[ 5io ] 
fliells of any kind, can ever quit them, but muft re- 
main in them till they die. 
We are now, fecondly, to confider fome of the" 
1110ft obvious marks, that dillinguifh vegetable from 
other fubftances. 
Whatever body is fixed by its root, no matter, 
whether it be flat or fibrofe, increafing upwards, and 
ramifying into fmaller and fmaller branches, till they 
become more and more pointed to their extremities ; 
having fibres either apparently tubular, or only po- 
rous or woody, would incline one, who had at all 
made the works of nature his ftudy, rather to favour 
the idea of a vegetable in fuch a body, than that of 
any other production. If thefe charadteriftics are com- 
mon to any of the fpecies of corals, corallines, ma- 
drepores, &c. it would be no wonder they ow’d 
their increafe to a kind of vegetation; nor would 
their hardnefs weigh at all againfl: it, becaufe every 
one knows, that water is the univerfal vehicle of all 
matter into bodies of this kind. It is by water, that 
the teftaceous matter is carried into the juices of 
fhell’d fifh, and from it detach’d into the order we 
fee it in the (hells. It is from water, that fparry in- 
cruftations upon vegetables are made : It is a depofit 
from water, that lines our common tea-kettles with 
a fparry crufl: : And it is alio this fluid, that con- 
veys the particles of tartar into the grape, which is 
afterwards depofited upon the fides of the wine- 
veflel ; and no doubt but it is water, which carries 
up into thofe hard bodies their ftony matter ; for 
there can be no doubt of their being organized 
bodies. Befides, tho’ the organization, in its origin, 
is probably flexible enough, yet the arrangement of 
thefe 
