more closely, not only to a Contiguity, but a Coalition into one entire Stone; as we see in Pears themselves, especially towards the Cork, they gather into the like Stoniness; or as a Stone, Mineral, or Animal, is oftentimes the product of accumulated Gravel. But as the Parenchyma is mixed with the Concretions in the Calculary, so is it also, though not visibly, with these in the Stone, the ground of the Stone being indeed a perfect Parenchyma; but by the said Concretions so far alter’d, as to become dry, hard and undistinguishable from them. All which Particulars, are observable only in the several degrees of Growth in the young Fruit. And are represented in Tab. 4. But especially by the several Figures belonging to the Third and Fourth =Parts= of the Fourth =Book=.

8. §. IN A NUT (to which an Akern is analogous) there are three general Parts, the Cap, Shell, and Pith. The Cap is constituted of a Pilling and Parenchyma, derived from the Barque; and Ramulets from the Lignous Body of the Branch. The Shell likewise is not one simple Body, but compounded. The Superficial Part thereof is originated from the Pilling or Skin of the Cap, from the inside whereof it is, in a Duplicature, produc’d and spred over the Shell. Which, if you look at the Basis of the Shell, is farther evident: for that being continuous with the Parenchyma of the Cap, without the interposure of the Skin, the said superficial Part is there wanting. The thicker and inner Part of the Shell consisteth of the same Parenchyma as that of the Cap, with a Congeries of Precipitations silled up, as in a Stone. And as the Lignous Body is branched in a Stone, so, with some difference, in a Shell. The outer Branches or Ramulets are numerous, each issuing out of the Parenchyma of the Cap, and entring the Shell at the Circumference of its Basis, and so running betwixt its superficial and inner Parts towards the Cone, round about. The Inner or Seed-Branch is single, entring in, as do the other, at the Basis of the Shell, but at the Center thereof: from whence it runs, not through the Shell, as in Plums through the Stone; but through the Pith, as far as the Cone, where the Coats of the Seed hang appendent to it. The Pith whether derived from the same part both in name and nature in the Branch and Stalk; or from the Cortical Body, I yet determine not. The Parts of a Nut, See in the Figures belonging to the Third =Part= of the Fourth =Book=.

9. §. A BERRY, as a Gooseberry (to which Corinths, Grapes Hips, &c. are to be referr’d) consisteth, besides the Seed, of the three general Parts, Pilling, Parenchyma and Branchery. The Pilling is originated as in the foregoing Fruits. The Parenchyma is double, as likewise in some other Berries. The outer is commonly, together with the Pilling, call’d the Skin, and is that part we spit out, being of a sour tast. Now as the Pilling is originated from the outer, so this from the inner Part of the Barque; and accordingly the Pores thereof may be observed plainly of a like shape with those both of the Cortical Body and Pith. The Inner or Pulp is of a sweet taste, and is the Part we eat: It is of a Substance so laxe and tender, as it would seem to be only a thicker or jellied Juice; although this likewise be a true Parenchyma, something like that of an Orange or Limon, with its Pores all fill’d up with Liquor. The Branchery is likewise double: The Exterior runs betwixt the Pilling and Outer Parenchyma in arched Lines, from the Stalk to the Stool of the Flower. These outer Branches, though of various number at the Stalk, yet at the Cork are usually ten principal ones; five for the five Leaves of the Flower, and five for the Attire. The Inner main Branches are two, diametrically opposite to each other, and at the Cork with the other inosculated. From these two are branched other smaller, every one having a Seed appendent to it, whose Coats it entreth by a double Filament, one at the Basis, the other at the Cone. They are all very white and turgent, and by a slaunt cut, may be observ’d concave; thus representing themselves analogous to so many true spermatick Vessels. The Parts of a Gooseberry, See in the Figures belonging to the Third =Part= of the Fourth =Book=.

10. §. The Uses of Fruits are for Man, (sometimes also other Animals, as are Akerns and Haws) and for the Seed. For Man, they are so variously desirable, that till our Orchards and Store-Chambers, Confectioners-Stoves and Apothecaries-Shops, our Ladies Closets, their Tables or Hands are empty of them, I shall not need to enquire for what. If it be asked, how the Fruit becomes, generally above all the other Parts, so pleasant a Meat? It is partly from the Sap, the grosser portion thereof being deposited in the Leaves, and so the purer hereunto reserved. Partly from the Globular Figure of the Fruit. For the Sap being thus in a greater quantity herein, and in all Parts equally diffus’d, the Concoction hereof, as in a Vessel, is with greatest advantage favoured and promoted. Wherefore all Fruits, which we eat raw, how small soever, are of a Globular Form, or thereunto approaching; and the nearer, the delicater; amongst Apples, the Pipin; amongst Pears, the Burgundian; and amongst all Fruits, the Grape; and amongst Grapes, the roundest, are of all, the most dainty.

11. §. The visible cause of this Globular Figure, is the Flower; or the Inosculation of all the main Branches at the Stool of the Flower; and upon the fall of the Flower, the obtuseness, and with Wind and Sun, as it were the seaing of their several ends: For thus the Sap entering the Fruit, being not able to effect, either a Disunion, or a shooting forth of the said Branches, and so to carry on their Growth in length; they must of necessity be enarch’d, and with the Parenchyma more and more expand themselves. Whereas were they disposed and qualified otherwise, than as is said; instead of forming a Fruit within bounds, they would run out into all extravagance, and even into another little Tree or Leafy Growth.

12. §. To the Seed, the Fruit is serviceable; First, in order to its being supply’d with a due and most convenient Sap, the greater part thereof, and that which is less elaborated, being, in its passage towards the Seed, thereinto received; the Fruit doing the same office to the Seed, which the Leaves do to the Fruit; the Sap in the Fruit being, in a laxe comparison, as the Wine; and that for the Seed, a small part of the highest Spirit rectified from it.

13. §. So likewise for its Protection, in order to the prosperous carrying on and perfecting of its generation, and security being perfected. Which protection it gives not only to the Seminal Sap and Seed it self, but ever also to its Seed-Branch. Thus we see an Apple, besides that it is it self of ample compass, for the sake of its Seed, hath likewise its Coar; as if it were not sufficient, that the Walls of their Room are so very thick, unless also wainscoated. In a Pear again, where the Parenchyma is of less compass than that of an Apple, to what protection this affords, that of the Calculary is super-added. But in a Plum, where the Parenchyma is exceeding tender, and in a Peach, which hangs late, and till Autumn Frosts approach, we have not only the Rubbish of a Calculary, but stout Stone-Walls. Within which also, not only the Seed it self, but the Seed-Branch is evermore immur’d. Lastly, in a Nut, where the Shell being not surrounded with a Parenchyma, that protection is wanting without, ’tis answer’d by an ample Pith within it; and the Seed-Branch likewise included, not meerly in the Body of the Shell, as in a Plum, but within the Pith it self. So necessary is this design, that what the Hen by Incubation or Hovering, is to the Egg or Chick; that the whole Fruit, by comprehension, is to the Seed.

CHAP. VII.

Of the SEED, in its State of Generation.

AS the Original, so the Ultimate end and Perfection of Vegetation is the Seed. How it is the former, and in its state apt for Vegetation, hath already been seen. How the latter, and in its state of Generation, we shall now lastly enquire. In doing which, what in the other state, was either not distinctly existent, or not so apparent, or not so intelligible, will occur.

2. §. The two general Parts of the Seed are its Covers and Body. The Covers in this estate are usually Four. The outmost, we may call the Case. ’Tis of a very various form; sometimes a Pouch, as in Nasturtium, Cochlearia; a Cod, as in all Pulse, Galega; sometimes not entire, but parted, or otherwise open, as in Sorrel, Knotgrass; with many other forms: I think alwaies more heterogeneous to that of the Seed, by which it differs from the proper Coats. To this the Caps of Nuts, and the Parenchyma’s of other Fruits are analogous.

3. §. The two next are properly the Coats. In a Bean especially, and the like; from whence, to avoyd Confusion, the denomination may run common to the responding Covers of other Seeds. The Colour of the outer, is of all degrees, from White to the Blackness of Jett. Its Figure sometimes Kidney’d, as in Alcea, Behen, Poppy; Triangular, as in Polygonatum, Sorrel; Spherically triangular, in Mentha, Melissa; Circular, in Leucoium, Amaranthus; Globular, in Napus, Asperula; Oval, in Speculum Veneris, Tithymalus; half Globe, in Coriander; that which we take for one single round Seed, being a Conjugation of two; half Oval, in Anise, Fennel; Hastal, in Lactuca; Cylindrical, as, if I mistake not, in Jacobæa; Pyramidal, in Geranium Althææ fol. with many other differences. But the Perfection of one or two of the said Figures lieth in the Case. So that, as all Lines and Proportions are in the Leaf and Flower; so all Regular Solids in the Seed; or rather in its Covers.

4. §. ’Tis sometimes glistering, as in Speculum Veneris; Rough-cast, in Catanance; Studded, in Behen, Balttaria; Favous, in Papaver, Antirrhinum, Lepidum annuum, Alcea Vesicaria, Hyoscyamus, and many more, before the Seeds have lain long by; Pounced, in Phalangium Cretæ, Lithospermum; Ramified, in Pentaphyllum fragiferum Erectum majus, resembling the Fibers of the Ears of the Heart; some just Quinquenerval, as in Anisum, and many more, the Lignous Body being in five main Fibers branched therein. The Figures, and Surface, of These, and other Seeds, See in the Tables belonging to the Fourth =Part= of the Fourth =Book=.

5. §. The Covers of not only Quince-Seeds, and those of Psyllium (more usually taken notice of) but those also of Horminum, Nasturtium, Eruca, Camelina, Ocymum, and divers others, have a Mucilage. Which, though it be not visible when the Seeds are throughly dry; yet lying a while in some warm Liquor, or only on the Tongue, it swells more or less, and upon them all fairly shews it self. On that of Ocymum it appears grayish; on the other, transparent; and on that of Nasturtium Hortense very large; even emulous of the inner Pulp surrounding a Gooseberry-Seed. The putting of Clary-seed into the Eye, may have been brought into use from this Mucilage, by which alone it may become Medicinal. And thus far of the Superficies.

6. §. The nature of the outer Coat is also various, Membranous, Cartilaginous and Stony; the like Precipitations being sometimes made herein, as in a Stone or Shell; as in that of the Seeds of Carthamum, Lithospermum and others. The Designment hereof, being either with respect to the Seed in its state of Generation; as where the Case is either wanting, or at least insufficient of it self, there for its due protection and warmth. Or, in its state of Vegetation, for the better Fermenting of its Tinctures and Sap; the Fermentations of some Seeds not well proceeding, unless they lie in their Stony Casks in the Ground, like Bottled Liquors in Sand.

7. §. All Seeds have their outer Covers open; either by a particular Foramen, as in Beans, and other Pulse, as is said; or by the breaking off of the Seed from its Peduncle or Stool, as in those in Cucumber, Cichory; or by the entering and passage of a Branch or Branches, not only into the Concave thereof near the Cone, but also through the Cone it self; as in Shells and Stones.

8. §. For the sake of this aperture it is, that Akerns, Nuts, Beans, Cucumbers, and most other Seeds, are in their formation so placed, that the Radicle still standeth next to it; That So, upon Vegetation, it may have a free and ready passage into the Mould.

9. §. The Original of the outer Coat, though from Parts of the same substantial nature, yet is differently made. In a Plum, the Seed-Branch which runns, as is described, through the Stone, is not naked, but, as is said, invested with a thin Parenchyma, which it carries from the Stalk along with it; and which, by the Ramification of the said Branch within the Stone, is, in part, dilated into a Coat. That of a Bean is from the Parenchyma of the Cod; the superficial part of which Parenchyma, upon the large peduncle of the Bean becoming a thin Cuticle, and upon the Bean it self a Cartilaginous Coat.

10. §. The Original of the inner Coat of the Bean is likewise from the inner part of the said Parenchyma; which first is spred into a long Cake, or that which with the Seed-Branch maketh the Penduncle of the Bean; under which Cake, there is usually a black part or spot; by the length of which, the inner part of the Cake is next inserted into the outer Coat, and spred all over the Concave thereof, and so becomes the inner.

11. §. Of this Inner Coat it is very observable, That although when the Seed is grown old and dry, ’tis shrunk up, and in most Seeds, so far, as scarcely to be discern’d; yet in its first and juvenile Constitution, it is a very Spongy and Sappy body; and is then likewise (as the Womb in a Pregnant Animal) in proportion, very thick and bulky. In a Bean, even as one of the Lobes it self: And in a Plum or Apricot, I think I may safely say, half an hundred times thicker than afterwards, when it is dried and shrunk up, and can scarcely be distinguished from the upper Coat. Upon which Accounts it is, in this estate a true and fair Parenchyma. The Delineation hereof, See in the Figures belonging to the Fourth =Part= of the Fourth =Book=.

12. §. In this Inner Coat in a Bean, the Lignous Body or Seed-Branch is distributed: Sometimes, as in French-Beans, throughout the whole Coat, as it is in a Leaf. In the Great Garden-Bean, upon its first entrance, it is bipartite, and so in small Branches runs along the Circumference of the Coat, all meeting and making a kind of Reticulation against the Belly of the Bean. In the same manner the main Branches in the outer Coat of a Kernel, circling themselves on both hands from the place of their first entrance, at last meet, and mutually inosculate; as the Veins in the Kidneys of a Man or any Quadrupede; Or the Carotick Arteries in the Braine.

13. §. So that all the Parts of a Vegetable, the Root, Trunk, Branch, Leaf, Flower, Fruit and Seed, are still made up of Two Substantially different Bodies.

14. §. And as every Part hath Two, so the whole Vegetable taken together, is a composition of Two only, and no more: All properly Woody Parts, Strings and Fibers, are One Body: All simple Barques, Piths, Parenchyma’s and Pulps, and as to their substantial Nature, Pills and Skins likewise, all but One Body: the several Parts of a Vegetable all differing from each other, only by the various Proportions and Mixtures, and variated Pores and Structure of these Two Bodies. What from these two general Observations might reasonably be inferr’d, I shall not now mention.

15. §. The Fourth or Innermost Cover we may call the Secondine. The sight of which, by cutting off the Coats of an Infant-Bean, at the Cone thereof, in very thin Slices, and with great Caution, may be obtain’d. While unbroken, ’tis transparent; being torn and taken off, it gathers up into the likeness of a Jelly, or that we call the Tredle of an Egg, when rear-boyl’d. This Membrance in larger or elder Beans, is not to be found distinct. But (as far as our Enquiries yet discover) it may in most other Seeds, even full grown, be distinctly seen; as in those of Cucumber, Colocynthis, Burdock, Carthamum, Gromwel, Endive, Mallows, &c. ♦ Tab. 4. f. 16. ♦ ’Tis usually so very thin, as in the above-nam’d, as very difficultly to be discover’d. But in some Kernels, as of Apricots, ’tis very thick; and most remarquably such, in some other Seeds. That all these have the Analogy of one and the same Cover, which I call the Secondine, is most probably argu’d from their alike Natures; being all of them plain simple Membranes, with not the least Fibre of the Lignous Body or Seed Branch, visibly distributed in them: As also from their Texture, which is in all of them more close. See this Part in Tab. 4. As also amongst the Figures belonging to the Fourth =Part= of the Fourth =Book=.

16. §. The Concave of this Membrane is filled with a most transparent Liquor, out of which the Seed is formed; as in cutting a petite and Infant-Bean, may be seen; and yet better in a young Walnut. In Beans I have observed it to turn, upon boyling, into a tender white Coagulum.

17. §. Through this Membrane, the Lignous Body or Seed-Branches distributed in the inner Coat, at last shoot downright two slender Fibres, like two Navel-strings, one into each Lobe of the Bean. ♦ Tab. 4. f. 18. ♦The places where the said Fibres shoot into the Lobes, are near the Basis of the Radicle; and by their Blackishness well enough remark’d: but the Fibers themselves are so very small, as scarcely to be discern’d. Yet in a Lupine, of the larger kind, both the places where the Navel-Fibres shoot into the Lobes (which here from the Basis of the Radicle is more remote) and the Fibres themselves, are fairly visible. For the Seed-Branch, upon its entrance into the Coat of the Lupine, is presently divided into two main Branches, and those two into other less; whereof some underly, others aloft, run along the Coat, and towards its other end meet and are inosculated: where about, two opposite, shallow, round, and most minute Cavities, answerable to two Specks of a Cartilaginous gloss, ♦ Tab. 4. f. 17. ♦ one in either Lobe, may be observed; which Specks are the ends of the said Navel-Fibres, upon the ripening of the Seed there broken off. These Fibres from the Superficies of each Lobe, descend a little way directly down: presently, each is divided into two Branches, one distributed into the Lobes, the other into the Radicle and Plume, ♦ Tab. 4. f. 18. ♦ in the manner as in the First Chapter is described. And thus far the History. I shall now only with a brief account of the Generation of the Seed, as hereupon dependent, conclude this Discourse.

♦ An Account of the Generation of the Seed. ♦ 18. §. LET US say then, that the Sap having in the Root, Trunk and Leaves, passed divers Concoctions and Separations, in the manner as they are said to be perform’d therein; ’tis now at last, in some good maturity, advanced towards the Seed.

19. §. The more copious and cruder part hereof is again separated by a free reception into the Fruit, or other Part analogous to it: being either sufficiently ample to contain it, or at least laxe enough for its transpiration, and so its due discharge. The more Essential part is into the Seed-Branch or Branches entertain’d. Which, because they are evermore of a very considerable length, and of a Constitution very fine, the said Sap thus becomes in its Current therein as in the Spermatick Vessels, still more mature.

20. §. In this mature estate, from the Seed-Branch into the Coats of the Seed, as into the Womb, ’tis next delivered up. The meaner part hereof again, to the Outer, as Aliment good enough, is supplied. The finer part is transmitted to the Inner; which being, as is said, a Parenchymous and more spatious Body, the Sap therefore is not herein, as in the Outer, a meer Aliment; but in order to its being, by Fermentation, farther prepared.

21. §. Yet the Outer Coat, being on the contrary hard and dense; for that reason, as it admitteth not the Fermentation of the Sap so well within it self; so doth it the more promote and favour it in the Inner; being Bounds both to it and its Sap; and also quickeneth the process of the whole Work in the formation of the Seed.

22. §. Nor doth the Outer Coat, for the same reason, more promote, than declare the purity of the Sap now contained in the Inner: For being more hard and dense, and so not perspirable, must needs suppose the Parts of the Sap encompassed by it, since thus uncapable of any evacuation, to be therefore all so choice, as not to need it.

23. §. The Sap being thus prepared in the Inner Coat, as a Liquor now apt to be the Substratum of the future Seed-Embrio; by fresh supplies, is thence discharg’d. Yet that it may not be over-copious; which, because of the laxity of the Inner Coat, from whence it issues, it might easily be: therefore, as the said Inner Coat is bounded without, by the upper Coat; so by the Secundine, is it bounded within. Through which Secundine the Sap being filtr’d, or, as it were, transpiring; the depositure hereof, answerable to the Colliquamentum in an Egg, or to the Semen Mulibre, into its Concave at last is made.

24. §. The other part of the purest Sap embosom’d in the Ramulets of the Seed-Branch, runs a Circle, or some progress therein; and so becomes, as the Semen Masculinum, yet more elaborate.

25. §. Wherein also, lest its Current should be too copious or precipitant, by their co-arcture and divarication where they are inosculated, it is retarded; the noblest portion only obtaining a pass.

26. §. With this purest Sap, the said Ramulets being supplied, from thence at last, the Navel-Fibres shoot (as the primitive Artery into the Colliquamentum) through the Secundine into the aforesaid Liquor deposited therein.

27. §. Into which Liquor, being now shot, and its own proper Sap or Tinctures mixed therewith, it strikes it thus into a Coagulum; or of a Liquor, it becomes a Body consistent and truly Parenchymous. And the supply of the said Liquor still continu’d, and the shooting of the Navel-Fibres, as is above described, still carried on, the said Coagulation or Fixation is therewith likewise.

28. §. And in the Interim of the Coagulation, a gentle Fermentation being also made, the said Parenchyma or Coagulum becometh such, not of any Texture indifferently, but is thus raised (as we see Bread in Baking) into a Congeries of Bladders: For such is the Parenchyma of the whole Seed.

FINIS.

THE ANATOMY OF ROOTS;

Presented to the ROYAL SOCIETY at several times, in the Years, 1672 & 1673.

With an Account of the VEGETATION OF ROOTS, Grounded chiefly hereupon.

The SECOND BOOK.

By NEHEMIAH GREW M.D. Fellow of the Royal Society, and of the College of Physicians.

=The Second Edition.=

LONDON, Printed by W. Rawlins, 1682.

TO THE

Right Honourable

WILLIAM

Lord Vi-Count BROUNCKER

THE

PRESIDENT

AND TO THE

Council and Fellows

OF THE

ROYAL SOCIETY.

MY LORD,

If the Dedication of Books were not in use; yet here, I think, I might have been a Precedent. The promotion of Phytological Science is one Part of Your Work; and ’tis You have called me to the management of this Part; for some time, have intrusted me herein; and by Your most favourable and candid acceptance of what I have performed thus far, have encouraged me hereunto: I therefore present but Your Own, into Your Hands.

The great Honour and Advantage of Your Fellowship, I first obtained, by Mediation of Dr. Wilkins, the late most Reverend Bishop of Chester. Whom I cannot name, without saying thus much of him, That He was a Person of that eminent and happy Worth, which, as it was too good, to fear envy; so is it too great, to need an Elogie.

With Him, it was, You were pleased to commit to Me, the further prosecution of this Work; the Beginnings whereof, were by Your Order formerly made publique. Had I consulted my own Abilities altogether, I should scarcely have ventured upon it; seeing very little, for which I could think well of my self, saving, That I had learned, upon good grounds, to think of You with greatest Honour. But I also considered, That to insist hereon too much, might be a reflection upon Your Judgments, who had thought fit to make choice of Me. And, That You were not more the Patrons of Wit, than of Industry; and of All, who shall endeavour to find out, or to confirm the Truth of Things. Withal, I looked upon Nature, as a Treasure so infinitely full; that as all Men together, cannot exhaust it; so no Man, but may find out somewhat therein, if he be resolved to Try.

In compliance therefore with Your Commands, I have hereunto devoted a very considerable part of my Time. These, adding force to my own Desires, of being somewhat instrumental to the Improvement of Medicinal, and other wholesom Knowledge: if peradventure, as we increase herein, we may become better, and more happy. As to which Improvement, though I could not hope; yet, I would not dispair. I have already prepared the Soil, and made some Plantation: what remaineth behind, and the Vintage of the whole, will depend much upon the continued Influence of Your Beams: for how unpromising soever the Stock may be; yet the Fruit cannot but be somewhat matured, upon which You are pleased to shine. I am also confident, that the same Nobilty and Goodness, which accept the endeavours, will likewise pardon the faults, of,

My Lord, Your Lordships most humbly and most sincerly devoted Servant

NEHEMJAH GREW.

September 1. 1673.

THE CONTENTS.

The FIRST PART.

CHAP. I.

OF the Original of Roots, §. 1, 2, 3. Of their Figures, 4, to 8. Of their Motions, 9, to 15. And of their Ages, 16, to the end.

CHAP. II.

OF the Skin. Its external Accidents, and Original, §. 1, 2. Compounding Parts. Whereof the one Parenchymous, 3. The other Lignous, 4, to the end.

CHAP. III.

OF the Barque. Its Original and external Accidents, §. 1. Size, 2. Compounding Parts: Whereof the one Parenchymous, 3. The Bladders of the Parenchyma, 4, 5, 6. The Diametral Portions, 7, to 11. The other Part, Lignous, consisting of long Pipes or Vessels, 12, to 17, Of several Kinds, 18, to 23. In different Proportion, 24, 25. And in different and elegant Position. 26, to the end.

CHAP. IV.

OF that Part of the Root next within the Bark; in Trees and Shrubby Plants, called the Wood. Hereof the Parenchyma, §. 1, 2, 3, & 7. The Lignous Portion: of which, the Sap-Vessels, 4. The Aer-Vessels, 5, 6. The Position of the Former, 8, 9. Of the Latter, 10, 11, 12. Their Proportion, 13, 14, 15. The Latter, sometimes a little tapering. 16. Their Texture, 17, to 22. Content, 23.

CHAP. V.

OF the Pith. Found in the upper part of most Roots, §. 1. Its size and shape, 2. Sap-Vessels, 3. Original, 4, 5. Bladders, 6, Fibres and Texture, 7, to 11. That of the Insertions and Barque the same, 12. Hence, the Original of the Aer-Vessels conjectured, 13. What the whole Body of a Root, concluded, 14, 15. The Contents of the Pith, 16.

The SECOND PART.

Theology, the Beginning and End of Philosophy, §. 1, to 6.

The Divine Wisdom seen in the Growth of Plants, 7. If we observe,

How the Ground is Prepared, 8, to 14.

How the Sap is Imbibed, and Distributed to the several Parts of the Root, 15, to 28.

How the several Parts are Nourished and Formed, 29, to 35.

How the several Parts receive their respective Situation, 36, to 40.

How Roots receive their different Size and Shape, 41, to 47.

How Roots receive their different Motions, 48, to 53.

How Roots are differently Aged, 54, 55, 56.

How the Liquors and other Contents of the several Parts are made, 57, to 63.

How the Odors of Roots are made, 64.

How their Colours, 65 to 67.

How their Tasts, 68, to the end.

THE

ANATOMY

ROOTS;

PROSECUTED

With the bare EYE,

AND WITH THE

MICROSCOPE.