352 M E M O I R S of the 
had ff en it in fome parts of France, a great many leagues from 
fuch placevS : There are likewile many plants with feed-veflels fo 
contrived, that when ripe, with a fpring and Ibmerimes a brifk 
nolle, they throw oiT their feeds feveral ways to a confiderable 
diftancej moft plants that have pods, as furze, ^c. thole called 
JSIoli me tangere, Cucummis AfininuSy cranes-bill and feveral others 
have this mechanifm in order to fow themfelves ; amongft thofe 
that have this property, none is more furprifing than one in Ja- 
maica called fpirit-weed ^ that the veflel containing its leed, when 
ripe, upon the lead touch of whatever is wet, does open itfelf in- 
ftantly, and with a noife throws its feed feveral ways to a con- 
fiderable diftance ; the defign of nature being, it is likely, to 
keep the feed in its feed-veffel, the beft prefer ver of it from in- 
juries, till the rainy feafon comes on which is proper for fowing; 
ZychntSy poppies, Antirhinnum's, and feveral others have their 
leeds in heads, which when ripe are open a-top^ and by the 
winds, and with the help of their partitions are fcattered and di- 
reeled to all quarters^ thefe and a great many more inftances, 
very obvious and wonderful, tho' not taken notice of, fhew the 
great endeavours of nature to perfe6l the individuum and propa- 
gate the kind 5 which for that reafon, Dr. Sloa7ie was apt to 
think, are all without the lofs of one fpecies, preferved to us 
from the creation to this day. 
A Fcetus khm wit bout the Uterus in the Selly 5 Ipy Dr, Fern. 
Phil.Tranf. N° 251. p. 121. 
AGoldfmith*s wife, near nine months gone with her 5th 
child, was received into the Hotel UJieu, being then about 
54 years of age, and of a tender conftitution^ the midwife, who 
examined her body, found a confiderable tumor on the right fide 
near the navel, which very much refembled a child's head, her 
belly below that place bearing no proportion to that above, or to 
the time of her pregnancy 3 on the left fide there was nothing fin- 
gular; the patient told her midwife, that for the firfl fix vveeks 
after her being with child, /he had great and continual pains, 
which (hot towards the navel and terminated there 5 and thefe 
lafted 'till the third month ^ that from thence to the fixth /lie had 
frequent convulfions, apoplectic fits and terrible Syncope'^, fo 
that thole about her deipaired cf her life 3 that from the fixth to 
the eighth month fhe had enjoved a much better flate of health, 
which in fome meafure had ftrengthned both her and her in- 
fant, that the pains ihe had endured fincc that time icemed 
to be fo many alternate throws, probably proceeding from the 
repeated 
