[ 386 ] 
pofe it to be univerfally exploded j though I do not 
difpute that the ftamina, or firft rudiments, have 
exifted, in the parent plants, from the beginning of 
all things, the vegetative principle being latent, till 
prepared to exert itfelf. 
And upon the firft conjedure, a difficulty may 
arife. 
It is, perhaps, not eafy to conceive that the fe- 
cundity of feeds, once perfeded, can be retained inert 
through many ages. Our experience feems to fliew, 
that there are fome kinds of feeds, that, at a certain 
age, or nearly fo, either vegetate or perifh ; that, if 
kept out of their proper matrix, or in it at too great a 
depth, beyond that time, whatever we do with them 
afterward, will not grow j and if there be really fuch 
(fo depofited ab origine) thofe kinds cannot, even in 
that fenfe, and in that cafe, be faid to come up 
fpontaneoully. 
Befides, if the feeds were fo depofited in the earth, 
and in a perfed ftate, fo numerous as they muft be ; 
the larger kinds, efpecially, could not efcape our 
notice. 
As to the antediluvian nuts, cones, and ftone-fruits, 
that, we hear, are fometimes found at vaft depths 
within the earth, however they may fuit the cabinets 
of the curious, I fear they are too antique to be 
• 
in the other way, the feeds may be conveyed, 
from whatever diftance, in different years (for aught 
we know they are in every, year), to the places where 
we fee the plants; and not only thither,. but to many 
places, that are not proper to receive and. cherifli^ 
them. 
prolific 
But 
It 
