6l8 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [anNO I762. 



eggs from their final cause, which is to produce an offspring. He then cites a 

 passage from our Harvey to the same purpose. The author seems to have been 

 led into this confusion of ideas by the improper use of the word semen, or seed, 

 which is applied to the impregnating juice in animals, and to the parts which 

 contain the embryo in vegetables, which are by no means analogous; for the im- 

 pregnating dust in vegetables, answers to the impregnating juice in animals, 

 as it has a similar use; and the eggs in animals answer to what we call seeds in 

 plants. 



When the author asserts, in the 3d corollary, that there must be such a simi- 

 larity in all the parts of the fungi, that it is indifferent whether any part be 

 placed above or below, whether it communicates or receives nourishment, Mr. 

 H. supposes he draws this corollary from the 5th and 6th fungus; for in those 

 the upper fungus adheres only to the edge of the cap, or pileus, of the upper 

 surface of the cap of the lower fungus. The answer to this case, which was 

 before omitted, shall now be made; nor is it at all difficult, for it appears by Dr. 

 Hales's Vegetable Statics, experiment the 41st, fig. 24, that a tree inarched be- 

 tween 2 other trees, though its root be cut off, or dug out of the ground, w ill con- 

 tinue to grow; and that many trees will grow in an inverted state. In what res- 

 pect then do fungi differ from all other plants as to the similarity in all the 

 parts, &c..^ 



Lastly, when the author asserts, that every fungus is contained in an entire 

 and perfect state from the beginning in the egg, or as it is called, the seed, and 

 wants nothing but evolution, in order to imbibe the necessary juices; when the 

 author asserts this, he asserts nothing but what will be readily granted by every 

 one, who has read the observations made by modern philosophers, on this part 

 of nature; and the only difference between him and others is, that he confines 

 himself to one order of plants, what they imagine, from good reason, to be the 

 case of all ; and this seems likewise to be the case throughout the animal crea- 

 tion, with this difference only, that in some animals, some parts fall off entirely, 

 after a certain time, and a new form ensues; yet even here, all the forms pre- 

 ceding the last may, and perhaps ought, as has been observed by Linneus, to be 

 looked on as embryo states. 



On the whole, Mr. H. thinks the author seems inclined to invent a new hy- 

 pothesis, from a few insufficient data, rather than to be forced into it by any 

 leading phenomena, which ought to be very strong and convincing, to make us 

 give up an analogy, that is confined within such moderate bounds. However, 

 this ought not to prejudice us in regard to the latter part of his work; on the 

 contrary, it ought to give us a favourable opinion of him, as it shows his zeal 

 and application to this part of natural history. A man may be an excellent and 

 useful observer, and yet be a very indifferent natural philosopher. 



