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in that which immediately follows. Such is the nature 

 of the progression observed in the whole plant. 



IFbod, whose hardness is sometimes equal to that of 

 stone, is formed of a succession of concentric layers, 

 that are detached every year from the inside of the rind, 

 and harden as they advance in age. 



6. Vegetables multiply by seeds, shoots, and slips. 

 The -pistil and stamina are, to plants, what the organs 

 of generation are to animals ; the former incloses the 

 seed ; the fine powder of the latter fecundates it. 

 Both sexes are frequently united in the same subject ; 

 and these species are real hermaphrodites: others bear 

 the pistil on one branch, and the stamina on another. 

 A third sort are like the greater part of animals, distinct 

 males and females : the former afe furnished with a 

 pistil, and the latter with a stamina. This is all we 

 know with regard to the generation of plants. 



When the stamina are cut off, the seed remains un- 

 fruitful. The same thing happens when any one that 

 has pistils, has not, in its neighbourhood, another pro- 

 vided with stamina : the pistil is always so disposed as 

 to be able to receive the dust of the stamina. Its top 

 is perforated with holes, proportioned to the diameter 

 of the grains of this dust, and its inside is divided into 

 several canals, whose diameter diminishes the nearer they 

 approach to the bottom : at the base of the pistil the 

 seed is deposited. Every grain of the dust of the sta- 

 mina is a box, wherein floats, in a kind of very thin va- 

 pour, an infinite multitude of other very minute grains : 

 this box opens itself to the moisture, and discharges a 

 small mist of globules or grains. 



The shrinking of the trunks indicates that the COB- 

 taining globules do not reach to the bottom of the 

 pistil ; but the contained globules, or grains, are set at 

 liberty by the action of the moisture which the trunk 

 imbibes, which, by opening the little box that incloses 

 them, permits them, by this means, to penetrate to the 

 ovary, 



