Of VegetaUQn. 317 
a pofition, or a too luxurious ftate are un- 
fruitful, becaufe, being in thefe cafes 
more replete with moifturc, they cannot im- 
bibe fo ftrongly from the air, as others do, 
that great blefiing the dew of Heaven. 
And as the moft racy generous taftes of 
fruits, and the grateful odours of fiowers, 
do not improbably arife from thefe refined 
aereal principles, fo may the beautiful co. 
lours of flowers be owing in a good meai 
fure to the fame original ; for it is a known' , 
obfervation, that a dry foil contributes much 
more to their variegation than a ftrong moift 
one docs. 
And may not light alfo, by freely entring 
the expanded furfaces of leaves and flowers, 
contribute much to the ennobling the priii- 
ciples of vegetables 5 for Sir Ifaac Newton^ 
puts it as a very probable query, Arc 
not grofs bodies and ligh^CGnvertible into 
one another > and may not bodies receive 
much of their aGivity from the particles 
of light, which enter their compofition > 
The change of bodies into light, and of 
light into bodies, is very conformable to 
“ the conrfe of nature, which feems dc- 
!! lighted with tranfmutations. 5^//. 30.'' 
Y4 Ex. 
