~ fing through the Body of Birds. Thus Theophraftus de Cauf Nutmegs are faid to be fertilized after the fame Manner, as Tavernier faith, was confirmed to him by Persons that lived many Years in those Parts; whofe Relation was. The Nutmeg being ripe, feveral Birds come from the Iflands toward the South, and devour it whole, but are forced to throw it up again, before it be digefted: And that the Nutmeg, then befmeared with a Viscous Matter, falling to the Ground, takes root, and produces a Tree, which would never thrive, was it planted. Tavern of the Commod. of the G. Mogul. And Monfieur Thevenot, in his Travels to the Indies, gives this Account; The Tree is produced after this Manner, there is a kind of Birds in the Island, that having picked off the green Husk, fwallow the Nuts, which having been fome Time in their Stomach, they void by the ordinary Way; and they fail not to take rooting in the Place where they fall, and in Time to grow up to a Tree. This Bird is fhaped like a Cuckow, and the Dutch prohibit their Subjects under Pain of Death, to kill any of them. v. Sir T. Pope Blunt's Nat. Hift. But Mr. Ray gives a fomewhat different Account: Hune fructum [Nucem Mofchatam] varia quidem aves depafcuntur, fed maxime Columba genus album & parvum, quæ dehif cente nucamento, ille&ta fuavitate Macis, bunc cum Nuce eripiunt & devorant, nec nifi repleta ingluvie capaciffima faginam deferunt. Noftrates ibi mercatores Columbis iftis Neuteeters five Nucivoris nomen impofuerunt. Quas autem vorant Nuces, poft integras per alvum reddunt. Reddita citius deinde germinant tpote præmacerata fervore Ventriculi. Arbores inde nate ceu pracociores, of, do many of them by their Usefulness in human Life, invite the Husbandman and Gardiner carefully to fow and nurfe them up. To this fo fingular a Care about the Propagation and Confervation of the Species of Vegetables, I might add the nice Provifion that is made for their Support, and Aid, in ftanding and growing, that they may keep their Heads above Ground, and not be rotted and fpoiled in the Earth themfelves, nor thereby annoy us; but on the contrary, minifter to all their Ends, and our Ufes; to afford us Houses, Utenfils, Food (17), Phyfick, Cloathing, yea, Diverfion too, by the Beauty of their Looks, by the Fragrancy of their Smell, by creating us pleafant Shades against the fcorching Beams of Summer, and skreening us against the piercing Winds, and cold of Winter (18). And precociores, facile funt corruptioni obnoxia fructumque ferunt cateris multo viliorem, & hac caufa neglectum incolis contemptumque, præter Macin, quem ad adulterandum meliorem adhibent. Ray H. P. L. 27. C. 4: (17) Arbores blandioribus fruge fuccis hominem mitigavere. Ex iis recreans membra Olei liquor, virefque potus Vini: tos denique fapores annui fponte venientes & menfa, depugnetur licet earum caufa cum feris, & pafli naufragorum corporibus pifces expetantur, etiamnum tamen fecundæ. Mille præterea funt ufus earum, fine quibus vita degi non poffit. Arbre fulcamus maria, terrafque admovemus, arbore exedificamus tellà. Plin. N. H. L. 12. C. I. . (18) Plantarum Ufus latiffime pater, & in omni vitæ parte occurrit. Sine illis laute, fine illis commode non v vivitur, at nec vivitur omnino Quæcunque ad victum neceffaria funt, quecunque ad delicias faciunt, e locupletiffimo fuo penu abunde fub miniftrant. Quanto ex iis menfi innocentior, mundior, falubrior quam ex Animalium cade laniena? Homo certe natura Animil carnivorum non eft; nullis ad prædam & rapinam armis inftru&tum, non dentibus exertis & ferratis, non unguibus aduncis. Manus ad fructus colligendos, dentes ad mandendos comparati. Non legimus ei ante Diluvium carnes ad efum conceffas. At non victum tantum nobis fuppeditant, fed & Veftitum, & Medicina.n do Book X. And it is very obfervable what admirable Provifions are made for this Purpofe of their Support and Standing, both in fuch as ftand by their own Strength, and fuch as need the Help of others. In fuch as ftand by their own Strength, it is by Means of the ftronger and more ligneous Parts (equivalent to the Bones in Animals) being made not inflexible, as Bones; becaufe they would then be apt to break, but of a yielding elaftick Nature, to efcape and dodge the Violence of the Winds; and by means alfo of the Branches fpreading hand fomely and commodioufly about, at an Angle of about 45 gr, by which means they equally fill up, and at the fame time make an Equilibration of the Top (19). And Domicilia aliaque ædificia, & Navigi, & Suppelle&ilem, & Focum, & Oblectamenta Senfuum Animique: Ex his naribus odoramenta & fuffumigia parantur. Horum flores inenarrabili colorum & Schematum varietate, & elegantia, oculos exilarant, fuavima odorum quos expirant fragrantia fpiritus recréant. Horum fructus gula illecebre menfas fecundas inftruunt, & languentem appetitum excitant. Taceo virorem ameniffimum oculis am'cum, quem per prata, pafcua, agros, fylvas fpatiantibus objiciunt, Umbras quas contra aftum, & folis arderes præbent. Ray. ib. L. 1. C. 24. p. 46. (19.) All Vegetables of a tall and fpreading Growth, seem to have a natural Tendency to a Hemispherical Dilation, but generally confine their Spreading within an Angle of go gr. as being the moft becoming and ufeful Difpofition of its Parts and Branches. Now the fhorteft way to give a moft graceful and ufeful filing to that fpace of dilating and fpreading out is to proceed in itrait Lines, and to difpofe of thofe Lines, in a Variety of Parallels, &. And to do that in a quadrantal Space, &c. there appears but one way poffible, and that is, to form all the Interiections which the Shoots and Branches make, with Angles of 45 gr. only. And I dare appeal to all if it be not in this manner, almoft to a nicety obferved by Nature, &c. A visible Argument that the Plaftic Capacities of Matter are governed and difposed by an All-wife and infinite Agent, the native Stri&tneffes and Regularities of them plainly fhewing from whofe Hand they come. Account of the Origine and Format. of Foff. Shells, 8tc. Print. Lond. 1705. pag. 38, 41. (10) And as for fuch Vegetables as are weak, and not able to fupport themfelves, 'tis a wonderful Faculty they have, fo readily and naturally to make Ufe of the Help of their Neighbours, em bracing and climbing up upon them (20), and ufing them as Crutches to their feeble Bodies: fome by their odd convolving Faculty, by twifting 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 Emilion 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 accom modated to the Indigencies of thofe helpless Ve getables, and not to be met with in any befides, is (20) In Hedera furculi, & rami hinc inde claviculos, quafi radiculas emittunt, quæ parietibus, vel occurrentibus arboribus ve luti digitis firmantur, & in altum fufpenduntur. Hujufmodi radicu la fubrotunda funt, & pilis cooperiuntur; & quod mirum est, glutinofum fundunt bumorem, feu Terebinthinam, qua arlie lapidibus nelluntur & agglutinantur. Non minori induftra Natura utitur in Vire Canadenfi, &c. The admirable and curious Make of whole 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, &c. 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 retrogade Motion about every third Circle, in the Form of a double Clasp, 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 closer and more compact Subftance than that of Vines, the Sap would not be sufficiently supplied to the upper Sprouts, unless the 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 Well-being of the meaneft, moft weak, and helpless infenfitive Parts of the Creation. 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 defigned as 'twere on purpose, by the moft merciful Creator, for the Good of Man, or other Creatures (†). Among Grain, I might name the great Fertility (21) 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 defigned, as 'twere on purpose, for almost every Ufe (22), and thefe affifted the Mother Root: but these ferve alfo for Support too. Sometimes alfo they ferve for Stabiliment, Propaga tion, and Shade: for the firft of these serve the Clafpers of Čucumers: for the fecond, those, or rather the Trunk-Roots of Chamomil; and for all three the Trunk Roots of Strawberries. Harris Lex. Tech. in verb. Claspers. (†) Vegetables afford not only Food to Irrationals, but allo Phyfick, if it be true which Ariftotle faith, and after him Pliny, which latter in his 8th Book, ch. 27. fspecifies 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, . And if the Reader hath a Mind to see more Inftances of this nature (many of them fanciful enough) le may confult Merfenne in Genef. pag. 933. (21) See before Book 4. Chap. 11. Note 2. (22) Planta hæc unica [Aloe Americana] inquit Fr. Hernan dez, quicquid vita effe poteft neceffarium præftare facile poteft, fi effet rebus humanis modus. Tota enim illa lignorum fepiendorumque agrorum ufum præftat, caules tignorum, folia vero tecta tegendi imbricum, lancium: eorundem nervuli, & fibræ eundem habent usum ad linteamina, talceos, & veftimenta conficienda quem apud nos Linum, Cannabis, Golfipium, &c. E mucronibus fiunt clavi, aculei, fub |