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watery Juice which almost entirely evaporates every Day by the heat of the Sun, does not raise up along with it the fmall quantity of fat Matter which it brings thither, and by this means amaffes it till its perfect maturity.

The Seeds of fmall Plants, and that which is contained in the Kernels and Pippins of Fruits of the larger fize, ferve not only for the nourishment of Animals, but alfo the reproduction of new Plants; and herein appears vifibly a wonderful Oeconomy and Providence in Nature: For the different Species of Plants have fomething particular in their Grains and Seeds, to make them difperfe in different places that they may raise up the like.

Some have downy Tufts on the top of the Grain, as Thiftles and Scorfonera, and when it is ripe the Wind carries it away and fowes it every where, and it falls down upright because the Tuft is higher than the Body of the Seed. Others have Hooks, as Burdock and Agrimony, that sticking to Peoples Cloaths, and the Wool and Hair of Country Animals, they may be carried elsewhere.

Alleluia, which is a Species of four Trefoil, grow in the Woods where there is no Wind: Thefe downy Tufts would be of no manner of ufe to its Seeds; neither have they any Hooks, but are contained in Husks, which being ripe, burft afunder by the heat, and by that means throw them off to ten or twelve foot of Circumference. The wild Cucumber does the fame thing, on which account we give it the name of Elaterium. Rampions, which generally grow under Mofs, have a very minute Grain; for if it were large or tufted, it could not pass through

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the Mofs to geminate, but it eafily paffes through it on account of its Tenuity upon the first Rain.

Strawberries fhoot out in long Arms with a Leaf at the end, which, touching the Earth, takes Root. Cardamines, or wild Creffes, do the fame. And Monfieur Marchand fhewed me in the King's Garden a Species of Trefoil which bent down its flower when it began to dry, and pushed it into the Earth, that the Grain might there be formed, and plant it felf by that

means.

There are befides in Plants other ways of their being fown, and occupying the void Soil, and fome Writers have alfo told us that the Ashes of Plants may ferve for Seeds to produce the fame Plants.

You will, perhaps, here ask me, Sir, What is that virtue in every Plant which makes them throw out their Leaves according to a certain fize and figure, and which disposes their Seed in a manner proper to produce other the like Plants? Whence may it proceed? For Example, that all little Shrubs, for the most part, have very fharp Points to defend themfelves from Men and Beafts, as the Rofe-tree, the Sloe, Holly, Whitethorn, &c. and that there are but very few great Trees which have any.

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Plants, to which too much heat of the Sun is hurtful, have very large Leaves to cover their Fruits; that thofe which creep along the Ground have little Hooks to link themfelves together, and the Stones of Fruit that contain the Seed are very hard, the better to conferve it, &c.

Some Philofophers call this Virtue or Principle, the vegetative Soul of Plants, or their fubftantial form; but they do not make us one jot the wifer, fince they do not explain what this

Soul

Soul is, nor whence it proceeds; if it be fpread all over the whole Plant, or in some small part only; if it be inherent in the Plant, or not. Some others fay that it is fufficient that there is in the Seed a certain configuration of Particles, and fome particular difpofition of the Pores and Fibres, through which the Sap may be differently filtrated, to produce all the diverfities which we obferve therein.

There are feveral of them who maintain, that the Seed of every Plant has already in it in little, all the parts which it muft afterwards throw out, and that it only unwraps and extends them as it grows, and that it has not only its own, but thofe alfo of all the other it is to produce to the end of the World. But can we believe that one Grain of a Melon, for Example, has in its little Germe, its Leaves, Fruits, the other Grains which will be produced within the Germes of each of these Grains, and every thing that these Germes fhall produce ad infinitum? It seems more likely to me that the Grains contain only the principal parts of Plants, and that the others form themfelves fucceffively by the difpofitions which the former give to the Sap. One may plainly fee in the Bulbs of Tulips foon after the Month of January, by the help of a large Convex Glafs, fome of their Parts, as the fix Leaves of the Flower, the Stalk, the Piftil which muft hold the Grain, and the small Threads that accompany it; but one cannot fee, even with the beft Microfcope, either the Grains or Tulips which fhall be produced from thefe Grains, or the new Bulbs. What follows is almost all that I could obferve in this Matter.

The Bulb being put into the Earth, throws out at its fide a new Bulb, which in the Month

of April is no bigger than a Lentil; it grows afterwards at the fame time as the Flower does, and we perceive in it feveral folds, but if we take it up when it is but very little, we do not perceive any parts of the Flower, nor of the new Bulb it is to produce the Year following; at last when the Flower is gone, and the grain entirely formed, the new Bulb has also very nigh its whole Bulk, and towards the beginning of June we begin to discover in it fome fmall Leaves which appear a little, but it is with a great deal of difficulty that we difcern them with the Microscope; which fhews that this is produced by little and little by the difpofition of the Root which has filtrated this firft little principle of the Plant which is to fhoot the year following.

It is the fame with thofe Bulbs which throw out two or three Leaves and no Flower, but they eject in the Earth two, three, or four Tubes three or four Inches long, at the extremity of which are formed two new Bulbs which produce Tulips the next Year: And this is the Reason why thofe which we call Tulips of Perfia are loft; for the Tubes which they throw forth every Year are very long, and enter fo deeply into the Earth, that the Bulbs can no more produce any Flowers, and if they fhoot these Tubes fideways, it may happen in five or fix Years time that the new Bulbs may be carried to a very great diftance from the places where the firft were planted, and might even run into the neighbouring Gardens.

Befides, all Plants are not produced of Grains, and a great many come out of the Earth without being fown.

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VERSES to the Right Reverend Father in God Edward Lord Bishop of Durham; with an Effay towards reftoring the ori ginal Texts of Scripture, and reconciling the Hebrew and Septuagint, by the Oriental Languages, Fathers, &c.

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HIS Effay is introduc'd by a Poem infcrib'd to the prefent Lord Bishop of Durham; in which the Author, with no little Spirit and Beauty, pays his Compliment to that Learned Prelate, whofe great Talents he juftly applauds, and embellishes the whole with feveral Images which are truly Poetical: After which he proceeds to the Effay it felf, which is written in an Epiftolary way to his Lordship, and in which he obferves,

That his Undertaking is a Work of as much Difficulty as Importance; the facred Criticism having at all times very much exercis'd the Pen's of a great many ingenious learned Men, but hitherto with a very little forwardness.

That notwithstanding fo many able Hands have either failed in, or given it up, he thinks that a Work in which the great Bishop Pearfon thought fit to employ himself, and has held out a Paper to others to invite them into the fame glorious

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