I 



A 



June, It continued in a reforbing (late, fo as to rcforb 

 1 3 cubic inches : that there were at that feafon many 

 hot days, with much thunder and lightning, which 

 uellroys the elafticity of the air: there were generated 

 in all 4S9 cubic inches, of which 48 were abforbed. 

 The liquor was at laft vapid. 



On the 10th of Auguft, 26 cubic inches of Apples 

 being maihed, they generated 9S6 cubic inches of air 

 in 13 days time, which is a quantity equal to 48 times 

 their bulk *, after which they reforbcd a quantity equal 

 to their bulk, in three or four days, notwithftanding 

 the weather was then very hot ; after which time they 

 were llacionary for many days, neither generating nor 

 abiorbing. 



From which before-mentioned experiments on Raifins 

 and ale, tlie ingenious author concludes, that wine 

 and ale do not turn vapid in warm weather by Im- 

 bibing the air, but by fermenting and generating too 

 much ; by which means they are deprived of their 

 enlivening principle the air : for which reafon, thefe 

 liquors are belt preferved in cool cellars, whereby this 

 aftive invigorating principle is kept within due 

 bounds ; which when they exceed, wines are upon 

 the fret, and are in danger of being fpoilcd. 

 Upon thefe, and many other experiments, which the 

 learned author has given in his aforefaid treatife, he 

 obferves, that this air which arifes in fo great quan- 

 tities from fermenting and difiblving vegetables, is 

 true permanent air; which is certain, by its continuing 

 in the fame expanded and elaftic flate for many weeks 

 and months; which expanded watery vapours will not 

 do, but foon condenfe when cold. 

 Upon the whole, he concludes, that air abounds in 

 vegetable fubftances, and bears a confiderable part in 

 them : and if all the parts of matter were only en- 

 dowed with a ftrongly attracting power, all nature 

 would then immediately become one unaftivQ co- 

 hering lump. 



Wherefore it was abfolutely neceflTary, in order to the 

 a^ftuating this vaft mafs of attracting matter, that there 

 lliould be every where mixed with it a due proportion 

 of ftrongly-rcpelling elaftic particles, which might 



enliven the v^hole mafs by tlie inccflant action between 

 them and the attracting particles. 



And fince thefe elaftic particles are continually in 

 great abundance reduced by the power of the ftrong 

 attraCters, from an elaftic to a fixed ftate, it was there- 

 fore neceftary that thefe particles Ihould be endued 

 with a property of reluming their elaftic ftate, when- 

 ever they were difengaged from that mafs in which 

 they were fixed, that thereby this beautiful frame of 

 things might be maintained in a continual round of 

 the production and difiblution of vegetables as well as 

 animal bodies. ' 



The air is very inftrumental in tlie production and 

 growth of vegetables, both by invigorating their fe- 

 veral juices, while in an elaftic aCtive ftate, and alfo 

 by greatly contributing in a fixed ftate, to the union 

 and firm connexion of the feveral conftltuent parts of 

 thofe bodies, viz. their water, fire, fait, and earth. 

 To conclude, by reafon of thofe properties of the air 

 before-mentioned, it is very ferviceable to vegetables, 

 in that it blows up and bct^aks open the clouds, 

 thofe ti'eafures of rann, which fertilize the vegetable 

 kind. ' - • ' 





into the earth, it is eafy to be concluded, that a dr)% 

 huflcy, fcorching air, may be very prejudicial to tl 

 tender fibres of nev^/ planted trees. 

 It may be likewife iuppofcd, that all bodies of eartli 

 arc more or leis capable of imbibing the fluid air, and 

 of attracting fuch ialts as either the air can give, or 

 the earth is capable of receiving. 



A I Z O O N. Scmpervive. 



This name Dr. Linntrus has given to a plant near of 

 kin to the Ficoides, which has been called Ficoideaj 

 by fome modern botanifts. 



The Characters are, 

 It hath a permanent empalement of one leaf, "ivhicb is cut 

 into Jive acute fegments at the top : there are no petals in 

 the flower y but the five-ccrnered gcrmen refls on the em- 

 pakmenty fupporting five ftyles^ which are crowned with 

 fimple fligma \ thefe are attended by many hairy ftamina, 

 which arc inferted into the crapalcment^ and are crowned 



• with JifUple fummits. 7he germen afterward becomes a 

 frselling five-cornered capfuky having five cellsy in which 



. are lodged many roundifij feeds. 

 This o;cnus of plants is by Dr. Linnxus ranged in 



. the fiifi: divifion of his twelfth clafs, entitled Icofandria 

 Pentagynia, the flowers of this clafs having more than 

 nineteen ftamina, and in this divifion they have five 



ftyles. 



The SpFxiEs are, 



1. AizocN {Canarienfe) fofiis cuneiformi-ovatis floribus , 



fefiilibus. Hort. Upfal. 127. Sempervive with oval 

 wcdgc-floaped leaves^ andficzvcrs witbctit foct-ficlks. Fi- 

 coidea procumbens portulac^ folio. Niftbl. ACt. Par. 



1711. " 



2. AizooN [Hifpanicum) foliis lariceolatis floribus fefllli- 



bus. Lin. Sp. Plant. 488. Sempervive with fpear- 

 fijaped leaves and flowers^ having nofoot-ftalks. Ficoidea 

 Hifpanica annua folio longiore. Hort. Elth. 143. 



3. AizooN {Paniculatum) foliis lanccolatis floribus pani- 

 ciilatis. Lin. Sp. PL 448. Sempervive with fpear-fbaped 

 leaves and fl.owers growing in panicles, . Aizoon foliis 

 lanceolatis fubtus hirfutis. Prod. Leyd. 221. 



As we have no Englifii names for thefe plants, fo I 

 have adopted this of Sempervive, which hath been 

 applied to the Aloe and Sedum, both v/hich have 

 been alfo titled Aizoon and Sempervivum. 

 The firft fort is a native of the Canary Iftands : this 

 is an annual plant, which muft be raifed on a mode- 

 rate hot-bed in the fpring •, and when the plants are 

 fit to tranfplant, they fliould be carefully taken up, 

 and planted each into a fmall pot filled with frefli light 

 earth, and plunged into another moderate hot-bed, 

 obferving to fliade them from the fun until they have 

 taken frelh root^ after which they muft be hardened 

 by degrees to bear the open air, into which they 

 ftaould be removed in June, placing them' in a fnel- 

 tered fituation, where they will flower, and ripen their 

 feeds in September, loon after which the plants will 

 perifti. 



The fecond fort grows naturally in Spain -, this is alfo 

 an annual plant, whole branches trail on the ground; 

 the flowers have no bc-auty, fo thefe plants are only 

 prefei"ved by thofe who are curious in collecting rare 

 plants for the fake of variety. 



The third fort grows naturally at the Cape of Good 

 Hope, from whence the feeds were brought to Europe. 

 This is alfo of humble growth, and perilhes foon after 

 the feeds are ripe. 



Thefe may be propagated in the fame manner as the 

 firft, and when the plants have acquired ftrength, they 

 may be planted in the full ground ; but they require 

 a poor fandy foil, for in rich ground they will grow 

 very luxuriant in branches, but will not flower till late 

 in the feafon, fo rarely perieCt their feeds ; but when 

 they are planted in dry fand, or lime rubbifli, they 

 will be more productive of flowers, and lefs vigorous 

 in their branches. 



+ 



ALA is the hollow of a ftalk, v^hich either the leaf, 

 or the pedicle of the leaf, makes with the ftalk or 

 branches ; or it is that hollow finus placed between 

 the ftalk or branch and leaf, from whence a new off^- 



The air alfo helps to waft or difperfe thofe foggy hu- 

 mid vapours which arife from the earth, and would 

 othenA'ife ftagnate, and poilbn the whole face of the 

 earth.. 



The air, by the afilftance of the fun, afllimes and 

 fublimates thofe vapours into the upper regions ; and 

 thefe'foggy humid vapour:s are, by this fublimation, 

 and the coercive power of the air and fun, rarefied 

 and made of fecond ufe in vegetation. 

 And on the contrary, to the benign quality of the air, 

 which is fo many ways fubfervicnt to vegetables, it 

 is alfo fometifnes, and upon fome accounts, injurious 

 and pernicious to them ; not only to the ligneous, 

 herbaceous, and flowery parts above, but alfo to the 



roots and fibres below : for in that the air penetrates I fpring is v/ont to put forth, which the French call 



- 7 Jifjelks 



