hy the Mud of the Nile. 49 



By feveral Experiments made upon Vegetation \ it appears Few or no 

 that Earth (commonly fo called) or Mould is verv little con- ticks con- 



1 • 1 /-I • TTT 1 • 1 • •' 1 -i • fumed in Ve- 



cerned in the Operation ; Water being the principal, and, ing^tauon. 

 EfFe£t, the only Agent ; a certain genial and proper Warmth 

 being ftill fuppofed to accompany it. For, that Water alone 

 may be fufficient for this Purpofe, appears from hence, that, 

 from it. Salt % Spirit, Earth, and even Oyl may he produced. 

 And again \ fair Water may, hy the feminalTrinciple of Mint, 

 *Pompions and other Vegetahles, he converted into Bodies an- 

 fwerahle to their Seeds. And again % in Tlants, of the variotis 

 Corpufcles found in the Liquors of the Earth and agitated hy 

 the Heat of the Sun and Air, thofe that happen to he commen- 

 f urate to the Tores of the Root, are impelled into it, or imhihed 

 hy it, and thence conveyed to other Tarts of the Tree, in Form 

 of Sap, which pajjing through new Strainers, receives the Al- 

 terations requifite to their Converfton into Wood, Bark, Leaves 

 Blojfoms, Fruit &c. By this Account, the greateft Tree waftes 

 no more of the Earth or Soil wherein it grows, than the fmal- 

 leftThiftle ; the Earth ferving, all along, as a proper Support, 

 Defence or Covering only for the Root ; or elfe, as a conve- 

 nient Strainer and Corrector of the nutritive and vegetative 

 Fluid. 



Nay, upon a Suppofition, that fome vegetative Particles were '^^'^ ^^s^- 



■1 1 '1 - 1 • c J- /I -11 tative Pani- 



lodged in this Sediment, (and we will fuppofe a great many)'^^" ^^^^ "p 



yet, how infinitely fmall muft they needs be, to be able to enter 



into thefe Roots, and to be conveyed through thefe delicate 



Strainers. They, of what fubtle Subftance foever they may 



confift, are rather the Objeds of our Reafoning Faculties, than 



of the Eye or the Touch ; and confequently, what I>ofs or 



Confumption foever may be made of Them, it will fcarce, if 



at all, be perceived in that great Mafs of Matter, from whence 



they were fecreted. 



But we fee, continues this Author, (p. 15-1.) that the Ground The Ground 



vifihly finks, where Vegetahles are produced and taken away, there vege- 

 tables grow. 



1 Vid. Bop\ Works abiidg'd, Vol. III. p. 282 &c. 



2 U. ibid. p. 287. 293. 



3 li. ibid. p. 340. 



4 U. Vol. I. p. 440. Vid. Philojoph. Traufan. Vol. ^7. p. 418. where Bulbs arc faid not 

 to growlo well in muddy Water, as in clear. The known Experiment of railing SalUts 

 &c. upon Flannel &c. flievvs how little concern Earth has to do in Vegetation. 



N and 



