[ 5°7 ] 
tree. Cornutus fome time afterwards remarked this 
property in the Pfeudo-acacia Americana. From 
that time it has remained almoft unnoticed, till Lin- 
nseus, ever attentive to nature’s works, difcovered 
that the fame affair was tranfa&ed in many other 
plants ; and his obfervations have furniffied us with 
numerous and obvious examples thereof. Mr. Miller 
mentions it in the Mcdicago arborea Lin. Sp. PI. 778. 
and we may add to the lift two other common plants 
not mentioned by Linnaeus : thefe are the PhaJ'eolus 
vulgaris, common kidney- bean ; and the Trifolium 
pratenfe purpureum majus , or clover-grafs : in both 
which this nocturnal change is remarkably difplayed. 
Doubtlefs the fame property exifts in numberlefs other 
fpfecies ; and future obfervation will very probably 
confirm Dr. Hill’s fentiment, that no “ plant or tree 
“ is wholly unaffected by it.” 
It is now more than twenty years fince Linntfcus 
firft attended to this quality in plants. In his Flora 
Lapponica , when fpeaking of the 'Trifolium pratenfe 
album , as above-mentioned, he remarks, that the 
leaves of the Mimofa, Caffia, Bauhinia, Parkinfonia, 
Guilandina, and others in affinity with them, were 
fubjeCt to this change in the night time : and he had 
then carried his obfervations fo far, as to find, that 
heat and cold were not the caufe of this quality j 
fince they were alike influenced by it when placed 
in ftoves, where the temperature of the air was al- 
ways the fame. 
The merit of reviving this fubjeCt is therefore due 
to the illuftrious Swede ; and the naturalift is greatly 
indebted to him for fo far extending his obfervations 
thereon. 
Ttt a 
The 
