[ 3 
Trace of Letters. The Charadlers gQ, being fomc- 
what hollow, receive the Bark of the Letters D B 
The fame Letters are feen in the Bark of the Tree, 
only that they are partly ill-fhaped, partly almoft; 
effaced, whereas thofe within bear a due Proportion, 
as if done with a Pencil. 
Now fhould it be ask’d after what manner thefe Let- 
ters reach’d the Middle of the Beech ? and how it came 
to pafs, that two of them, and no more, had their 
old dry Bark flicking to them 1 
Both thefe Queries are anfwer’d by the Vegetation 
of Plants. But as this is not a proper Place to ex- 
pound it, I will fuppofe it known, and thus briefly 
complete the Affair. 
’Tis an ancient Cuflom to cut Names, and various 
Charaders, on the Rinds of Trees, efpecially on fuch 
as are fmooth. That this has happen’d to our Beech j 
the mere Infpedion of the Bark commands our Affirm- 
ation f. 
An Incifion made, the Tubuli conveying the nu- 
tritious Juice, and the Utriculi in which it is pre- 
pared, are divided and lacerated, and more of them, 
as the Incifion was made deeper and wider : and 
confequently the Sap is not carried on in the Circu- 
lation, but extravafated and flopped at the Wounds. 
Hence the Origin of the Charaders in the Bark and 
Wood. 
, *■ Daniel Bar.ckholtz, formerly Ctefarea7t Poet Laureat. 
t The Charaders, befides D B, mark the Names of a noble Fa- 
rbily, to which the Land, whereon the Tree was fell’d, formerly be- 
long’d • Regina^ Dorothea, Michael, Gertrude, Joannes ,Helv)ingii. 
Now 
