sago. L79 



bearing palm-tree, without any other prepa- 

 ration than that of stripping it of the bark and 

 fibrous parts : this pith is also esteemed very 

 nourishing, and is called the marrow of the 

 date-tree. 



The medulla, or pith of trees and plants, 

 is found most abundant in those that shoot 

 with the greatest force, as the elder, rasp- 

 berry, &c. It is composed of small transpa- 

 rent globes, originating and being connected 

 together in a similar manner to the froth or 

 bubbles of liquor ; it afterwards forms a kind 

 of spungy or floccose substance, and then 

 hardens into a consistence of a nature be- 

 tween meal and gum. 



As the analogy betwixt animal and vege- 

 table life has been so clearly shewn in many 

 instances, we may be best understood by com- 

 paring the pith in the latter to the marrow in 

 the former ; it having no more connection 

 with the sap of the tree, than the marrow of 

 animals has with their blood. Trees of slower 

 growth, whose roots are less powerful in the 

 operation of suction, have less pith ; the salts 

 of their juices being all more regularly con- 

 sumed through finer pores, for the nourish- 

 ment of branches, leaves, &c. 





