328 Of Vegetation. 



others do, that] great bleffing, the dew of 

 Heaven. 



And as the moft racy generous taftes of 

 fruits, and the grateful odours of flowers, 

 do not improbably arife from thefe refined 

 aereal principles, fo may the beautiful colours 

 of flowers be owing, in a good meafure, to 

 the fame original -, for it is a known obfer- 

 vation, that a dry foil contributes much more 

 to their variegation, than a ftrong moift one 

 does. 



And may not Light alfo, by freely entring 

 the expanded furfaces of leaves and flowers^ 

 contribute much to the ennobling the prin- 

 ciples of Vegetables ? For Sir Ifaac Newton 

 puts it as a very probable query, " Are not 

 " grofs bodies and Light convertible into 

 €C one another ? And may not bodies receive 

 ic much of their activity from the particles 

 « of Light, which enter their compofition ? 

 <l The change of bodies into light, and of 

 < c light into bodies, is very conformable to 

 u the courfe of nature, w T hich feems delighted 



u*ith tranfmutations. Opt, ^'.30." 



E x p E- 



