42

A Philosophical Discourse

set in. the Sun, are more fife, and I think more natural: For, aSthe learned Dr. Sharrock truly affirms, Wat er is, of its own Con-stitution ' alone, a Soil 'to V?get ables, not only as the most genui fieVehicle of the Riches which it imparts to Plants, through th eleveral Strainers, and by means of which all Change andration is effected; but for that it is, of all other Substances, best du-posed for Ingreffion, to insinuate into, and fertilize the Earthswhich is the reason that floated and ifriguous Grounds are so p tc o*nant. Besides, it is, of all that pretend to it, nearest of BloodsI may fay) to the whole Vegetable Family. For to assert with WjConfidence, what part of the mere Earth passes into their Com-position ; or whether it serve (as we touch’d before) only for La-bility, or as a Womb and Receptacle to their Seeds and Egg s ( stso we are taught to call the Seeds of Plants ) I shall rtot undertakjto discuss. Every body has heard of Van-Helmonf$ Ajh-trce ; anmay, without nluch Difficulty, repeat what has been experimented, Wexquisitely weighing the Mould before and after a Gourd is pl ant 'cd in it, and till it be grown to Bulk and''full Maturity,, fedWater only; r how much Liquor is infum’d, and how little ofEarth consumed, to make some Conjecture; though I do not yet c0s1 'ceive the Earth to be altogether lo dull and unactive, as toother Aid to the Generation of what she beats; the diversity ofbeing ( z's we naVe fhew’d in this Discourse ) so infinitely various, anthe difference of ihvisible Infusions so beyond our Arithrtiepick.if'we give Liquids Prædominion, and at least the stfiafiuline Pj c .'rencc, be they Salts or Spirits (that is, nitrous Spirits ) coflveyed ^to her Bosom how they will; lure we are, that Water ahd Vegst^ st,are tnuch J nearer of Alliance, than either Water or Air* ate- withEarth and Mould. But neither do I here also by any means e* cIUthe Air, nor deny its perpetual Commerce, and benigncharg’d as it comes with those pregnant and subtil Particles!, -whit* 1 isinuating into the Earths more steady, and less volatile Salt r,both together invading the Sulphur, ( and freeing them from vrfo 1 *ever they find contumacious) that intestine Fermentation isand promoted, which derives Life, and Growth, and Moiidn,st°stgthat she produces. _ That by the Air, the most effete andMould comes to be repaired, and is qualified to attract the prosifytrous Spirits, ( which not only disposes the Earth to this imf^sting Magnetism, but converts her more unactive fixed SaltP intolat. Me- another Genius and Nature,) the learned Dr. Mqyow has WZ ^Ftyf oufly made out; and all this by a naked Exposure to the Air

Without which it produces nothing: Nor can Plants (totally c ^ r pded from the Air j live, or so much as erect themselves to anY,^ving Purpose, as being depriv’d of that Breath and vital ^which no less contributes to their Growth and Nourishment, ^does the Earth it self with all our Assistances: For that Pis 1more than obscurely respire, and exercise a kind of Peristaltic*'•tion, I little doubt, from the wonderful and, conspicuous Atton and Emissions which some of them discover; particularly ^Aloes, and other Sedums, and such' as consisting of less col pi-viicous Parts, fend forth their Aromasick Wafts at considcrahstance.

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