iiS ^/; ESS AY Chap. 3. 



Land in and about London is not altogether 

 owing to the Nature of the Soil, and what 

 Improvements they add by fpreading Manure 

 over it, but to the Sulphureous Particles that 

 afcend from this great Metropolis into the 

 Air 5 after which Sublimation and Incorpora- 

 tion with the Aqueous Bodies, there they are 

 ftript of their fiery Nature, and defcend and 

 fertilize the Lands that lie underneath 3 and 

 this, fay they, feems to be the reafon that the 

 Lands Eaftward of the City are richer than 

 thofe Weftward, inafmuch as the Weft Winds 

 being more general in that Pofition, bear them 

 Eaftward, where being wafti'd down by the 

 Rain, they fertilize the Earth in a very won- 

 derful manner. 

 Viff'^rerip There appears to have been fome Difputes 

 ?f ft"X among Naturalifts, from what it is that Plants 

 ture'and particularly receive their Nutriment ^ the 

 yfc of W(i- Antients feem to opine, that the Earth only 

 ''^^' was the Matter that conftituted all Vegetables 



as well as Animal Bodies 5 and that Water, 

 &c. fervid only for the Conveyance and Di- 

 stribution of that Matter, in order to the 

 tbrmuig and compoling of them. 



But fome of the Moderns have afcribed it 



(perhaps with too much Hafte) all to Watery 



My hH and my Lord Bacon is of the Opinion, (b) 



^ovrtl Bjr ]or the 'NouriJIment o[ Vegetables, the Wa- 



'"''^ ' ter IS all in all 1 and that Earth doth but keep 



ib) Lord Bacon*i mt. ffift. Cent. 5- §» 4i i • 



