as Crutches to their feeble Bodies: Some by their odd convolving Faculty, by twisting themselves like a Screw about others; fome advancing themfelves, by catching and holding with their curious Clafpers and Tendrels, equivalent to the Hands; fome by ftriking in their rooty Feet, and others by the Emiffion of a natural Glue, clofely and firmly adhering to fomething or other that adminifters fufficient Support unto them. All which various Methods being fo nicely accommodated to the Indigencies of those helpless Vegetables, and not to be met with in any befides, is a manifeft Indication of their being the Contrivance and Work of the Creator, and that his infinite Wisdom and Care condefcends, even to the Service, and wellbeing of the meaneft, most weak, and helpless infenfitive Parts of the Creation.

and curious Make of whofe Tendrels and their Feet, fee in the illuftrious Author, Malpig. de Capreolis, &c. p. 48.

Clafpers are of a compound Nature, between that of a Root and a Trunk. Their Ufe is fometimes for Support only; as in the Clafpers of Vines, Briony, ec. whofe Branches being long, flender and fragile, would fall by their own Weight, and that of their Fruit; but thefe Clafpers taking hold of any Thing that is at Hand: Which they do by a natural Circumvolution which they have; (thofe of Briony have a retrograde Motion about every third Circle, in the Form of a double Clafp; fo that if they miss one Way, they may catch the other.) Sometimes the Ufe of Clafpers is alfo for a Supply, as in the Trunk Roots of Ivy; which being a Plant that mounts very high, and being of a clofer and more compact Subftance than that of Vines, the Sap would not be fufficiently fupply'd to the upper Sprouts, unless thefe affifted the Mother Root; but thefe ferve alfo for Support too. Sometimes alfo they ferve for Stabiliment, Propagation and Shade; for the first of these ferve the Clafpers of Cucumers; for the fecond, thofe, or rather the TrunkRoots of Chamomil; and for all three the Trunk-Roots of Strawberries, Harris Lex. Tech. in verb. Claspers.

In the laft Place, to the Ufes already hinted at, I might add a large Catalogue of fuch among Vegetables, as are of peculiar Ufe and Service to the World, and feem to be defign'd as 'twere on Purpose, by the moft merciful Creator, for the Good of Man, or other Creatures (w). Among Grain, I might name the great Fertility (x) of fuch as ferves for Bread, the eafy Culture and Propagation thereof, and the Agreement of every Soil and Climate to it.. Among Trees, and Plants, I might inftance in fome that feem to be defign'd, as 'twere on Purpose, for almoft every Ufe (),

and

(w) Vegetables afford not only Food to Irrationals, but alfo Phyfick, if it be true which Ariftotle faith, and after him Pliny; which latter in his 8th Book, Chap. 27. fpecifies divers Plants made ufe of as Specificks, by divers, both Beafts and Birds: As Dittany by wounded Deer, Celandine by Swallows,, to cure the fore Eyes of their Young, c. And if the Reader hath a Mind to fee more Inftances of this Nature, (many of them fanciful enough,).he may confult Merfenne in Genef. pag. 933.

(x) See before Book IV. Chap. 11. Note (b).

(y) Planta hac unica [Aloe Americana] inquit Fr. Hernan dez, quicquid vita effe poteft neceffarium praftare facilè poteft, fi effet rebus humanis modus. Tota enim illa lignorum fepiendorumque agrorum ufum praftat, caules tignorum, folia verò teEta tegendi imbricum, lancium: eorundem nervuli, & fibra eundem habent ufum ad linteamina, calceos, & veftimenta conficienda quem apud nos Linum, Cannabis, Goffipium, &c. E mucronibus fiunt clavi, aculei, fubula, quibus perforandis auribus, macerandi corporis gratia, Indis uti mos erat cùm Damonum vacarent cultui; item acicula, acus, tribuli militares

raftilla idonea petendis fubtegminibus. Praterea è fucco mananti, cujus evulfis germinibus internis foliifve tenerioribus cultis [Yztlinis] in mediam cavitatem, ftillat planta, unica ad 50 interdum amphoras (quod dictu eft mirabile) Vina, Mel, Acetum ac Saccharum parantur [The Methods of which he tells.] Idem fuccus menfes ciet, alvum lenit, Urinam evocat, Renes Veficam emundat. E radice quoque Reftes fiunt firmiffima. Craffiores foliorum partes, truncufque, decocta fub terra, edendo funt apta, fapiuntque Citrea frufta faccharo condita: quin & vulnera recentia mirè conglutinant.-Folia

quoque

and Convenience; fome to heal the moft ftubborn and dangerous Distempers (2), to alleviate and cafe the Pains (aa) of our poor infirm Bodies, all the World over: And fome defigned for the peculiar Service and Good of particular Places, either to cure fuch Diftempers as are peculiar to them, by

quoque affa & affetto loco impofita convulfionem curant, ac dolores leniunt (pracipuè fi fuccus ipfe calens bibatur) quamvis ab Indica proficifcantur lue, fenfum hebetant, atque torporem inducunt. Radicis fuccus luem Veneream curat apud Indos ut Dr. Palmer. Ray. ib. L. 21. c. 7. See alfo Dr. Sloane Voy. to Jamaica, p. 247.

There are alfo two Sorts of Aloe befides, mentioned by the fame Dr. Sloane, one of which is made use of for Fishing-Lines, Bow-Strings, Stockings, and Hammocks. Another hath Leaves that hold Rain-Water, to which Travellers, c. refort to quench their Thirft, in Scarcity of Wells, or Waters, in thofe dry Countries. Ibid. p. 249.

(2) For an Inftance here, I fhall name the Cortex Peruvi anus, which Dr. Morton calls Antidotus in levamen arumnarum vita humane plurimarum divinitus conceffa. De Febr. Exer. v. c. 3. In Sanitatem Gentium proculdubio à Deo O. M. conditus. Cujus gratiâ, Arbor vita, fiqua alia, jure meritò appellari poteft. Id. ib. c. 7. Ehen! quot convitiis Herculea & divina hac Antidotus jactabatur? Ibid.

To this (if we may believe the Ephemer. German. Ann. 12. Obfer. 74. and fome other Authors) we may add Trifolium paludofum, which is become the Panacea of the German and Northern Nations.

(aa) Pro doloribus quibufcunque fedandis praftantiffimi femper ufus Opium habetur; quamobrem meritò Nepenthe appellari folet, & remedium vere divinum exiftit. Et quidem fatis mirari vix poffumus, quomodo urgente vifceris aut membri cujufpiam tortura infigni, & intolerabili cruciatu, pharmacum hoc, incantamenti inftar, levamen & avanynoiav fubitam, immò interdum abfque fomno, aut faltem priùs quàm advenerit, concedit. Porrò adhuc magis ftupendum eft, quod donec particula Opiatica operari, & potentiam fuam narcoticam exerere continuant, immò etiam aliquamdiu poftquam fomnus finitur, fumma aleviatio, & indolentia in parte affectâ perfifti. Willis, Phar. rat. par. I. S. 7. c. I. §. 15.

growing more plentifully there than elsewhere (bb); or elfe to obviate fome Inconvenience there, or to fupply fome conftant Neceffity, or Occafion, not poffible, or at least not eafy, to be fupplied any other Way (cc). "Tis, for Inftance, an admirable Provifion made for fome Countries fubject to Drought,

(bb) Tales Plantarum fpecies in quacunque regione, à Deo creantur quales hominibus animalibus ibidem natis maxime conveniunt; imò ex plantarum nafcentium frequentiâ fe fere animadvertere poffe quibus morbis [endemiis] qualibet regio fubjecta fit, fcribit Solenander. Sic apud Danos, Frifios, Hollandas, quibus, Scorbutus frequens, Cochlearia copiose provenit. Ray. H. Pl. L. 16. c. 3

To this may be added Elfner's Obfervations concerning the Virtues of divers Things in his Obfervations de Vincetoxico Scrophularum remedio. F. Germ. T. 1. Obf. 57.

John Benerovinus, a Phyfician of Dort, may be here confulted, who wrote a Book on purpose to fhew, that every Country hath every Thing ferving to its Occafions, and particularly Remedies afforded to all the Diftempers it is fubject unto. V. Bener. Aurágnesa. Batay. five Introd. ad Medic. indigenam.

(c) The Defcription Dr. Sloane gives of the Wild-Pine is, that its Leaves are chanelled fit to catch and convey Water down into their Refervatories, that thefe Refervatories are fo made, as to hold much Water, and close at Top when full, to hinder its Evaporation; that thefe Plants grow on the Arms of the Trees in the Woods every where [in thofe Parts] as alfo on the Barks of their Trunks. And one Contrivance of Nature in this Vegetable, he faith, is very admirable. The Seed hath long and many Threads of Tamentum, not only that it may be carried every where by the Wind but also that it may by thofe Threads, when driven through the Boughs, be held faft, and flick to the Arms, and extant Parts of the Barks of Trees. Sofoon as it fprouts or germinates, although it be on the under Part of a Bough, its Leaves and Stalk rife perpendicular, or ftrait up, becaufe if it had any other Pofition, the Ciftern (before-mentioned, by which it is chiefly nourished made of the hollow Leaves, could not hold Water, which is neceffary for the Nourishment and Life of the Plant **** In Scarcity of Water, this Refervatory is neceffary and fuf

ficient,

Drought, that when the Waters every where fail, there are Vegetables which contain not only Moisture enough to fupply their own Vegetation and Wants, but afford Drink alfo both to Man and other Creatures, in their great Extremities (dd);

ficient, not only for the Plant it felf, but likewife is very ufeful to Men, Birds, and all Sorts of Infects, whither they come in Troops, and feldom go away without Refreshment. Id. ib. p. 188. and Phil. Tranf. No. 251, where a Figure is of this notable Plant, as alfo in Lowthorp's Abridg. V. 2, p. 669.

The Wild-Pine, fo called, c. hath Leaves that will hold a Pint and a half, or Quart of Rain-Water; and this Water refreshes the Leaves, and nourishes the Root. When we find thefe Pines, we ftick our Knives into the Leaves, juft above the Root, and that lets out the Water, which we catch in our Hats, as I have done many Times to my great Relief. Dampier's Voy. to Campeachy, c. 2. p. 56.

(dd) Navarette tells us of a Tree called the Bejuco, which twines about other Trees, with its End hanging downwards; and that Travellers cut the Nib off it, and presently a Spout of Water runs out from it, as clear as Crystal, enough and to fpare for fix or eight Men. I drank, faith he, to my Satisfaction of it, found it cool and fweet, and would drink it as often as I found it in my Way. It is a Juice and natural Water. It is the common Relief of the Herds men on the Mountains. When they are thirsty, they lay hold on the Bejuco, and drink their Fill Collect. of Voy. and Trav. Vol. I. in the Suppl to Navarette's Account of China, p. 355.

The Waterwith of Jamaica hath the fame Ufes, concerning which, my before-commended Friend, Dr. Sloane, favoured me with this Account from his Original Papers: This Vine growing on dry Hills, in the Woods, where no Water is to be met with, its Trunk, if cut into Pieces two or three Yards long, and held by either End to the Mouth, affords fo plentifully a limpid, innocent, and refreshing Water, or Sap, as gives new Life to the droughty Traveller or Hunter. Whence this is very much celebrated by all the Inhabitants of these Islands, as an immediate Gift of Providence to their diftreffed Condition. To this we may add what Mr. Ray takes notice of concerning the Birch-Tree. In initiis Veris antequam folia prodiere, vulnerata dulcem fuccum copiosè effundit, quem fiti pressi Paftores in fylvis fapenumerò potare folent. Nos etiam non femel eo liquore recreati fumus, cùm herbarum gratiâ vaftas peragravimus fylvas, inquit Tragus. Raii Cat. Plant. circa. Cantab, in Betula.

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and