INTRODUCTION. 
may recover and again invigorate the languid nerves 
of thofe which feem to fufter for want of water, in 
great heats and droughts ; but whether the infects 
caught in their leaves, and which diffolve and mix 
with the fluid, ferve for aliment or fupport to thefe 
kind of plants, is doubtful. All the Sarracenias are 
infect catchers, and fo is the DiofTea rotundifolia. 
But admirable are the properties of the extraordi- 
nary Dionea mufcipula ! A great extent on each 
fide of that ferpentine rivulet is occupied by thofe 
fportive vegetables — let us advance to the fpot in 
which nature has feated them. Altonilhing pro- 
duction ! fee the incarnate lobes expanding, how 
gay and fportive they appear ! ready on the fpring 
to intrap incautious deluded infects ! what artifice ! 
there behold one of the leaves juft clofed upon a 
ftruggling fly ; another has gotten a worm ; its hold 
is fare, its prey can never efcape — carnivorous ve- 
getable ! Can we after viewing this object , hefitate; 
a moment to confefs, that vegetable beings are en- 
dued with fome fenfible faculties or attributes, fimi- 
lar to thofe that dignify animal nature ; they are 
organical, living, and felf-moving bodies, for we 
fee here, in this plant, motion and volition. 
What power or faculty is it, that directs the cirri 
of the Gucurbita, Momordica, Vitis, and other 
climbers, towards the twigs of fhrubs, trees, and 
other friendly fupport ? we fee them invariably lean- 
ing, extending, and like the fingers of the human 
hand, reaching to catch hold of what is neareft, 
juft as if they had eyes to fee with,; and when their 
hold is fixed, to coil the tendril in a fpirai form, 
by which artifice it becomes more elaftie and effec- 
tual, than if it had remained in a direct line, for 
every revolution of the coil adds a portion of 
ftrength ; and thus collected, they are enabled to 
dilate and contract as occafion or neceftity requires, 
and 
