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Show The Anatomy Book VL Book IV. 2. §. eround, fuppofed, the chief Governing Principle, to be the Saline, “**" Whether Alkaline, Acid, or of any other Kind: being in fome fort as 9. §. The Marine, is obtained no other way, that I know of, but Or the Salts are,as it were, the Bovess the other Prin- from a Solution of the Alkaline, upon its being expofed to the Aer, The procefs wherof, I fhall particularly et down in a following Di JSeourfe, OF thefe Salts, mixed in acertain proportion, together, and alfo Impregnated with fome of the other Aéfive Principles of a Plant, cular and other Concretions, commonlycalled Mothers, in Diftill’d Waters, Vinegar, and other Liquors. For in thefe Concretions, there is all- that which call the Efential, is produced: of which, fhall alfo give an accountin the fame Difcourfe. * the Mold ofa Button, to which the other Principles, as its Attire, do altconform. ; ciples, as the Flefh which covers them. 4. §. A further Argument hereof may be deduced from the Cuti— Tbh;| of Leaves: Nowof thefe, [have formerly, and as I conceive upon good ways a tendence to Vegetation ; and many of them are true Vegetables in their Kind 5 as fhall hereafter be feen, Nowthe Liquors, in which thefé are generated, do always, wholly or in part, lofe their Ta/?_ and smell, and fo become Vapid. The more fenfible Principles therein having made their Tranfit from the Fluid, into the Concrete Parts. So, Ihave known, fometimes, Vinegar it felf, to become by thefe Concre- tions, almokt as Ta/tlefs as Common Water. Whereby it feems evident, That of Vegetable Principles, there are fome, more Mafterly than others: and that ofthefe, the Salize isthe chief The fame is likewile argued, from the frequent Experiment of many good Husband-men 5 that moft Bodies which abound with Salt, are the greateft Nourifhers of Plants. 5. §. This saline Principle, as is above hinted, is to be underftood, a Gexerik Name, under which divers Species are comprehen- ded 5 and of fome whereof, it is always compounded, asin other Bodies, {oin Plants. Asfall be made to appear, by divers Experiments, when we come, hereafter, to {peak of Vegetable Salts. Whereby we are con- ducted, yet further to enquire, What are the Princizples of this Principle 2 i §. NOWthefe feem to be Four 5 a Nitrous, an Acid, an Alka- line, and a Marine. The Admixture of the Firft, is argu’d from the Place, which Nature hath affigned for the Geweration and Growth of moft Plawts, fc. neither in Caverns under Ground, as for Minerals 5 nor above it, as for Avimalss but the Surface of the Earth, where this Sort of Salt is copioufly bred. And doth therefore prove, not only a Mixture, but a good Proportion hereof with the other Principles of a Plant, Hence it is,that Dew or Water on Windows or Plain and Smooth Tables, by virtue of a Nitro-Aerial Salt, is often frozen into the refem- blance of little Shrubs. Andthelike Figure I have often feen in a well filtred Solution of the Salt of any of our Purging Waters, as of Epfom, and not without an Admixture of fome Parts from the Aer; I fuppofe; ro. §. ALL THE Four salts above mentioned, feem in their Or- der, to have a fhare in the Formation of a Leaf, or other Part of a Plant: And firft ofall, the Marine. For all Generations are made in fome Fisid : But in every Fluid there is a perpetual Inteftive Motion of Parts. So that the firft Intention of Nature is, That fome of thofe Parts be difpofed to Reft. Now ofall the Principles of a Plant, there are none hereunto more difpofed, than their Salts; whofe Particles. being figu’rd with plain Sides, as often as they touch Side to Side,like two Marbles exquifitely polifhed, they will adhere together. And the Particles of Marine Salt, being Cubicks and fo,with refpeét to their Fi- gure,of greater Bulk than thofe ofany other Salt; theywill hereby, be moft and firft of all difpofed to Refé ; and fo become, asit were, the Foundation of the following Super/tructure. 11. THE Second Intention of Natureis, That the Particles be 12. §. THE nextIntention is, That thefe Fibres, at the fame time beft anfwer the indented shape of the Leaf. Which Pofture, although in the Growth of the Leaf it is much Govern’d by the Aer-Veffels 5 yet in the Generation hereof, feemsto befirft determined by the foremen- Refolving the Principles of a Plant. Many Plants,even in their Natural Effate, do yield an Acid Fuyce. And the Fuyces of many more, byFermentation, will become Acid. And molt, by Diftillation in a SandFurnace, yield an Acid Liquor. Ends of the Nitrous, properly {0 called, ftand at Right Angles. And it is very probable, from the Figure of the Cryffalls in spirit of Blood, and fome other Bodies, that the Particles of the Alkaline are Square at Typ, 63. Earth, and fo mixed with the Mineral Salts. 7. §. The other Three Salts are exhibited, by the feveral ways of 8. §. By Calcination, all Sorts of Plants, yield more or lefs, both of a Fixed and a Volatile Alkaly : the former, in the Ajhes; the latter, inthe Soot. And, atleat the generality, by Fermentation allo, yield a Volatile one 5 or fuch a kind of Suit, which, whether we call an Urivous, or otherwile, hath the like Odour and Taft with that of Urine, HartsHorn, Sgot, and thelike. 9. §. ee in which they are formed, may likewife receive fuch a Pofture as will tioned Salts, according to their feveral Angles, wherebytheyare dift ferently applicable one to another. Produced, asI conceive, by the Néfre, which i q I brought to Ref, in a certain Pofitien, agreeable to the Figure of the Parts which are to be formed. And therefore in the next place, all thofe Parts of a Plant which are truly Ligwous, by the Marine Salt, with the affiftance of the AlAwlxe, but efpecially of the Nitrous, are madeto fhoot out in Length, or into an innumerable company offall Cylindrich Fibres : thefe Salts being,altogether,fturdy enough to refift Tab. 53: thofe Impulfes which mightincline them to conformto any other Figure, with the Ratz or other Waters, is wafhed down from the Surface ofthe &c. being fet to fhoot. Whe 13. $. Now all the Sides ofthe Marine Salt, arid the Sides and the one End, and Poynted at the other. And thofe of the Acid, at both; Andthat, withal, they are Shorter and more Slender. 14. §. It fhould therefore feem, That where the Alkaline Salt ig any way predominant,and that the Particles thereof are placed End to End; there the Ligwous Fibres (as the larger ones in many Leaves ) Tah, 57 declining their parallel Grewth, begin to fhoot out obliquely, or at An- gles one with another, and thofe Acute, ; 15 g. "| |