PHOGNOSTICS CONTINUED. 



close shut up, it betokens rain and foul wea- 

 ther: if they are spread abroad, fair weather. 

 Ger. Herb. Lib. 2. 



Est et alia (arbor in Tylis) similis, foliosior ta- 

 men, roseicjue Jf.oris ; quern iioctu comprimens ape- 

 rire indpit soils exhort u, meridie expandit. In- 

 cola dormire eumdicunt. Pliu. Nat. Hist. Lib. 

 10 f . a 



1 *j. L-. ^. 



The stalk of trefoil, my Lord Bacon observes, 

 swells against rain, and grows more upright : 

 and the like may be observed, though not so 

 sensibly, in the stalks of most other plants. 

 He adds, that in the stubble-fields, there is 

 found a small red flower, called by the country 

 people Kincop.'pe : which, opening in the morn- 

 ing, is a sure indication of a fine day. 



That vegetables should be affected by the 

 same causes that affect the weather, is very 

 conceivable ; if we consider them as so many 

 hygrometers and thermometers, consisting of 

 an infinite number of trachea? or air vessels; 

 by which they have an immediate communica- 

 tion with the air, and partake of its moisture 

 and heat, &c. These tracheae are very visible 

 in the leaf of the scabiose, vine, &c. 



Hence it is, that all wood, even the hardest 

 and most solid, swells in moist weather ; the 

 vapours easily insinuating themselves into the 

 pores thereof, especially of that which is light- 

 est and driest. And hence we derive a very 

 extraordinary use of wood, viz. for breaking 

 rocks and mill-stones. The method at the 

 quarries is this: Having cut a rock into a cy- 

 linder, they divide that into several lesser cylin- 

 ders, by making holes at the proper distances 

 round the great one : these holes they fill with 

 so many pieces of sallow w*ood ; dtied in an oven ; 



