ss Tue VEGETABLE SYSTEM. 
old. We std Beet pesiiianiad' to reccive very different Plants from different places, and 
therefore fuppofed they produced only. different; and when we thought this of Europe 
and of Afia, we might very well believe it of America, even in refpect of-all the world. 
But it fhould have been confidered, that different countries might produce the fame Plants 
with our own, though we had not received them; and there was the more reafon to 
fuppofe this, becaufe as fingularity pointed out among many new. things which thould be 
collected, what was leaft like our own, was mott likely to be firft regarded. 
FARTHER refearches have fhewn, that howfoever different the climate may be in 
_ Europe and in Afia, yet there are Plants common to both. I have received this Xanthium 
from China; and Linneus declares it native of Ceylon, and of Japan. The Common 
Englifh Water Lilly, both the white and yellow, grow alfo in, the Eaft Indies; and the 
Common Arrowhead, is as frequent in Sumatra as. in England. It is fo with many other 
Water-Plants ; but not with all, nor is it limited to thefe: there is much more to be yet 
afferted concerning sic but let the truth, which is a ftranger, difplay itfelf by juft de- 
: grees. 
Ir fhould feem in the firft place, that there are a es number of univerfal Plants, 
which grow in every kingdom ; and are Vegetables of int Globe, not of this or that 
quarter of it. 
! 
We thall find moft of thefe to be the Plants, whok fituation renders'the power of Ele- 
ments almoft equal in whatever part they grow. The greater number of them are inha- 
bitants of high mountains and deep waters ; here the temper of the air is lefs altered by the 
climate, and we therefore may lefs wonder at feeing the fame Plants: but all that are 
common to fo remote regions, and fo differ ent climates, are not the natives of thefe pe- 
culiar places. The Xanthium, our prefent fubje&t, grows upon the rubbith about Can- 
ton, as freely as at Nottingham; nor is this a fingle inftance. 
THERE is a certain tract about the North Pole, wherein for the ees circuit, the fame 
Plants are found ; perhaps it is the fame about the South Pole, but the country is un- 
_ known. As it is hard to fay | how far North America extends, or what are the limits where 
it joins, if it does j join, with other northern countries ; we are accuftomed to call the ex- 
tream northern world, by a name deduced from its place, and to give one term to the 
extent of kingdoms this way, to whatever others they belong ; calling them the Polar 
Countries. If we examine the Vegetable products of thefe countries, we thall find them 
nearly the fame in all; and in a certain latitude, that- difference between America and 
) European Plants, which has been fancied fo abfolute, ceafes entirely. 
Tur Plants of the extream North, fo far as we know, are all the fame ; all low ; and all 
of what are ufually called the imperfeé& Kinds : From this Northern tract, where the cir 
cuit of the Globe is confined in very narrow Jimits, they feem to have oeinmgaed every 
_ way, and to have encreafed-in parts, and ftature. 
THERE will be a place in the courfe of this work, to examine that Ba 3; and fee 
how much of it is owing to heat and other caufes : for when we thall come to treat Plants 
in the method of Nature, it is from this northern point, and this moft fimple fate, we are 
totracethem: A few fhort obfervations only can be admitted here, to lead the way toa 
belief of that moft certain fact, that America and the other parts of the world, have fome 
Plants in common. | 
In the Latitude of 8 3, which is as far as men have failed, we find Moffes only ; the 
Conferva i in the waters; the Ulva in the PORES 5 ; the Coralloide Moftes on dry ee ; 
thefe. 
