152 



A DISCOURSE 



BOOK ir. by the doctor, who assures me, he was yet deliberating wliether the tree 

 ■-^"V^ being hollow, it might not possibly proceed from some other latent cause, 

 as afterwards he discovered ; when having obtained permission to open 

 the body of it, he found another Elm letting down its stem all the length 

 of this empty case, and striking root when it came to the earth, from 

 whence it derived nourishment, maintaining a flourishing top, and has, 



study, love, and contemplation of men are conversant. As the genitals of all animals have 

 a rank and strong smell in rutting time, so the flowers, or genitals, of plants, also send forth 

 a smell, which, though very different in different plants, is, for the most part, very agreeable. 

 We see, then, how the Great Creator has enriched the most innocent nuptials of plants, with 

 the most singular and superb ornaments. Let us behold the bed, or calyx ; with what art 

 is it constructed ! the curtain, or superb covering, called the corolla, how neat and elegant 

 its extremity or termination, how splendidly cut or carved, how fine and thin, and with 

 what lively and beautiful colours is it adorned ! We may truly say, in the emphatical 

 language of the Scriptures, tliat Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. The 

 Amaranthus Tricolor wants this beautiful covering of the corolla ; but here Nature has taicen 

 care to cover the flowers with a shade or fine-coloured crown of the leaves, which is laid 

 over the flowers, that the few males, being defended from showers, might more easily and 

 safely discharge their farina on the females below. All animals appear most beautiful and 

 healthy just before their copulation. The hart tosses up his prominent horns; the birds 

 shine and glitter with gay colours ; the fishes taste then most deliciously. But when the 

 time of copulation is over, the hart loses his lofty or towering horns; the birds lose much 

 of their beauty ; and the fishes a great deal of their former flavour or fine taste. Now 

 plants are subject to the same changes : for in the spring and flowering-time their verdure 

 and beauty is most amazingly gay ; but, when that is over, they lose much of their former 

 splendour. Thus copulation weakens and debilitates. In the silk-worm, moths, and butter- 

 flies, one may see, when their copulation is over, how their wings droop, and their life 

 expires ; but if a butterfly be shut up in a room alone, and not suffered to copulate with 

 others, it will often remain in health and vigour for half the year. In the annual and 

 biennial plants, one may observe, that before they have flowered, they resist the cold of 

 winter, e. g. the Pinks, Lichnises, and others ; but if they flower the first year, as soon as 

 winter approaches they generally die ; if, on the other hand, they do not flower, they will 

 often continue in vigour three or four years. The Plaintain-tree has continued in the 

 gardens of Holland for a hundred years ; but when it has once flowered, no art, skill, or 

 experience, can prevent its lofty stem from perishing the year following. The Corypha, 

 or Umbrella Palm-tree, remains barren for thirty-five years, growing in that time, to the 

 height of seventy feet ; and in the space of four months after that time, it rises thirty feet 

 higher, puts forth its flowers, and produces its fruit the same year ; which done, it totally 

 dies, both root and stem. Hort. Cliff. 4S2. The Lavalera Arhorea, or Sea Tree-Mallow, 

 will rise to a considerable height, bearing the winter frosts very well ; but when it has 

 once blown, though it were to produce but one flower, not all the assistance of the 



