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Show ( 2C ] O'er each wann wall while Cerea Rings her arms, And \valles on night's dull eye a blaze of charms. 2 • " R ound her tall-E,lm with dewy fingers twme The gadding t ndrils of the ad venturous ·Yine ; From arm to arm in gay t fioons fufpend Fier fragrant B.o"ers, her graceful foliage bend ; Swell with fweet =uice her vermil orbs and feed Sl1ri1:ed in tranfparent pulp her pearly fe d ; H2ng round the Orange all h r G.h-er bells, And guard her fragrance with Hefperian fpe h ; Bud after bud her poliih' d lea yes unfold, An8. load her brand e~ \-ri -h fu,..ceffive gold. the!r Oee?, an:l thus preclu~!~g that fde of tbe,m from both li.gbt an:l 1.:-. And from mmy fl.o>A"ers clof.ng t:p the pvli!hed cr intericr fide of their pe•~';, 'hich ve h:tve a:fo cde::tvoured to !hew to he a refpi~Jtory or;:m. The irritability of plmts is ::.vuml.an:ly e>.nced by tk abfc-;-p·ion and puh:wn:.;:.· ciJ-CLb. tion of th~ir juices ; thei:- f.~n ~:,·. ity is lhe·wn by t~c appro:1ches of :.:,e :n:1 es ro ·1e females, and of the fem:>lts to the m 1 s tn numerous ia. ru::e ; an~ ;;.s t e e:ft.:ui:ll cir.::umfuace of fieep COOUfl:s in the ter:';>Orary Jbv!iti 0 of vo]un~~-y p:> er a\o~:.-, t..~ 11eep of pbnts evmces th:n hey p o~ [s vo~· n~ary po"Y r ; \>!lich alfo ind i ~ t:ta , ppears in many of them by clo!ing their peta!s or th::ir lea\ es dur:ng o: , r r:::!), r d:trk..nefs, or from mechani Yiolence. [ 209 ] Bo the· learn' d: Alchemifi exulting fees Rife in his bright matrafs D IANA's trees Drop after drop, with jufi delay he pours The red-fumed acid on PotoG.'s ores ; With fudden flafh the fierce bullitions rife, And wide in air the g as phlogifl:ic flies ; Slow !hoot, at length, in n1any a brilliant mafs. Metallic roots acrofs the netted glafs ; 570 575 D iana's trees. l. 570. T he chemifls and :J flronomcrs from the earliefl: antiquity have ufed the fame chara cters to reprefent the. metals and the planets, which were moll: proprobably outlines or abfl:raCl:s of the original hieroglyphic figures of Egypt. Thefe afterwards acquired niches-in their temples, and reprefented Gods as well as metals and planets : whence fi lver is called Diana, or the moon, in the books of alchemy. The procefs for making Diana's filver tree is thus dcfcribed by Lemeri. Diffolve one ounce of pure fi lver in ac id of nitre very pure and moderately !hong; mix this folution with about twenty ounces of diflilled water; add to this two ounces of mercury, a nd let it remain at refl:. In about four days there will form upon the mercury a tree of filvcr with branches imitating vegetation. 1. As the mercury has a greater affinity than ftl\'er with the nitrous acid, the filver becomes preci pitated; and, being deprived of the nitrous oxygene by the mercury, finks down in its metallic form and lufl:re. 2. The attraCl:ion between filv er and mercury, which caufes them readily to amalgamate together, occalions the precipitated filver to adhere to the furface of the mercmy in pn_ference to any other part of the veffcl. 3· The attraction of the particles of the precipitated lil ver to each other caufes the beginning branches to thicken and elongate into tre sand !hrubs rooted on the mercury. For other c ircumfl:ances concerning this beautiful experiment fee Mr. K eir's Chemical DiCl ionary, art. Arbor D iana:; a work perhaps of grea ter utility to mankind than the lofl: Alexandrian Library ; the continuation of whi ch is fo eagerly expeCled by all, who are. o::cup ied in the arts, or at tached to the fcitn ces. E e |