64 FHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1703. 



Placing such a small plant as is represented at c in fig. 23, before a micro- 

 scope, I had it delineated, as seen in fig. 25, LMNOPa; where qllm is partly 

 that which nature intends for the body and root of the tree ; nop the leaves 

 with which the young plant is already provided; and op that part of the leaf 

 which is next the sight, and somewhat protuberant, by reason of the inclosed 

 smaller leaves, mn and pa show the two sides of the plant torn off from the 

 kernel, to which it was united, and from which it received its nourishment. I 

 also turned the young plant a little about, as it stood before the microscope, to 

 show the two largest leaves; whereas in the former position, I could see only 

 one of them. 



STv, fig. 26, represent the two great leaves in this position, between which, 

 according to all appearance, a great many small ones are shut up ; but when I 

 came to cut the leaves across, as they lay involved in the bed of the plant, I 

 imagined that I saw the said small leaves; and when I cut, after the same man- 

 ner, that part of the plant which is to be the body and root of the tree, I dis- 

 covered within the small particle that which was designed for the pith, and 

 even the wood itself, and all as plainly as if I had been observing with my naked 

 eye a young plant of an inch thick. 



wxYz, fig. 27, represent the texture of the pith, as it appeared ; where may 

 be observed a great many small particles, which at first sight one would be apt 

 to take for irregular globules, but placed in a right line, and all ef them of 

 greater length than breadth ; these I take to be nothing else but small tubes or 

 vessels, by which the plant receives its nourishment, and perhaps every one of 

 them is covered with a distinct membrane. These said parts, which compose 

 the pith of the plant, are not to be discovered, unless with a sharp knife you 

 cut oflf a piece from the seed, and place it immediately before the microscope ; 

 for all the moisture is so soon exhaled after it is cut, that one cannot possibly 

 make any observation. 



Moreover, for further satisfaction, on Nov. 19, I took a little copper-box, 

 and put into it some white scouring sand, very dry, but somewhat moistened by 

 the seeds I mingled with it, being newly taken out of an orange. Afterwards I 

 carried the box in the day-time in the fob, where I used to put my watch, and 

 all night I placed it within a large tin bottle, filled with warm water, and put into 

 my bed, by which means it was also kept warm till the morning ; and after re- 

 peating this for three days following, I opened the box, and took out one of 

 the seeds, but could not discover any change in it. But Nov. 25, about 6 

 o'clock in the evening, after the sand and the seeds had been 6 days in a con- 

 tinual warmth, I opened the box again, and observed that the root was shot 



