STUDY XI. l8l 



We mud, at the fame time, be carefully on our 

 guard againft generalizing thefe means ; othervvife 

 they will quickly betray us into a mifapprehenfion 

 of her procedure. For example, certain Botanifts, 

 having fufpected that the leaves of fome plants 

 might very well be adapted for collecting the rain 

 water, believed that they had a perception of this 

 ufe in that of the dipjacus, or fullers-thiftle. It was 

 very eafy to fall into a miftake here, for the leaves 

 are oppofite, and meet at their bafes ; fo that after 

 it has rained, they prefent refervoirs, which con- 

 tain, one with another, a good half-glafs of water, 

 and which are difpofed in (lories along it's item. 

 But they ought to have confidered, firft, that the 

 dipfacus grows naturally on the brink of waters, and 

 that Nature does not beftow citterns of water on 

 aquatic plants. This would be, according to the 

 proverb, to carry water to the river. Secondly, 

 they might have obferved, that the tiers formed 

 by the oppofite leaves of the dipfacus, fo far from 

 being refervoirs, are, on the contrary, difchargers, 

 which convey off the rain water from it's roots, 

 to the diftance of nine or ten inches, on every 

 fide, by the extremities of it's leaves. They re- 

 femble, in fome refpe&s, the gutters which pro- 

 ject from the roofs of our houles, or-thofe which 

 are formed by the corners of our hats, which ferve 

 to carry away the rain water from the body, and 

 not to throw it inward. Befides, the water which 



n 2 remains 



