Of Vegetation. 319 



Experiment CXXII. 



That the Leaves and Stems of Plants do 

 imbibe elaftick air, there is fome reafon to 

 iuipeft, from the following Experiment, 

 which, in the firft Edition of this Book, I 

 mentioned as not made with accuracy enough; 

 but I have iince repeated it with greater ac- 

 curacy, viz. June 29. I fet a well-rooted 

 plant of Pepper-mint in a glafs-ciftern full of 

 earth, and then poured in as much water as 

 it would contain ; over this glafs-ciftern I 

 placed an inverted glafs z z y a a> as in Fig. 

 2$. the water being drawn up by means of 

 a fyphon to a a. At the fame time alfo I 

 placed in the fame manner another inverted 

 glafs z z y a a, of equal fize with the former, 

 but without any plant under it: the capacity 

 of thefe veflels above the water a a was equ.al 

 to 49 cubick inches. In a month's time the 

 Mint had made feveral weak (lender moots, 

 and many fmall hairy roots (hot out at i:he 

 joints that were above water, occasioned pro- 

 bably by the great moifture of the air, in 

 which the plant flood ; half the leaves of the 

 old item were now dead ; but the leaves and 

 item of the young (hoots continued green 



mod 



