108 APPENDIX. 



plants, their principles are equally the same, that 

 is to say, they all alike draw their nourishment 

 by way of their roots, which nourishment is con- 

 veyed through proper vessels into the stem, the 

 branches, leaves, flowers, and fruit. 



" Now, that I may more easily explain by what 

 means every plant receives and distributes its 

 nourishment to the several parts of it, give me 

 leave to draw a parallel between plants and ani- 

 mals, that thereby the nature of plants may be 

 the better understood. ... I shall proceed to 

 explain, that the sap circulates in the vessels of 

 plants as the blood doth in bodies of animals ; 

 and that this new system may be the better un- 

 derstood, I think it proper in this place to give a 

 short description of the vessels in plants and their 

 situation. 



" First, then, the root of a plant is of a spongy 

 nature, ready to admit into it such humid par- 

 ticles as are fitted (in the earth, by a certain 

 temperature of air) to be received into its pores ; 

 and we may observe that the various qualities of 

 different plants depend chiefly on the different 



