fome fall and flender; fome for phyfic", fome for food, fome for pleafure; yea, the most abject fhrubs, and the very bushes and brambles themselves, the hufbandman can testify the use of.

I might

nInvifis quoque herbis inferuit [natura] remedia: quippe cum medicinas dederit etiam aculeatis-in quibus ipfis providentiam naturæ fatis admirari amplectique non eft.-Inde excogitavit aliquas afpectu hifpidas, tactu truces, ut tantum non vocem ipfius fingentis illas, rationemque reddentis exaudire videamur, ne fe depafcat avida · quadrupes, ne procaces manus rapiant, ne neglecta veftigia obterant, ne infidens ales infringat: his muniendo aculeis, telifque armando, ⚫ remediis ut tuta ac falva fint. Ita hoc quoque quod in iis odimus, hominum caufa excogitatum.' Plin. Nat. Hist. 1. 22. c. 6.

Are fome of the fpecies of nature noxious? They are alfo ufeful.-Doth a nettle fting? It is to fecure fo good a medicine from the rapes of children and cattle. Doth the bramble cumber a garden? it makes the better hedge; where if it chanceth to prick the Grew's Cofmolog. lib. 3. cap. 2.

owner, it will tear the thief,'

feet. 47.

• That the most abject vegetables, &c. have their ufe, and are beneficial to the world, may, in fome meafure, appear from the ufe the northern people put rotten wood, &c. unto. Satis ingeniofum

modum habent populi feptentrionales in nemoribus nocturno tem$ pore pertranfeuntes, imo et diurno, quando in remotioribus aqui⚫lonis partibus ante et poft folftitium hyemale continuæ noftes habentur. Quique his remediis indigent, cortices quercinos inquir unt putres, eofque collocant certo interftitio itineris inftituti, ut " eorum fplendore, quo voluerint, perficiant iter. Nec folum hoc præftat cortex, fed et truncus putrefactus, ac fungus ipfe agaricus appellatus,' &c. Ol. Mag. Hift. 1. 2. c.

2. c. 16.

To this we may add thiftles in making glafs, whofe afhes, Dr. Merret faith, are the beft, viz. the ashes of the common way thistle,

though

I might alfo furvey here the curious anatomy and ftructure of their bodies P, and fhew the admirable provifion made for the conveyance of the lymphatic and effential juices, for communicating the air, as neceffary to vegetable, as animal life 9: I might also speak of, even the

very

though all thistles ferve to this purpose. Next to thiftles are hopftrings, cut after the flowers are gathered. Plants that are thorny and prickly, feem to afford the best and most falt. Merret's Obfervations on Anton. Ner. p. 265.

Quid majora fequar? Salices humilefque genifitæ,
Aut illæ pecori frondem, aut paftoribus umbram
Sufficiunt, fepemque fatis, et abula melli.

Virg. Georg. I. 2, ver. 434,

Dr. Beal, who was very curions, and tried many experiments upon vegetables, gives fome good reafons to imagine, that there is a direct communication between the parts of the tree and the fruit, fo that the fame fibres which conftitute the root, trunk, and boughs, are extended into the very fruit. And in old horpbeans, I have ob. ferved fomething very like this: in many of which, there are divers great and mall ribs, almost like ivy, only united to the body, running from the root up along the outfide of the body, and terminating in one fingle, or a few boughs: which bough or boughs spread again into branches, leaves, and fruit. See what Dr. Beal hath in Lowth. Abridgm. vol. 2. p. 710.

But as to the particular canals, and other parts relating to the anatomy of vegetables, it is too long a fubje&t for this place, and therefore I shall refer to Seign. Malpighi's and Dr Grew's labours in this kind.

Tanta cft refpirationis neceffitas, et ufus, ut natura in fingulis • viventium ordinibus varia, fud analoga, paraverit inftrumenta,

quæ

very covering they are provided with, because it is a curious work in reality, although lefs fo in appearance; and much more therefore might I furvey the neat variety and texture of their leaves, the admirable finery, gaiety, and fragrancy of their

quæ pulmones vocamus [and fo he goes on with obferving the apparatus made in the various genera of animals, and then faith,] In plantis vero, quæ infimum animalium attingunt ordinem, tantam trachearum copiam et productionem extare par cft, ut his minime vegetantium partes præter corticem irrigentur.-Plantæ igitur, ut conje&tari fas eft, cum fint viventia, vifceribus infixa terræ, ab hac, feu potius ab aqua et aere commixtis et percolatis a terra, refpirationis fuæ materiam recipiunt, ipfarumque tracheæ ab halitu terræ, extremas radices fubingreffo, replentur.' Malpig. Op. Anat. Plant. p. 13.

Thefe tracher, or air-veffels, are visible, and appear very pretty in the leaf of fcabious, or the vine, by pulling asunder fome of its principal re, or great fibres; between which, may be feen the fpiral air-veffels, like threads of cobweb a little uncoiled; a figure whereof, Dr. Grew hath given us in his Acat. Plant. fig. 51, 52.

As to the curious coiling, and other things relating to the ftructure of thofe air-veffels, I refer to Malpighi, p. 14. and Dr. Grew, ib. 1. 3. c. 3. feft. 16, &c. and 1.4. c 4. fcct. 19. of Mr. Ray, from them fuccinctly. Hift. Plant. 1. 1. c. 4.

Concerning the leaves, I fhall note only two or three things: 1. As to the fibres of the leaf, they ftand not in the ftalk, in an even line, but always in an angular, or circular pofture, and their vafcular fibres or threads are 3, 5, or 7. The reafon of their pofition thus, is for the more ere&t growth and greater ftrength of the leaf, as alfo for the fecurity of its fap. Of all which, fee Dr. Grew, l. 1. c. 4. L&t. 8, Sc. and 1. 4. par. 1. c. 3. alfo tab. 4. fig. 2, to 41. Another obfervable in the fibres of the leaf, is their orderly pofi

their flowers, I might alfo inquire into the wonderful

tion, fo as to take in an eighth part of a circle, as in mallows; in fome a tenth, but in most a twelfth, as in holy-oak; or a fixth, as in fyringo. Id. ib. tab. 46, 47.

2. The art in folding up the leaves before the eruption of their gems, &c. is incomparable, both for its elegancy and fecurity, viz. In taking up, fo as their forms will bear, the leaft room; and in being fo conveniently couched as to be capable of receiving protection from other parts, or of giving it to one another, e. g. first, there is the bow-lap, where the leaves are all laid fomewhat con-, vexly one over another, but not plaited-but where the leaves are not fo thick fet, as to stand in the bow-lap, there we have the plicature, or the flat-lap; as in rofe-trees, &c. And fo that curious obferver goes on fhewing the various foldings, to which he gives the names of the duplicature, multiplicature, the fore-rowl, back-row!, and tre-rowl, or treble-rowl, Grew. ib. I. 1. c. 4. fect. 14, &c. To thefe he adds fome others, 1. 4. p. 1. c. 1. fect. 9. Confult alfo Malpig. de Gemmis, p. 22. &c.

6

To thefe curious foldings, we may add another noble guard by the interpofition of films, &c. of which Dr. Grew faith, there are about fix ways, viz. leaves, furfoils, interfoils, ftalk, hoods, and mantlings. Crew, ib. and tab. 41, 42. Malpig. ib.

• In the flower may be confidered the empalement, as Dr. Grew, the calix, or perianthium, as Mr. Ray and others, call it, defigned to be a fecurity, and bands to the other parts of the flower. • Floris • velut bafis ct fulcimentum eft.' Ray Hift. 1. 1. c. 10. Flowers, whofe petala are ftrong, as tulips, have no calix. Carnations, whofe petala are long and flender, have an empalement of one piece and others, fuch as the knap-weeds, have it confifting of feveral pieces, and in divers rounds, and all with a counter-changeable respect to each other, for the greater ftrength and fecurity of themfelves, and the petala, &c. they include.

derful generation and make of the feed, and the great ufefulness of their fruit: I might fhew that the rudiments and lineaments of the parentvegetable, though never fo large and fpacious, is locked up in the little compafs of their fruit or feed, though fome of thefe feeds are fcarce vifible to the naked eye ". And forafmuch as the perpetuity

The next is the foliation, as Dr. Grew, the petala, or folia, as Mr. Ray, and others. In thefe, not only the admirable beauty, and luxuriant colours are obfervable, but alfo their curious foldings in the calix, before their expanfion. Of which Dr. Grew hath thefe varieties, viz. the close-couch, as in rofes; the concave-couch, as in blattaria flore albo; the fingle-plait, as in peafe bloffoms; the double-plait, as in blue-bottles, &c. the couch and plait together, as in marigolds, &c. the rowl, as in ladies-bower: the fpire, as in mallows; and laftly, the plait and fpire together, as in convolvulus doronici folio. Lib. 1. cap. 5. fect. 6. ad tab. 54.

As to the ftamina with their apices, and the ftylus, called the attire, by Dr. Grew, they are admirable, whether we confider their colours, or make, efpecially their ufe, if it be as Dr. Grew, Mr. Ray, and others imagine, namely, as a male fperm, to impregnate and frutify the feed. Which opinion is corroborated by the ingeni ous obfervations of Mr. Samuel Moreland, in Phil. Tranf. No. 287.

Reliqua ufus alimentique gratia genuit (natura) ideoque fe'cula annofque tribuit iis. Flores vero odorefque in diem gignit : magna, ut palam eft, admonitione hominum, quæ fpcétatifline florcant, celerrime marcefcere.' Plin. Nat. Hift. l. 21. c. 1.

As to the curious and gradual procefs of nature in the formation of the feed or fruit of vegetables, cuts being neceflary, I fall refer to Dr. Grew, p. 45, and 209, and Malpig. p. 57.

Vetus eft Empedoclis dogma, plantarum femina ova effe, ab iifdem decidua-Ineft in eo (0:0 vel femine) velut in cicatrice,