The firft Juice ill-digefted is not proper to nourish the principal parts of Plants; but according to the analogy of the Vegetation of Animals, it ought to perfect it self in paffing through Tubes of different ftructures, as the Blood perfects it felf in paffing through the little Veffels of the Lungs, the Liver, feveral Glands, &c. The better to judge of the Truth of this fimilitude, I cut long-ways and across feveral Stalks of Milky Plants, and of fuch as have a yellow Juice, and I obferved that all the Humour contained in these Plants was not coloured, but only that which was contained in certain Canals which I compare to Arteries; I confidered feveral times the Structure of thofe little Canals, and found that each of them have in the middle a fmall white ligneous loofe Fibre, and which may be feparated into feveral Filaments; that there is a fmall Membrane round about thefe little Canals, which feparate them from the rest of the Stalk, and makes of it as it were a little Tube, and that between each of the Fibres, and the Membrane which furrounds them, there is a fpungeous Matter adhering to the Membrane, and full of coloured Juice, which we may eafily difcover by means of a Convex Glafs, which is made ufe of to magnify Objects; for the extremities of thefe Fibres being cut they appear white, and divided into little Filaments, and then we fee the coloured Juice iffue out from feveral places of this fpongeous Matter when it is cut off and broken. The reft of the Stalk is full of another spongeous Matter, full of a watery infipid Humour without colour, and of a very fluid confiftence, whereas the coloured is fomewhat thick and ve ry Solomon: So true it is that the Chriftans had not yet determin'd which Books of Scripture were Canonical. In his Exhortation to the Martyr, after having taken notice of the mysterious Number feven; the feven Days of the Creation; the seven thoufand Years the World was to endure; the feven Spirits which are before God; the feven Lamps of the Tabernacle; the feven Candlesticks of the Revelations; the feven Pillars of Wisdom; the feven Children of the barren Woman; the feven Women who were all married to one Man; and all this to expatiate on the feven Brothers mentioned in the Maccabees: He adds, that St. Paul has mentioned the number feven, as more excellent than any other; and for that Reafon had writ only to feven Churches. Poffibly St. Cyprian had found fomething to this Effect in some apocryphal Piece of this Apoftle's, or by a particular Revelation; for he frequently was favour'd, as he himfelf obferves, with Visions and Dreams in the Night, all which he us'd to relate the next Day to his Church, as fo many admonitions from Heaven: And when thefe nocturnal Vifions fail'd him, it was his practice to fend for little Children, who being raised to extafy, inftructed him in the Truth. Such were the Fruits of his too frequent perufal of Tertullian's Writings; and as he had nor ftrengthened his Mind with folid Principles, he blindly imbib'd all the extravagant chimæras which are found in almost every page of that Father's Writings. Such are the Fathers of the first Class, who may be confider'd as the Guardians of the Body of Tradition in favour of the Revelations. I * Epift. ad Presby. 16. Ed. Felli. believe Art. 16. ry distinctly; for in the middle of fome of its Branches, which are generally channelled, we fee one or two of them which are disjoined from the reft, and are contiguous only at the Knots and Angles of Ramification. It is eafy to judge that the Liquor contained in thefe little Canals, is that which nourishes the principal Parts of the Plant, as the Bloffoms, Flowers, Fruits, Seeds, &c. and that it has a fimilitude with the arterial Blood; that what is in the rest of the Stalk is analogous to the Blood contained in the Veins, and that the Fibres which are in the middle of the little Canals, ferve to keep them firm, and hinder them from plying or breaking, for if they were plyed down, the courfe of the Sap would be interrupted; and we ought to hold it for certain, that thofe Plants which have no coloured Juice, are not without fome Canals, with a Sap different from that which is in the rest of the Plant. Now as in the external part of the Roots there are imperceptible Pores through which the Sap paffes, which I have compared to the Blood of the Veins after it has been prepared by the heat of the Sun, and by the filtration there made of it through the fpongeous Matter which is in the reft of the Plant: The return of this Sap is hinder'd as well as that which enters into the Roots; whence it happens that the Liquor intermixed in thefe little Canals is ever extremely preffed, which ferves to make the Branches, Leaves, and Roots extend themfelves. This is proved by feveral Experiments. If we cut tranfverfely a milky Plant, or one of the Cells which contain the yellow Juice, we always fee as much or more of the coloured Juice come from the Part where the Leaves are, than from from that where the Root is, even though we hold the pluck'd-up Plant the Root upwards before we cut it; and if we cut the extremity of the Root, there alfo iffues out of it a good deal of coloured Juice, as well as from the extremities of the Leaves, or the little Branches when they are alfo cut; which evidently fhews that this Juice is very much preffed in these Canals, as the Blood is preffed in the Veins and Arteries; and that this compreffion makes the Roots extend as well as Branches and Leaves; and in fhort, that it would not be so much preffed, if the Juice did not enter through Pores fo difpofed as to hinder its return. If we afterwards cut the reft of the Stalk about an Inch below the first incifion, we shall also see the coloured Juice which comes from the Roots rife up; but we fee nothing, or very little of it in the upper part of it, which muft neceffarily happen if there were fmall Pores in the Canals through which the Juice extends it felf towards the Roots, fince they no longer receive any of it from the Leaves and Branches : And for the fame Reafon if we cut a little of the part where the Leaves are, higher than the firft incifion, we must not expect to fee any Juice, or very little, rife up from the little feparated part, but it must always neceffarily defcend from thofe where the Leaves are; which I found agreeable to experience, particularly in the Herb called Dentdelion, Celandine, and in the Stalks of Tithymalles or Milk-thiftles. I remember I have often obferved to you the fame things in fome of these Plants. We might conjecture that after the first Juice contained in the little fibrous Canals has fufficiently nourished the parts of the Plant, the overM 3 plus Art. 16. plus is refumed by the spungeous Matter of the Plant, to be reunited with the other Juice, and re-enter afterwards feveral times into the little Canals by a continual circulation, but I dare not affirm it for a certainty; and much less that there are different Pores, fome of which carry the Juice to the Root, and others to the Branches; but I hold it for an undoubted truth that the watery Juice paffes into the little Canals, whence it is pushed towards the Root and Leaves, after having been mingled with the other, and taken the fame Difpofitions as the Chyle, which is white, by entering into the axillary Vein, becomes by little and little like Blood, and repairs it. I believe also that the fame thing happens to Trees, that is to fay, that they have different Canals between the Bark and the Wood, &c. and that they are nourished after the fame manner. The firft Juice which comes from without, does not enter only through the Root into Plants, but also through the Leaves and Branches, and they receive it from the Dew or Rain, or Vapours which the Air is always full of; which I have found to be fo by the following Experi ments. If we cut a small Branch of a Tree, or fome Herb, as Parfley, Cerfeüil, (called otherwife Chervil) &c. where there is fome minute Branch growing at the fide, and foak the extremities of the Leaves in Water, letting the Stalk with fuch little Branch lie upon the brim of the Veffel where the Water is, this little Branch will continue green three or four Days, even in Summer; and if it be of Baume, which is an odoriferous Herb, it will continue above fifteen Days as green as in the Garden, and grow a little: |