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Show ————— VA VE an Colours. can no way be better accounted for as Biwe is from Red and Black. But the folShe ftom the various Aétions ofthe faline, lowingTable may better explain the Difference &§e. Corpuicles of one Liquor, with the co- of thefe. lour'd Corputcles of another: If they unite, Red is comthe Mats will either {well or fink, and thereby Oran pos’d of equal Black too its Denfity will be alter’d. If they ferment, the White aS Parts of White Angles or Size of the Particles may be diminifhed, and too Rays ang Black; or Points of thereby colour’d Liquors may become tran{pa~ of Light. ofsoRaysand Darknefs, rent: If they coagulate, an opaque Liquor say be produc’d oftwotranfparent ones. - tence it is eafy to fee, whya colour’d Liquor in a GlafS of a conical Figure, plac’d beween the Eye and the Light, appears of a {ifferent Colour in different Parts of the Veffel, 50 Points. ‘ Yellow has 73 Blue has 5 Rays, and 25 Points, and 25 Points, Rays, Green the Me- are fometimes. divided into Cells ; and thefe have always a monopetalous Flower, either uniform or difform. VASE is fometimes us’d for CaJix, VASES: A Va/e isa Sort of a Flower-Pot to fet in a Garden. VEGETABLE, a Term apply’d to all Plants, confider’d as capable of Growth, 7. ¢, to all natural Bodies which have Parts organi- cally form’d for Generation and Accretion, but Sir I/aac Newton obferves, that the Bignefs of ay Experiment to prove that White and Black not for Senfation. M, Boerbaave defines a Vegetable to bea Body generated of the Earth, to which it adheres, and is connected by Parts call’d Roots, through which it receives the Matter of its Nourifhment and Increafe, and confifts their component Parts may be eftimated, for that the Parts of Bodies do properly exhibitthe fame Colour with a Lamella ofequal Thicknefs, provided the Denfity in both bethe fame. Why the Colours of the Rainbowappear in falling Drops of Rain, is alfo from hence evi- are each of them compofed of tranfparent GJobes: and that thofe which give us the White are yoid and empty; and thofe which produce the Black, he thinks, are full of Matter. The White containing only Air, gives no shade; but the Black gives Shade; for Air, each other: Or a Vegetable is anorganical Body compos’d of Veffels and Juices, every where diftinguifhable from each other, to which Roots grow; or Parts, by which it adheres to fome other Body, from which it de- there being more and more Rays intercepted, diumuch Rive as they pafs througha longer or fhorter Section and Tele: of theVeffel, till at the Bafe they are all intercepted, and none feen but thofe reflected. Sanétorius will have all Colours to proceed From the various Colours of natural Bodies, from Shade and Temperancy; and produces dent: For thofe Drops which refrac the and fuch like fubtil Bodies, make no Re of Juices and Veffels, fenfibly diftine& from rives the Matter ofits Life and Growth. This Definition of a Vegetable is very[cientific, and furnifhes us with a juft and adequate Idea of it ; for byits confifting of Veffels and Juices, it is diftinguifhed from a Foff/; and by its adhering to another Body, and deriving its Nourifhment therefrom, it is diftinguifh’d from an Animal. He defines a Vegetable an Organical Body, becaufe it confifts of different Parts, which jointly concur to the Exercife of the fame Function. Weight, or Gravity, and the Motio n of the Juices in Vegetable Bodies, Te will not, I hope, be thought improperto fet down that curious Account of a Book (ins titled Vegetable Staticks, being an Effay teas wards a Natural Hiftory of Vegeta by Stephen Hales,B.D. and FE. R. S.) which was drawn up by Dr. Def. uliers, and publit h’d in the Philofophical Tranfactions, fince it will noe only give the Reader an Idea of the many curious Experiments. which are contain’d in that Book ; but alfo give hima muchclearer Notion of the Bufine{s of Vegetation than can be found in any Books yet extant. The incomparable Sir I/aac Newton has not only fhorten’d the Geometrician’s Work, b his wonderful Difcoveries in abftract Mathematicks, but has alfo taught us, by his own Practice, how to make and judge of Experi= ments and Obfervations with the utmoft Accuracy: And as he avoided making [ypothefes, he was fo cautious as to deliver only by way of Queries feveral Truths which he was convine’d of, becaufe he wanted a fufficient Number of Experiments to make them as evident as thofe others, whereby he has fo far improv’d and adyanc’d natural Knowledge. Rays, difpofed to appear Purple in greatelt £2i0n. Quantity to the Spedtator’s Eye, refrac the Rays of other Sorts fo much lef, as to make Now, if we fuppofe all bright Colours to be compos'd of fpherical Particles, then we may Outfide of the fecondary or exterior one: SO thefe Drops which refra@ in greateft Plenty do that are more faint ; becaufe, as Sanctov.us fays, we knowthat in all tranfparent Bodies Eye, refraét thofe of other Sortsfo much more as to make them pafs befide it; and fuch are the Drops on the exterior Part ofthe primary, or Part of the fecondary Bow. See Rainbow. It is very obfervable, that White is much brighter, as it is produc’d by a great Quantity of Rays; and the lefs Rays Black has, by {0 Jeaft one fingle Ray to the Eye; and by fo many the more there are of thofe Rays, by {> much the more fuch Colours come nearer to Light itfelf, which as thefe Parts are more fubtil and refin’d, is the more dazzling. And in like manner the darker Colours, by how much the more they are compofedeither of more triangular Parts, or as the Parts that Red is the medium Colour between thefe two Extremes; becaufe it contains as much Force of the one as the other : But Ye//ow contains more of the White, and Blue moreofthe Black. Green is a Compound of Yellow and Blue; for if a Piece of Live GlafS be laid upon a Piece of yellow Glafs, and fo placed between the Eye and the Object, whatfoever it is that point of Magnitude, by fo muchthey become more fenfibly obfcure, It may be farther obfery’d, that Heat and (@ojd do neceffarily refult from Light and Darkne{s; the more moderate Points of which are Yeliow and Blue, which together produce Green; and that feems to be the moft prevailing Colour of the Barth. ; It is alfo remarkable, that in the growing compofe themtend towardsthe laft conceivable making every Experiment and Obfervation, that as his Confequences are juftly and eafily drawn, fo his Premifes or Faéts may bejude’d The Definition ofits adhering by fome of bodythat will be at Pains to make its Parts to another Body, is very proper ; for of by any Experiments ; which are moft of them very we know of no Plant that is fo abfolately the eafy and fimple. vague and fluctuating, but has ftill a Bodyit His Account of every thing is written in adheres to; tho’ that Body may be various, fuch an intelligible Manner, that the e.g. Earth, as in our commonPlants; Stone, tive Reader is capable of underftan as in Rock Plants; Water, as in Sea Plants ; . without being puzzled with perplex’d C Air, as in fome Mucilages. Exper tions and compl s, which Authors As to thofe few Plants that appear to float have fomet ex contri iment imes v’d in order to beadwith the Water, their Manner of Growthis mired for thofe Thing which they them({ élves fomewhat anomalous: Monfieur Zournefort found out, either by s mere Chanc e, or with has fhewn, That all Plants do not arife ftriétly He has illuftrated, and very little Labou from Seeds ; but that fome, inftead of Semen put paft all Doubtr: fevera Truth menti on’d l s , depofite orlet fall a little Drop of Juice, which in Sir J/aac Newto ; which tho’ beQueri is feen through them, will appear green. of Plants, the fame Plants do, from time to the Bottom, or fome Rock, €c. in its Way, them pafs befide it; and fuch are the Drops reafonably imagine, that the brighteft Sorts of the Infide of the primary Bow, and on the of them do confift of fmaller Globes than thofe the Rays apt to appear red to the Spectators in this Form, everyfingle Globe will fend at much the obfcurerit is. * But other Colours are not fo inclineable to time, alter and change their Colours, as the unite as Blue and Yellow ; and for thisa good Reafon maybe given, becaufe the Parts ofall other fuch like Mixtures are different in Proportion ; and while there is any one Colour predominant, there can be no Union. -Veffels which are in thofe Shoots grow larger= The Leaves are of a faint Yellow when they. are in their fmaller State ; but they become OE a bright Green, or fometimes Red, when they are in their middle State ; but whentheir V el- Father Niccron fays, That Red is produc’d {elsare enlarged to their full Growth, they be- by an equal Interruption and Continuation of come of a dark Green, and then change to Rays ; as if we fuppos’d three continued Rays, a Feuillemort Colour towards Autumn, from and three Points of the Objec& which were dark: And this Suppofition might give us to believe, that all Colours were compofed of White the ripening of their Juices; from Cisne Putrefaction, which refolyesit felf again inte Earth, its firft Principle. and Black ; thatis to fay, of certain Proportions of h Light and Darkne/s: and nothing that VASCULIFEROUS PLANTS are aus is 2e//ow is equally diftant from Whiteand Red, whofe Seeds are contain’d in Veflels which are finking in the Water, by its Gravity reaches to which it fticks, ftrikes Root, and fhoots into Branches: Such is the Origin of Coral, To which may be added, That a Root of a Plant may have any Situation at Pleafure with refpeét to the Body thereof; nor needs it be either loweft or higheft, €c. Accordingly, in Coral, Moffes, Fungus’s, &c. the Root is frequently uppermoft, and its Growth downwards. VEGETABLES arenatural Bodies, having Parts organically form’d, but without Senfation, VEGETABLE STATICKS, fignifies the The Reverend Mr. Hales has follow’d his Steps, aflerting nothing but what is evidentls deduc’d from thofe Experiments, which he carefully made, and faithfully related ; giy an exact Account ofthe Weights, Meafures, Powers andVelocities, and other Circumftances of the Things he obferv’d; with fo plain a Defcription of his Apparatus, and manner of es n’s is lieved by fome of our eminent Philofop were call'd in Queftion byothers of an inferior Clafs, who were not acquainted with thofe Faéts and Experiments upon which Sir J/: Newton had built thofe Queries. An Abftraéct of each Headis as follows. I. Experiments, fhewing the Que Moifture imbibed, and perfjured by P Trees. The Author having cover’d, with Mill’d, Lead, a Garden-Pot, in which a Sun-f was growing, {fo as to leave only one Paflage for Air to communicate, aud er to pour in Water to water the Plant, made feveral curious Expe |
