Stalk or Trunk itself among thofe little Seeds, of the heighth of a Line and a half; they could likewife diftinguifh therein the Knots of the Straw; but all had a very different Proportion from what we fee in a full grown Wheaten Plant. The Leaves, which do fcarce otherwife make the fixth Part of the heighth of the Plant when compleat, were now above 18 times longer than it; the little Ear made about a third Part of the entire heighth, whereas, when the Plant is perfect, it hardly comes up to the 48th Part; the little Body of it was about 3 times as long as thick, tho' when full grown, the heighth is incomparably greater, with refpect to the Thickness; the little Tubes that compofe the Straw or Stalk with their different Knots, appear to be thrust within each other, like the Pieces or Parts of a Telescope when a Man puts it into his Pocket. The Seeds were round, like perfect little Pearls, and half tranfparent: To form a more compleat Notion of them, you must fuppofe in the faid Fig. 8. that A is a part of the Root from which this little Plant is feparated; B C DE is the Tube of the Straw; of which B is the first Joynt between two Knots, C the fecond, D the third, E the fourth. Each of these Tubes, of which the whole Straw was compofed, bore a Leaf, which is ftripp'd off, to the end, that the Ear that would have been hid by thofe Leaves, might more plainly appear. F is the laft Leaf, which leaves the Ear fufficiently naked. Finally, G is the little Ear, having already attained its compleat Figure in the middle of the little Sprout.

Now can any one obferve this whole Contexture of the future Plant, in fo fmall a Body, without amazement; and pretend to afcribe the fame to Chance or Ignorant Causes?

The

The Gentlemen of the French Academy, having made ufe of fome Microscopes that magnified the Object much more than the above-mention'd, have obferv'd in much fmaller Seed-Plants than the aforefaid Ear of Corn, how the Parts of the future Plant were adjufted together, which in fhooting forth, extricated themselves from each other.

SECT. XIII. Whether the Seed-Plants contain all the following ones.

SEVERAL famous Men have gone fo far in this Matter, that by feeing in each Seed its future Plant, fome of 'em have maintained, and others, to use a fofter Word, have conje&tured [See Mr. Dodart's Memoire in the Tranfactions of the French Academy, 1701. p. 315.] that it was not improbable, that this Seed contained in its little Seed-Plant another Seed with another Seed-Plant, and fo continually forwards; from whence then this Confequence must be deduced, that every Seed, how small foever it is, does actually contain the Seed Plants, and their following Seeds, of as many Trees, for Inftance, as might be produced from this one Seed to the end of the World; and confequently, that all Kinds of Plants whatever, of the fame Sort that were to be produced in all the following Ages, were already actually formed in the first Seed that was created; by which they understand, that tho' the Imagination of Men cannot poffibly represent to itself fuch an unconceivable Smallnefs and Number, yet the Incomprehenfibleness of the Works of an infinite Creator, may be thereby fet in a clearer Light, to the reproach of them that deny him; fince (as Mr. Dodart fays in the aforemention'd place, and which is alfo the plain Truth) thofe that are accustomed to exercife them

Selves

Selves in Natural and Mathematical Sciences, know, that they can feldom go far without meeting fomething infinite; just as if the Author of Nature, and of all Truth, had been pleafed to fix the Seal of his chief Property upon all things.

I leave thefe Opinions, which do not seem ftrange to feveral Great Men, to their own Weight: But forafmuch as the faid Mr. Dodart is pleased to bestow upon them the Title of Conjectures, as they really are; and fince we endeavour as much as is poffible to abstain from all Uncertainties, tho' never fo probable, because there are Experimental Truths in abundance, which prove a GoD, and a Divinity of his Word, we fhall not lay any farther stress Hypothefis.

upon this

SECT. XIV, Tranfition to the Roots and Trunks of Plants.

WHAT we have now faid about Seeds, feems to be abundantly fufficient to bring any one that has hitherto denied a Divine and Omniprefent Power, by which the Operations of all things are directed to more reafonable Thoughts: But to fhew how this Providence proceeds in all things, we fhould add fomething concerning the Roots within the Earth, and the Bodies or Trunks of Plants as they grow out of it. Now, how the Nutricious Juices are drawn or infinuated into the first from the Earth, and how by rifing or circulating therein, they cause the Trunk to grow out of the fame, we fhall not here relate; forafmuch as that which has been faid of it,is not founded upon fufficient Certainty, and all the Experiments that have occur'd to me in order to prove the fame, are ftill but too defective. They that defire to fee any farther Account thereof, may con

fult

fult the learned Opinions of Grew, Malpighi, and others; they that will only take the Pains to follow the Methods of thofe and other Enquirers, and view the things with their own Eyes thro' a Microfcope, when they fee a Tree or a Plant grow, and after that, confider the Structure of the Roots and Trunks, will never be able to perfwade themselves that thefe Bodies have acquired their Form by meer Chance.

SECT. XV. The Structure of the Root and its Parts.

NOTWITHSTANDING the many different Conjunctions and Difpofitions that these Parts which compose the Root have among themselves, yet in almost all thofe that have been examined, we find the following Analogy and Agreements, according as Dr. Grew has described them; namely:

I. The external Part of the Root is a Membranous Matter or Bark, confifting partly of a great Number of little Bladders like a Spunge, or rather like thofe Bladders which we see lying upon one another when we blow with a Pipe in Soapy Water; and partly of a Ligneous Matter or Fibres, that are fo many little Tubes. The first Kind are visible through a Microscope; and the laft are seen in fome Roots, fuch as Scorfonera, and others from the Experiments quoted by the faid Dr. Grew, in the 2d Chapter of his Compar. Anatom. Radic.

II. The fecond Part, which composes the Root, and lies under the outmoft Skin of all, is the Bark (Liber.) and this likewife confifts of two Kinds of Bodies, the firft of which is alfo a Collection of roundish Bladders, which, being dryed, fhrink in like a Spunge, but when steep'd in Water, fwell 3

ou

out again. Among thefe little Bladders there are mingled feveral Veffels that convey the Sap, of which fome contain in themselves a watry Humour, fome a milky, and others of other Kinds and they reprefent very different Forms, as they are difpofe among each other.

III. The third Body that we meet with in the Bark, in the Roots, does likewise confift partly of the fame Bladders, that are interwoven with thofe of the Bark and those of the Skin; and partly of Tubes or Veffeis that compofe the Woody Part of the Root, and fome of 'em contain Sap, and others only mere Air. These are likewife difpofed after various manners, in different Roots.

IV. The inmoft Part of the Root is the Marrow or Pith, which is found in fome, but not in others. This likewife confifts of little Bladders, and of the fame kind of Body as we have described before in the Bark, and in the Woody Part of the Root: 'Tis often only a Veffical Matter, and fometimes 'tis mingled with Woody Fibres, or with the little Tubes that convey the Sap and Air.

SECT. XVI. Thefe Difpofitions reprefented in the -Pepper-Root.

THE Difpofitions of thefe Parts do fufficiently appear in many Roots to the naked Eye, if they be cut across; but much plainer thro' a good Microscope; and we find 'em very accurately delineated both ways, by the faid Dr. Grew.

I fhall produce one here (Tab. XIX Fig. 1.) in which, thro' a Microscope, part of a little Slice of the Pepper Root appears, after the following manner: The outmoft little Bladders A A, re

prefent

;