©N THE COROLLAS OF FLOWFllS. 17| 



petals, and touch not on the cryptogamiae, or any that pOi- 



ses8 not those direct parts- 

 Taking the corolla of flowers in this strict sense, they Five >iniis. of 



may be divided into live different sorts: the thin petal, such <^°'o^^*- 



as the rosa ; the n»oist petal as found in the hyacinthu9 \ the 



velvet denoted by the viola tricolor^ and sweet scabious ; 



the thick petal by the magnolia and lilium ; and lastly, the 



everlasting-, by the xerHnthemum. 



The petals of most flowers differ from leaves in many re- petal» differ 



gpects, but particularly in one essential point; in leaves the from leaves im 

 1 1 . • .J J .u 1 / r *u ''^eir colour 



coloured part is within, and the upper skm (even ot the ^ej,j_ externals 



darkest leaves) is white ; but in flowers, the coloured part 



is without, and the white is within ; for almost every flower 



(the orange excepted) have their pabulum or interior 



white. 



Most thin petals (which I shall first describe), have, like jj^j^^ ^^j^ 



the rose, when its upper surface is peeled off and examined, j, ^ 



an extremely thin skin, in which are tiny bladders of pink 



liquid, woven in a sort of gauselike texture. But when 



this is taken off, it displays a pabulum of white or rather 



water bubbles, to which nature, (to lessen the brightness,) 



has added two circular white lines, which give a tenderness 



to the pink impossible to describe. The common violet is ^, 



- , . , .111 , The common 



Tormeu in the same manner; but the darker colour and violet. 



thicker skin lesssen the sparkling of the water. 



To prove that bubbles of water are the cause of the £xp«?r5mem to 



beauty that flowers generally transmit, either in vivid flashes, show how 



or tender tints, to the retina; take the dullest colour that "'"^'\'^?^°"''*, 



are brightened 

 was ever painted, and, tilling a small glass bubble with wa- by the sun's 



ter, let the rays of the sun fall through it on the colour, '^^^ transmit. 

 and it will become the brightest and most beautiful imar water, 

 ginable; and exactly resemble the tint of flowers. It was 

 this discovery, that made me more than live years ago dedi- 

 cate a whole summer to dissecting the petals of flowers, 

 which I suspected to be beautilied and enlivened by water, 

 I then proved my ideas were just, that their tints were 

 formed by colours transmitted through water, and like 

 clouds and the rainbow owed their perfection to this cause ; 

 but 1 bhall recur to this subject at the conclusion of my 

 letter. 



Ti»« 



I 



