the only ones obferv'd by Dr. Grew, that continue in the Ground, and produce no Seed-leaves; the words which we find spoken by the Son of GoD in John xii. 24. ought to have a particular Emphafis; Verily, verily, I fay unto you, except a Corn of Wheat fall into the Ground, and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much Fruit. In which, agreeably to his infinite Knowledge, he is pleas'd to fingle out from among fo many thousands of Seeds in which the contrary obtains, the only one almoft which dies in the Earth; and which therefore was the only proper Similitude, and could only be accommodated to that Purpose, for which he intended to use it.

I know very well, that the Expreffions here ufed, of confuming and dying, will fhock fome Naturalifts, because there likewife proceeds from the fame Grain of Wheat, both a Root and Stalk, But that however, there is nothing spoken herein, befides that which we can thus difcover, will fufficiently appear by what has been writ by those who have carefully confider'd the fame. Let us hear what Dr. Grew fays of it in his Anatomy of Plants, Ch. I. where treating of Seed, and how it fhoots up out of the Earth, he ufes the following Words: This does not come to pass in all kind of Seeds; for there are fome which rot in the Earth, as Corn for Inftance, which is different from most Seeds, &c. And leaft we fhould think that the fame thing. happens in many Seeds, he adds a little lower: But all Seeds, excepting these two (meaning Corn, and great Beans) grow mostly after the fame manner, fo far as I could obferve; they do not rot in the Ground (as he had faid juft before of Corn and Beans) on) the contrary, they come out at the fame time as the Pluma; and the Seed-leaves are in moft Plants the two parts of the Seed, &c. And to the end, that none Thould imagine that this Pofition is not fufficiently Uu3 verify*

verify'd by Experience, let them confult Malpighius, fo famed for his Accuracy, de Sem. Veget. p.9. Edit. Lovel. where in his Enquiry into the Changes which a Grain of Wheat undergoes as it fprings up, we find these words: After the Eleventh Day, the Seed-leaf which still hangs to the Plant, is shrivel'd, and in a manner corrupted. Now that by this Term of Seed-leaf, is meant the Grain it felf in these Circumstances, appears by what follows a few Lines after In the mean while (that is, whilft it continues to grow) the Seed-leaf, or the Grain itSelf, pines and confumes away, and being become empty within, if one presses it, he will find nothing but a watry Matter in it, which confirms what was faid before as alfo by what has been fince observed in another kind of Grain, namely, Millet-Millium, the Seed-leaf, which as we have fhewn, is the Grain, is fhrivel d or wither'd on the feventh Day, and being preft, yields a putrid and nafty Liquor.

Thus we find the Holy Ghoft expreffing himfelf by the Pen of St. Paul, 1 Cor. xv. 36. That which thou foweft, is not quickned, except it die. And to the end, that the Modern Philofophers fhould not have it in their Power to object against this, from their Experiments; that no Seeds (excepting a few, and as far as is yet known, only the two above-mentioned forts of Grain, and fome Beans) do die in the Earth; the fame Infpirer of that Sacred Writer, is pleas'd to go on thus, Ver. 37, and 38. And that which thou foweft, thou foweft not that Body that shall be, but bare Grain, it may chance of Wheat, or of fome other Grain: But God giveth it a Body as it hath pleased him, and to every Seed his own Body.

SECT.

SECT. XII. Concerning the Expanfion of the SeedPlant, with an Experiment of Mr. Dodart thereupon.

THEY that will be pleafed to confider what we have faid before relating to Beans, and particularly, concerning the little Pluma, with its Root, or otherwife the Seed-Plant, before it fhoots out in the Earth; and they that will farther take the Pains to read what thofe great Philofophers of later Ages, fuch as Malpighi, Grew and Leuwenhoek, have writ about it; or rather thofe, who after their Example, have confider'd it all with a good Microscope, will know, that not only in all Beans, but also in all other Seeds that have been yet examined, there is fuch a little Seed-Plant to to be found, in which all the Parts of the Plant that are to proceed from it, are involved or rolled up as it were like a Clew of Thread; which being afterwards filled and expanded by Nutricious Juices, becomes an entire and compleat Plant, whether it be a Tree, a Shrub, or a Flower.

To give some farther light into the Structure of fuch a rolled up Seed-Plant, and upon the Account of the Wonderfulnfs thereof, I have transferr'd one of 'em from the Memoirs of the French Academy for the Year 1700. p. 187, and 188. to Tab. XVIII. Fig. 8.

In the faid Memoirs Mr. Dodart fays, that above 20 Years ago, he had communicated to the Academy fuch a Seed-Plant, as it appeared in the above-mentioned Figure, when it was fcarce come out of the Earth, and was only one Line, or the 12th part of an Inch long. He adds, that having viewed this little Ear of Corn with a ConvexGlafs, the Focus of which was half an Inch, they could difcover all the Seeds in it, and the

U u 4

Stalk