l%6 



J\(aturall Hijlory^ 



603 



604 



605 



606 



Experiments 

 n Confort 

 touching the 

 Affinities, and 

 Differences of 

 Plant sjlt\A 1 

 Living Crea- 

 tures. And the 

 Confines and 

 Participles of 

 them. 



607 1 



608 



The Differences between Plants, and Metals, or Fofsiles,bei\des thofe four 

 before mentioned, (for Metals I hold inanimate,) are thefe: Firft, Metals 

 are more Durable than Plants : Secondly, they are more Solid and Hard: 

 Thirdly ,they are wholly Sukerrany Whereas Plants are part above Earthy 

 and part under Earth. 



There be very few Creatures, that participate of the Nature of Plants, a«d 

 Metals both-,C0rrf//is one of the Neareft of both Kinds : Another is Vitrioll, 

 for that isapteft to fprout with Moifture. 



Another fpeciall Affinity is between Plants and Mould or Putrefaction : 

 For all Putrefaction if it difiblve not in Arefaclion) will in the end lilue into 

 Plants, or Living Creatures bred of Putrefaction. I account Mofi,:\nd Mujh- 

 romes and Agaric k, and other of thofe kinds, to be but Moulds of the Ground, 

 Wals,2x\d Trees, and the like. As for Flefh^nd Fijh, and Plants themfelves, 

 and a Number of other things,after a Mouldinejs, or Rottennefs, or Corrupting, 

 they will fall to breed Wormes. Thefe Putrefactions, which have Affinity with 

 Plants ,ha.ve this Difference from them That they have no Succepon or Pro- 

 fagation, though they Nourijh, and have a Period o{ Life, and have likewife 

 fome Figure. 



Weft once, by chance, a c« ™» cut, in a clofe Roome, for three Summer- 

 moneths, that I was abfent ^ And at my Return, there were grown forth, 

 out of the Pith cut,T ufts of Haires, an Inch long, with little black Heads,as if 

 they would have been fome Herb. 



HP He Affinities and Differences between Plants and Living Creatures, are 

 * thefe that follow. They have both of them Sprits Continued,md Bran- 

 ched,^ alfo Inflamed : But fir ft in Living Creatures, the Sprits have a Cell 

 or ^f, which Plants have not-, As was alfo formerly faid. And fecondly,the 

 Sprits of Living Creatures hold more of Flame, than the Sprits of Plants 

 do. And thefe two are the Radicall Differences. For the Secondary Differen- 

 ces, they are, as follow. Yiri\,Plants are all Fixed to the Earth ; Where- 

 as all Living Creatures are fevered, and of themfelves. Secondly, Liming 

 Creatures have Loc all Motion ; Plants have not. Thirdly, Living Creatures 

 \ nourilh from their Upper Parts-, by the Mouth chiefly Plants nouruhfrom 

 below,namely from the Roots. Fourthly, Ptai have their Seed and SeminaH 

 Parts uppermoft Living Creatures have them lowermoft: And therefore 

 it was faid, not elegantly alone, but Philofophically ; Homo eft Plant a inver- 

 ja ; Man is like a Plant turned upwards i For the Root in Plants, is as the Head 

 in Living Creatures. Fifthly, Living Creatures have a more exacl: Figure than 

 Plants. Sixthly, Living Creatures have more Diverfity r of Organs within 

 their Bodies and (as it were) Inward Figures, than Plants have. Seventhly, 

 Living Creatures have Senfe,\\hkh Plants have not. Eighthly, Living Crea- 

 tures have Voluntary Motion, which Plants have not. 



For the Difference of Sexes in Plants, they are oftentimes by namediftin- 

 guifhed-, As Male~Piony,F emale-Piony^ Male- RoJ °e-mary,¥cmalc-Rofe-mary ; 

 I Hee-Holly,Shec-Holly,8cc. but Generationby C^«/^iw(certainly)extendeth 

 not to Plants. The neareft Approach of it, is between the Hee- Palme, and 

 the Shee-Palme ; which, (as they report,) if they grow near, incline the one 

 to the other : Infomuch as, (that which is more ftrange,) they doubt not 

 to report, that to keep the Trees upright ? from Bending, they tie Ropes, or 

 Lines, from the one to the other, that the Contact might be enjoyned by the 

 Contact of a Middle Body. But this may be Faigned, or at leaft Anfplified. 

 Neverthelefs, I am apt enough to think, that this fame Binarium of a 

 Stron ger 



