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mals, nor any fo intricate variety of Texture, but that their Production may plaufibly be accounted for by an Hypothefis of Matter divided into minute Particles or Atoms naturally indivifible, of various but a determinate number of Figures, and perhaps alfo differing in Magnitude, and thefe mov'd, and continually kept in motion according to certain establish'd Laws or Rules; we cannot fo clearly difcover the Ufes for which they were created, but may probably conclude, that among other Ends they were made for those for which they ferve us and oter Animals; as I fhall more fully make out hereafter. It is here to be noted, That according to our Hypothefis, the number of the Atoms of each feveral Kind that is of the fame Figure and Magnitude is not nearly equal, but there be infinitely more of fome Species than of others, as of thofe that compound thofe vaft Aggregates of Air, Water, and Earth, more abundantly than of fuch as make up Metals and Minerals: The reafon whereof may probably be, because those are neceffary to the Life and Being of Man and all other Animals, and therefore must be always at hand; thefe only useful to Man, and ferving rather his Conveniences than Neceffitics. The reafon why I affirm the minute component Particles of Bodies to be naturally indivifible by any Agent we can imploy, (even Fire it felf) which is the only Catholick Diffolvent, other Menftruums being rather Inftruments than Efficients in all Solutions, apt by reafon of the Figure and Smalnefs of their H 2 Parts

Parts to cut and divide other Bodies (as Wedges cleave Wood) when actuated by Fire or its Heat, which elfe would have no Efficacy at all (as Wedges have not, unless driven by a Beetle :) The reafon, I fay, I have already given; I shall now Inftance in a Body whofe minute parts appear to be indiffoluble by the Force of Fire, and that is common Water, which distil, boil, circulate, work upon how you will by Fire, you can only diffolve it into Vapour, which when the Motion ceafes, eafily returns into Water again; Vapour being nothing elfe but the minute parts thereof, by heat agitated and feparated one from another. For another inftance, fome of the most learn'd and experienc'd Chymifts do affirm Quick-filver to be intranfmutable, and therefore call it Liquor aternus. And I am of opinion, that the fame holds of all fimple Bodies, that their component Particles are indiffoluble, by any natural Agent.

We may here note the Order and Method that Metals and Minerals obferve in their growth, how regularly they fhoot, ferment, and as it were vegetate and regenerate; Salts in their proper and conftant Figures, as our ingenious Country-man Dr. Jordan obferves at large in his Difcourfe of Baths and Mineral Waters.

Of Vegetables or Plants.

I have now done with inanimate Bodies both fimple and mix'd. The Animate are. First, Such as are endued only with a Vegetative

getative Soul, and therefore commonly called Vegetables or Plants; of which if we confider either their ftature and fhape, or their age and duration, we fhall find it wonderful; For why fhould fome Plants rife up to a great height, others creep upon the ground, which perhaps may have equal Seeds, nay, the leffer Plant many times the greater Seed? Why should each particular fo obferve its kind, as conftantly to produce the fame Leaf for confiftency, figure, divifion, and edging; and bring forth the fame kind of Flower, and Fruit, and Seed, and that tho' you tranflate it into a Soil which naturally puts forth no fuch kind of Plant, so that it is fome * ΛόγΘ σωερματικός, which doth effect this or rather fome intel

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ligent plaftick Nature; as we have before intimated: For what account can be given of the determination of the growth and magnitude of Plants from Mechanical Principles, of Matter mov'd without the Presidency and Guidance of fome fuperior Agent? Why may not Trees grow up as high as the Clouds or Vapours afcend, or if you fay the Cold of the fuperiour Air checks them, why may they not spread and extend their lateral Branches fo far 'till their distance from the Center of Gravity deprefs them to the Earth, be the Tree never fo high? How comes it to pass that tho' by Culture and Manure they may be highly improv'd, and augmented to a double, treble, nay fome a much greater proportion in magnitude of all their Parts yet is this advance reftrain'd within certain li

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mits? There is a maximum quod fic which they cannot exceed. You can by no Culture or Art extend a Fennel Stalk to the ftature and bigness of an Oak: Then why fhould fome be very long-lived, others only Annual or Biennial? How can we imagine that any Laws of Motion can determine the Situation of the Leaves, to come forth by pairs, or alternately, or circling the Stalk, the Flowers to grow fingly, or in company and tufts, to come forth the bofoms of the Leaves and Branches, or on the tops of Branches and Stalks, the Figure of the Leaves, that they fhould be divided into fo many Jags or Efcallops, and curioufly indented round the Ed-. ges; as alfo of the Flower-leaves, their number and fite, the Figure and number of the ftamina and their apices, the figure of the Stile and Seed-veffel, and the number of Cells into which it is divided. That all this be done, and all these parts duly proportion'd one to another, there feems to be neceffary fome intelligent plaftick Nature, which may understand and regul to the whole Oeconomy of the Plant: For this cannot be the Vegetative Soul, because that is material and divifible together with the Body: Which appears in that a Branch cut off of a Plant will take root, and grow, and become a perfect Plant it felf, as we have already observ❜d. I had almoft forgotten the complication of the Seed-leaves of fome Plants in the Seed, which is fo ftrange, that one cannot believe it to be done by Matter, however mov'd by any Laws or Rules imaginable. Some of them being fo

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clofe plaited, and ftraitly folded up and thruft together within the Membranes of the Seed, that it would puzzle a Man to imitate it, and yet none of the Folds fticking or growing together; fo that they may eafily be taken out of their Cafes, and fpread and extended even with ones Fingers.

Secondly, If we confider each particular part of a Plant, we fhall find it not without its End or Ufe: The Roots for its ftability and drawing Nourishment from the Earth. The Fibres to contain and convey the Sap. Befides which there is a large fort of Veffels to contain the proper and fpecifick Juice of the Plant: and others to carry Air for fuch a kind of Refpiration as it needeth; of which we have already fpoken. The outer and inner Bark in Trees ferve to defend the Trunk and Boughs from the exceffes of Heat and Cold and Drought, and to convey the Sap for the Annual augmentation of the Tree. For in truth every Tree may in fome sense be said to be an Annual Plant, both Leaf, Flower and Fruit, proceeding from the Coat that was fuperinduc'd over the Wood the laft Year, which Coat alfo never beareth any more, but together with the old Wood ferves as a Form or Block to fuftain the fucceeding annual Coat. The Leaves before the Gemma or Bud be explicated to embrace and defend, the Flower and Fruit, which is even then perfectly forin'd; afterwards to preferve the Branches, Flowers and Fruit from the Injuries of the Summer Sun, which would

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