Chap. 23. ^ Treatife ^BODIES. 25i 



coming above ground, and being there expofed to funne and 

 wind, contra&eth thereby a hard and rough skinneon its out- 

 fide ; but within is more tender ; in this fort it dcfendeth it 

 fclffrom outward injuries of weather whiles it mouHteth : and 

 by thrufting other parts down into the earth, it holdeth it felf 

 ftedfaft, that although the wind may fliakc it, yet it cannot 

 overthrow it. The greater this plant groweth, the more juice 

 is dayly accrcwed unto it, and the heat is encrcafed ; and con- 

 fequently, the greater abundance of humours is continually 

 fent up. Which when it beginneth to cloggc at the top, new 

 humour prefling upwards, forceth a breach in the skinnej 

 and fb a new piece, like the main ftemme, is thru ft out and 

 beginneth on the fides, which we call a branch. Thus is our 

 plant amplified, till nature not being able dill to breed fuch 

 ftrong iflues, falleth to works of lefle labour, and pufheth forth 

 the mott elaborate part of the plants juice into more tender fub- 

 ftances:bur efpecially,at the ends of the branches ; where abun- 

 dant humour, but at the firft not well concerted, groweth into 

 thefhape of a button ; and more and better concerted humour 

 fucceeding, it groweth fofter and fbfter ( the funne drawing the 

 fubtilleft parts outwards,) excepting what the coldnefle of the 

 aire and the roughncfle of the wind do harden into an outward 

 skin. So then the next parts to the the skin are tender ; but the 

 very middle of this button muft be hard and dry, by rcafbn that 

 the fun from without,and the naturaJl heat within,drawing and 

 driving out the moyfture and extending it from the center, muft 

 needs leave the more earthy parts much ftirunk up and hardned 

 by their evaporating out from them: which hardning, being 

 an effect of fire withia and without, that baketh this hard fub- 

 ftance, incorporated much of it felf with it,as we have formerly 

 declared in the making of fait by force offire. This button, thus 

 dilated, and brought to this pafle, we call the fruit of the plant : 

 whofc harder part enclofeth oftentimes another not fo hard as 

 dry. The reafon whereof is becaule the outward hardnefle 

 permitteth no moyfture to foake in any abundance through 

 it; and then, that which is endofed in it, muft needs be much 

 dried ; though not fo much, but that it ftill rctaineth the 

 common nature of the plant. This drought maketh thefe 

 inner parts to be like a kind of duft ; or at the leaft, fuch as 



R 3 may 



