( »8o) 
for the krgeft that is found of either of thofe kinds , 
do not much exceed the thicknefi of a Man s Thumb, 
whereas our Columns are fome of them two Foot in 
Diameter. 
Yet this difproportion of bulk is not fo confiderable 
a difference, fmce we obferve that Nature afleGs the 
like difparity in other cf her Works, and thofc too 
nearly allied, and evidently of the fame Tribe or Fa- 
mily. For Example , to inftance a Comparifon taken 
from Vegetables, let us confider the vaft difproportion 
between one of our fmall joynted Rujhes or Reeds^ and 
the largeft Eafi- Indian Bamhon, one of w hich I remem- 
ber to have feen in Holland above 26 Foot high, and as 
thick as a Man s middle, and yet thefe are Plants all of 
the fame Species and Clafs. 
I chofe the rather to inftance thefe kind of Vegetables 
that have joynted ftems, on the account they leem to 
bear fomewhat of Analogy or Refemblance to the 
Geniculated Mineral^ or Rock-Plants wt are fpeaking of, 
as I may call them with that accurate and experienced 
Enquirer into Natural Hiftory, Dr. Lifter, 
This affinity betvi^en Plants and Foflils, w ill not feem 
altogether imaginary to any one that Judicioufly con- 
fiders, how the various Clafles of Beings in the Crea- 
tion, even from the perfedefl: to the moft imperfect are 
link'd together, and as it were related by flow defcents 
and Gradations from one to t'other ; fo that fome of 
every Rank ftill partake of certain immediate Proper- 
ties, common to the Tribe above them , and below 
them, as well as tiieir own : Thus, the Monky has fome- 
thing of the Man, and Quadrupede ; tht Batt, of the 
Bird and Beaft; the Afttphihicus, of the Beaft and Fiji?; 
the Htrmdo Marina^ or Flying Fifty, of the Bird and 
Fifth ; the Molluftciy and Zoophyta^ of the Fifth and Plant ; 
and fo of the reft. 
But 
