Of Vegetation. 34? 



Dr. Keil/ y in his account of animal fecre- 

 tion, page 49. obferves, that where Nature 

 intends to feparate a vifcid matter from the 

 blood, (he contrives very much to retard its 

 motion; whereby the inteftine motion of the 

 blood being allayed, its particles can the bet* 

 ter coalefce, in order to form the vifcid fecre- 

 tion. And Dr. Grew, before him, obferved 

 an inftance of the fame contrivance in Veire- 

 tables, where a fecretion is intended, that is 

 to cornpofe a hard fubftance, viz. in the ker- 

 nel or feed of hard ftone fruits, which does 

 not immediately adhere to, and grow from 

 the upper part of the ftone, which would be 

 the fhorteft and neareft way to convey nou- 

 rifhment to it ; but the fingle umbilical vef- 

 fel, by which the kernel is nourished, fetches 

 a compafs round the concave of the ftone, 

 and then enters the kernel near its cone; by 

 which artifice this vefTel being much pro- 

 longed, the motion of the fap is thereby re- 

 tarded, and a vifcid nutriment conveyed to 

 the feed, which turns to hard fubftance. 



The like artifice of Nature we may obferve 

 in the long capillary fibrous veiTels, which lie 

 between the green hull and the hard (hell of 

 the Walnut, which are analogous to the 

 fibrous Mace of Nutmegs, the ends of whofe 



Z 4. hairy 



