8 6 Vegetable Static ks. 
thro’ the leaves, on which account it muft 
therefore imbibe water the more greedily, 
as is evident by many experiments in the firft 
chapter. 
When a branch is fixed to a glafs tube 
fet in mercury, and the mercury fubfides at 
night, it will not rife the next morning 
(as the warmth of the fun increafes upon it) 
unlefs you fill the tube firft full of water : 
for if half or % of the large tube r r be full 
of air, that air will be ratified by the fun 5 
which rarefadfion will deprefs the water in 
the tube, and confequently the mercury 
cannot rife. 
But where little water is imbibed the 
firft day, (as in the cafe of the green Ihoots 
of the Vine, Exper. XXIII. ) then the mer- 
cury will rife the fecond and third day, as 
the warmth of the fun comes on, without 
refilling the little water that was imbibed. 
Experiment .XXV. 
In order to make the like experi- 
ment on larger branches ( when I expec- 
ted the mercury would have rifen much 
higher than in fmall ones ) I caufed glaf- 
fes 
I 
