( im ) 



tfeat in every one of thofe feeds there is as much perfedlon as in an 

 entire Fig-tree ; and, therefore, it is very probable, tliat people 

 comparing thefe feeds or grains in Figs, by reafon of their fmall- 

 nefs, with lice, firfl broached the idea that lice can be bred from 

 Figs. 



• Plate XIV, fig. 23, ABC, reprefents the kernel or internal part, 

 taken out of the hard fliell of one of thofe feeds, which we obferve 

 in great numbers in every Fig. A B is that part of the kernel to 

 which the firing or ligament by which the feed received its nouriih- 

 ment was fixed. That part from which the root and trunk of the 

 tree would proceed, is fituated from A towards C ; but the leaves 

 of the young plant lie from C towards B. Every one of thefe 

 grains or feeds in a Fig is diftincl from the reft, being as it were 

 furrounded with its own proper membrane ; fo that we may be 

 certain that every feed, while in the Fig, is provided with two fti'ings 

 or ligaments, deftined for its nourifliment, namely, one that nou- 

 rilhes the hard fhell, and the other that brings nourilliment to the 

 kernel within the Ihell. 



At ^^. 24, DEFG, is feen the young plant taken out of the 

 ieed of the Fig; and in this figure, EFG, denote the two leaves ; 

 and G D E, that part which would grow to the root and ftem or 

 trunk. But it muft be obferved, that tliis young plant does not 

 conftitute the whole kernel of this .feed, but that the young plant 

 (befides the membrane which furrounds it) is partly enveloped 

 with a certain kind of fubliancc, from which it receives fupport 

 and growth, until the root is grown long enough to extract nou- 

 rilliment from the earth. All the fpace in the figure, between 

 FDG, was filled with this fubllance. 



Now, if we attentively confidcr and obferve the membrane which 

 furrounds this kernel, we Ihall not only fee a great number of cx- 

 celiively minute veflels, but an incredible quantity of dots or cavi- 

 ties in it, fo that, in a word, if it were poffible to dive into all the 

 bidden parts of this feed, nothing \\ ould be feen but wonders and 



