184 STUDIES OF NATURE. 



lea: into globules, like the particles of quick- 

 filver. Nay, there are fome which it is extremely 

 difficult to moiften, fuch as the ftems of many 

 fpecies of capillary plants. The laurel, we are told, 

 carries it's repulfive quality to fuch a degree, as to 

 repel the thunder. If this quality, fo highly ex- 

 tolled by the Ancients, is really pofTeffed by the 

 laurel, we muft, undoubtedly, afçribe this to it's 

 nature as a fluviatic plant. The laurel grows in 

 abundance on the banks of the rivers of Theflaly. 

 A traveller, whofe name is the Sieur de la Guille- 

 tière % fays, in a relation written in a very lively 

 and agreeable manner, that he never faw any 

 where fuch fine laurels as along the fide of the river 

 Peneus. Hence, perhaps, was fuggefted the idea 

 of the metamorpofis of Daphne, the daughter of 

 that river-deity, transformed by Apollo into a 

 laurel. 



This repulfive property of certain trees, and of 

 fome aquatic plants, induces me to think that they 

 might be employed around our habitations, as a 

 fecurity againft thunder-ftorms, and that in a man- 

 ner more certain, and much mors agreeable, than 

 electrical conductors, which diffipate, only by at- 

 tracting them to the neighbourhood. They might 

 farther be very advantageouily employed for drying 



* See the Voyage to Lacedemon, by the Sieur de la Guilletibe. 



mardi 



