( 2|8 ) 
.theophtajlus^ (about two Thoiifand Yeafs ago) Teems 
to endeavour at a Reafoa, why this Seed could not 
grow in the Earth : But all that he, er any one fince, 
hath faid upon it, is only to agree, that in Fad it doth 
not, and to wonder why To perfed a Seed fhould 
not grow in the Earth. That Antient Author 
rationally concluded, from its having a Seed, that the 
Plant muft come from that Seed : Whereas latter 
Times have been To fond of allowing Chance a (hare 
in the Produdions of Nature, that Ucaliger hath not 
only experimentally confuted the common Notion of 
Mijfelto's being Town in the Dung of the Thrufk ; but 
argueth alfo, very flenuoufly againft the PolTibility of 
this Plants growing from its Seed. Even the great 
Lord Bacofiy Sir Thomas BrovoHy Lohel^ and the inqui- 
fitive Mr. Ray (fo late as 1^73,) do all give into it, 
that this Plant, hath a fpontaneous and aequivocal, 
rather than a feminal and univocal Generation. 
Scaligers ftrongeft Objedion is, Quod e Ramis qui- 
iufdam exit Vifeus^ quo in loco nullis modis vel flercus 
confiftere^ vel Jemen unquam potuerit hcerere — Mihilo 
enim conmodius confiflere quam in re proclivi Glohum, 
Lohel objeds againft it, bccauTe of the Imperfedi- 
on of the Berry Acinnlo illo pallido pellucido. Mr. 
Rays Argument is, Vifcus innatus etiam in pronh Ru- 
mor um parte. 
'Tis the property of true Experience to clear up 
Doubts, and anfwer Objedions : And if Nature had 
been well examined, it would have appeared, that 
this Seed is of a fubftance equal to other Kernels; 
and that the Pulp of the Berry, wherewith the Seed is 
Turrounded, is of a more clammy flicking nature than 
the Pulp of other Berries, for this very Purpofe, that 
it might be of flrength fu/Hcienttofixthe Seed on any 
Tree, how moveable or upright Toever the Bough or 
Twig Ihquld be whereon it chanced to light. And 
