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Show 1] FI and fo it may be defin’d, whatfoever warms or heats Bodies. Heat is fomething, the Prefence of which ji. C. B. Common Dropwort. . Pruire NpuLA; vulgaris, An, Molon is beft perceiv’d by the Dilatation of the Air Plinnit folio variegato. H. R. Par. Common or Spirit in the Thermometer. So then, Fire is a Body, and a Body in Motion too. ‘The Dropwort, with a variegated Leaf, ae F£L1pENDULA; omni parte major, folio Motion of it is prov’d by its expanding the ufiori. Boerb. Ind, Larger Dropwort, with Air, and that it isa Body by Experiment. Pure Mercury being inclosd in a Phial with rower Leaf, The firft of thefe Species is ufed in Medi- a long Neck, and kept in a gentle Heat for cine, but is feldom cultivated in Gardens: It the Space of a Year, will be reducd into a grows wild in moft Parts of Eugland upon Solid, and the Weight alfo will be increas’d open Heaths and Commons, as alfo upon confiderably : which Increafe cannot proceed from any thing elfe but the Acceffion of chalky Hills. The fecond Sort is a Variety of the firft, Fire. with ftrip’d Leaves, and is preferv’d in fome The Nature of Fire is fo obfcure and woncurious Gardens by fuch as delight in varie- derful, that it was held by many of aca as a Deity ; and feveral Authors of gated Plants. The third Sort I brought from Holland, prime Note have taken great Pains to difcover Anno 1727. This differs from the common the Myftery of it, without having been able Sort in being larger in every Part; but the to explain many of the principal Effects thereof. Leaves are narrower, and finercut. The Learned Herman Boerbaave has usd no Thefe Plants may be eafily propagated by lefs Induftry in making a newSet of Experitaking up their Roots in Autumn when the ments, in order to come to a clearer Knowledge Leaves begin to decay, and parting them into ofthem ; and havinglaid down a new Doétrine {mall Heads; which, if planted in an open of Fire, in a Courle of Publick Lectures, I Situation, will thrive and increafe exceedingly. fhall briefly take Notice of fuch of themas I They may alfo be propagated by {owing their apprehend may be of Ufe. Seeds in Autumn, which will come up the Fire lays he) in effect, appears to be the fucceeding Spring, and the fecond Seafonwill general Inftrument of all the Motion in the flower: But this is not the fureft Way to Univerfe: The conftant Tenor of a great preferve the Kinds; for they may be apt to Number of Experiments, leave no Room to doubt, but that if there were no Fire,all things vary from the Sorts fown. would inftantly become §x’d and immoveable. FILIUS ANTE PATREM, [i. e. the Son Of this there are Inftances every Winter : For e the Father ;\ an Expreffion which Bota- while Froft prevails, the Water, which before pply to Plants whofe Flower comes out was fluid, by a mere Privation "of Feat, betheir Leaves. comes folid, 7. e. hardens into Ice, and fo remains *till refolv’dagain by Fire. Thus, were FILIX ; Fern. There are great Varieties a Manintirely deftitute of Heat, he would of this Plant in the diiferent Parts of the immediatelyfreeze into a Statue. And thus World, but particularly in America, as may the Air it felf, which is found in continual The Species are ; 1. Firrpenputa; they only tra {uch Orzt as they avery com Fruit there are a cking: Perl oming to the r whic proper for > Orit, wh whic Exotick Trees: Layers, as tk Beeon ed in Pots in pos’d during t muft ae Di frequene Vi ‘em, theyla fome time, then put keep ’em the reft \ Cd renents But thefe Figs are very od as thole dry’d in Provence, * Spain; the Heat of the Ovenc their Deli and good Tafte: © on the other hand, this Heat kills which the Prickers ofae 0 * therein ; which E ul ibly produce {mall Worms that would prejudice thefe Fruits « What an Expence of Time and Pains is * here for a Fig, and that but an indifferent one at laft! I could not fufficiently admire the Patience of the Greeks, bufy’d above two Months in carrying thefe Prickers from one Tree to another. I was foon told the Reafon; One of their -Trees ufually p ces between Twoand Three hundred ds of Figs, and ours in Provence feldom above Twenty-five. “« ThePrickers contribute perhaps to the urity of the Fruit of the Garden F g Tree, by caufing to extravafate the nutri- tious Juice, fe Veffels they tear afunder yfiting their E : Perhaps too, befides their Eggs; they leave behind them fome fort of Liquor proper to ferment gently with the Milk of the Stove is kept to a good otherwife they muft be The ‘Temper of Heat w hich thefe beft agree with in the Winter, is ab Temperate Point, as mark’d on Botanical Thermomete ford egree of Heat th Winter; and in lefs, t their Leaves, and whereby the Bea impair'd. But if tsare d FICUS INDICA; vide Opuntia FILACEOUS ROOTS ;; fuch of Filaments,i. ¢. of {mall| Thread FILAGO ; vide Gnaph » and to make their Fleth tender. Our Figs in Z » and even at ny tris, tipen much fooner for having their Buds prick’d with a Straw dipt in Olive- Oyl. Plums and Pears prick’d by fomeInfe@, do likewife ripen much the fafter for it; and the Fleth round {uch Pan@ureis better-tafted than the reft. I is not to bedifputed but that confiderable Change happenstto the Contextureof Fruits fo prick’d; juft the fame as to the Parts of Anit S pierc’d with any fharp Inftrument is Tis fearce poffible well to underftand the ancient Authors who have treated of ** Caprification, (or husbandi ng anddreffing us to ha Trees grow to a large Size, and in Time; you fhould plung their Pots in Jark, which will caufe them to e Progrefs. [ have had Plar meee ort, which, by this Ma ment, have been eight Feet io from the Time of fowi Leaves I FILBERT ; vide Cory FILIPENDULA, dere, Lat. to hang, ca Threads of the Roots, having the Ends.] Dropwort, The Charaféfers are; It hath a fibvofe Root, 2 Tubers faften’d 10 the Bo The Leaves are } The Flowers difpofed into a loo, oft round, c vé#lgaris. An, Molon be {een in the Natural Hiftory of ‘famaica, ae d by the Worthy Sir Hans Sloane, Bart. nd in Plumier’s American Ferns. But as they are Plants which are feldom propagated in Gardens, I fhall pafs them over in this Place, _ FIL M; that woody Skin which feparates he Seeds in the Pods of Plants. PIMBRIATED,; [of Fimbria, Lat. a Fringe] a Term relating to ‘the Leavesof Plants when theyare jagged on the Edges, having, as it w a Fringe about them. FIRE ; However foreign at the firft View this Arti > mayfeem to our prefent Purpofe ; yet I amof the Opinion, that a tolerable Ac- quaintance with its Nature, as far as it can Motion, being always either expanding or condenfing, would, upon the Abfence ofFire, contract it felf, and cohere into a firm rigid Mafs. So alfo Animals and Vegetables, vall Oils, Salts, €c. would, upon the like Occafion immediately congeal. Altho’ this Doctrine of Fire here laid down by Boerhaave, feems new and extraordinary, at leaft to thofe who have been us’dto confider Fire in the Light that it has beenfet in by the Lord Bacon, Mr. Boyle, and Sir I/aac Newton ; and tho’ we ought to pay great Veneration to thofe illuftrious Authors: yet, in the Judg- ment of themfelves, we fhould be inexcufeable if we fhould abfolutely acquiefce in what they have done, and fhut the Door againft farther and better Information. It may reafonably be fuppos’d that Dr, Boer- beattain’ 1, and its Effects, will contribute no baave has had an Opportunityof going beyond ir {tance in forwarding the Work of them, in that, befides all the Experiments and egetation. And tho’ the Theory of Fire is Obfervations that they have had to build upon, indeed Philofopk nical; yet the Confideration he has had the Advantage of a newSet, which ofits Effeéts, and howit operates on Vege- they were unacquainted with. will be of no {mall Ufe in the Culture As to the Nature of Fire; the great and m. fundamental Difference is, Whether it beorigit which beft defines and diftinguithes nally fuch, form’d thus by the Great Creator every thing elfe, is its Heating ; Himfelf, at the Beginning of Things? or, Nnno Whether |