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there is a new arrangement, or compofition 
of the elements, there is, in reality, a new generation, 
and thus generation is reduced to motion. 
Generation is more immediately underftood of ani- 
mal and vegetable bodies from feed, or the coition 
of others of different fexes,' but of the fame- genus or 
kind. 
Monf. Perrault, and fome of the modern naturalifts 
after him, maintained, That there is not properly any 
new generation, that God created all things at firft, 
and that what is by us called generation, is no more 
than an augmentation and expanfion of the minute 
parts of the body of the feed ; fo that the whole fpe- 
cies, which are afterwards produced, were, in reality, 
all formed at the firft, and inclofed therein, to be 
brought forth and expofed to view in time, and ac- 
cording to a certain order and (Economy. 
And accordingly Dr. Garden fays. It is mod proba- 
ble, that the ftamina of all the plants and animals 
that have been formed, ab origine mundi, by the Al- 
mighty Creator, within the firft of each refpeCtive 
kind ; and he who conftders, the nature of vifion, that 
it does not give us the true magnitude, but only 
the proportion of things ^ and that which feems to 
our naked eye but a point, may truly be made up 
by as many parts as feem to be in the whole univerfe, 
will not think this an abfurd or impoffible thing. 
Dr. Blair, treating of the generation of plants, fays, 
That when Almighty God created the world, he fo or- 
dered and difpofed of the materies mundi, that every 
thing produced from it fhould continue fo long as the 
world fhould ftand. Not that the fame individual 
fpecies fhould always remain ; for they were, in 
procefs of time, to perifh, decay, and return to the 
- earth, from whence they came ; but that every like 
fhould produce its like, every fpecies fhould produce 
its own kind, to prevent a final deftruCtion of the 
fpecies, or the neceflity of a new creation, in order 
to continue the fame fpecies upon earth, or in the 
world. 
For which end he laid down certain regulations, by 
which each fpecies was to be propagated, preferved, 
and fupported, till, in order, or courfe of time, they 
were to be removed hence ; for, without that, thofe 
very beings, which were created at firft, mult have 
continued till the final diffolution of all thino-s, 
■which Almighty God of his infinite wifdom did not 
think fit. 
But, that he might ftill the more manifeft his omni- 
potence, he fet all the engines of his providence to 
■work, by which one effeCt was to produce another by 
the means of certain laws, or rules laid down for the 
propagation, maintenance, and fupport of all created 
beings ; this his divine providence is called nature, 
and thefe regulations are called the laws, or rules of 
nature, by which it ever operates in its ordinary 
courfe, and whatever exceeds from that is faid to 
be preternatural, miraculous, or monftrous. 
Moles, in his account of the creation, tells us, that 
plants have their feeds in themfelves, in thefe words : 
And God faid. Let the earth bring forth grafs, the 
herb yielding feed, and the fruit-tree yielding fruit, 
after his kind, whofe feed is in itfelf upon the earth. 
The antients, indeed, diftinguifhed the generation 
of animals into two kinds, i. e. into regular, called 
univocal ; and anamojous, called alfo equivocal, or 
fpontaneous. 
The firft was effected by parent animals of the fame 
kind, as that of men, birds, beafts, &c. The fecond 
they fuppofed to be effected' by corruption, the fun, 
- &c. as that of infects, frogs, &c. but this latter is now 
generally exploded. 
Many, indeed, have effayed to treat of the generation 
of animals, but lew have been able to give that fa- 
tisfactory account of it that were to be wiffied for, and 
far fewer yet have been able to treat of the generation 
of plants as it ought to be 5 for that which ftill kept 
them in the dark, was, 
Firft, That though there were two different fexes in 
animals, by whofe mutual affiftance the fpecies was 
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pfopagated, yet there was no fuch thing then known 
in plants. 
Secondly, That though it Can now be made appear, 
that every animal is produced by univocal generation, 
i. e. from an egg, and not by corruption, &c. as molt 
of the antients imagined the infeCts were , yet there 
are ftill thofe who maintain, that thofe which they call 
imperfeCt plants, are the produCt of a certain rotten- 
nefs in the earth. 
The generation of plants bears a clofe analogy to 
that of fome animals, efpecially fuch as want local 
motion, as mufcles, and other immoveable fhell-filh, 
which are hermaphrodite, and contain both the male 
and female organs of generation. 
The flower ol a plant is found to be the pudendum, 
or principal organ of generation ; but the ufe of fo 
much mechanifm, and fo many parts, has been but 
little known till of late years. 
The flower of a Lily confifts of fix petala, or flower- 
leaves, from the bottom of which, in the middle, arifes 
a kmd of tube, called by Tournefort, the piftillum, 
and by Dr. Linnseus the ftyle *, this refts upon the 
germen, which is the female organ of generation ; 
round this are placed pretty fine threads, called the 
ftamina, or filaments j thefe ftamina arife likewife 
from the bottom of the flower, and terminate at the 
top in little fummits, called by fome apices, which 
are replete with a fine dull, called farina ^ thefe are 
the male organs of plants. 
This is the general ftruCture of the flowers of plants, 
although they are infinite ways diverfified, and to fuch 
a degree, that fome have no fenfible piftil, and others 
want the ftamina ; others again have the ftamina, but 
want the apices, and fome plants exceed all others in 
this, that they have no vifible flowers ; but if it be al- 
lowed, that this before-mentioned is the molt common 
ftruCture of flowers, it will follow, that thefe parts 
that feem wanting are ufually only lefs apparent, or 
are fituated in different plants, or in different parts of 
the fame plant. 
The fruit is ufually at the bafe of the piftillum, fo 
that when the piftillum falls with the reft of the flower, 
the fruit appears in the ftead of it ; but oftentimes 
the piftiflum is the fruit itfelf, but ftill they have both 
the fame fituation in the center of the flower, and the 
petala, or flower-leaves, which are difpofed around 
the little embryo, feem to be defigned only to prepare 
a fine juice in the little veffels, for the fupport of it 
during the little time that they laft, and it requires 
but fome fuppofe the chief ufe of them to be to defend 
the piftillum, &c. 
The apices of the ftamina arefmall capfulte, or bags, 
full of a farina, or dull, which falls out when the cap- 
fula grows ripe, and burfts. 
Monf. Tournefort fuppofed this duft to be only an 
excrement of the food of the fruit, and the ftamina 
to be nothing but excretory duCts, which filtrated this 
ufelefs matter, and thus difcharged the embryo ; but 
Mr. Morland, Mr. Geoffrey, and others, find nobler 
ufes for this duft ; on their principle the ftamina, with 
the apices and farina, make the male part of the 
plant, and the piftil, the female. 
Mr. Morland fays, It hath been long ago obferved, 
that there is in every particular feed a leminal plant 
conveniently lodged between the two lobes, which 
conftitute the bulk of the feed, and are defigned for 
the firft nourilhment of the tender plant. 
But the admirable Dr. Grew, to w 7 hofe generous in- 
duftry, and happy fagacity, we are indebted for the 
beft improvements of this part of knowledge, is the 
only author I can find, who hath obferved that the 
farina, or fine powder, which is, at its proper feafon, 
fhed out of thofe thecs, or apices feminiformes [i. e. 
feed-forming cafes] which grow at the top of the 
ftamina, doth fome way perform the office of male 
fperm. But herein, I think, he falls ffiort, in that he 
fuppofes them only to drop upon the outfide the ute- 
rus, or vafculum feminale, and to impregnate the in- 
cluded feed by fome fpirituous emanations, or energe- 
tical imprefs. 
That 
