Of Vegetation. 327 



a pofitlon, or a too luxurious ftate are Un- 

 fruitful, <viz. becaufc, being in thefe cafes 

 more replete with moifture, they cannot im- 

 bibe fo ftrongly from the air, as others do> 

 that great blefling 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 co- 

 lours of flowers be owing in a good mea- 

 fure to the fame original 5 for it is a known 

 obfervation, that a dry foil contributes much 

 more to their variegation than a ftrong moift 

 one docs. 



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 5 for Sir Ifaac Newton, 

 puts it as a very probable query, " Are 

 " not grofs bodies and light convertible into 

 " one another > and may not bodies receive 

 " much of their activity from the particles 

 " of light, which enter their compofition } 

 fC The change of bodies into light, and of 

 " light into bodies, is very conformable to 

 " the courfe of nature, which feems de- 

 £ lighted with transmutations. Opt, qu. 30/' 

 Y 4 B* 



