SAP 
below the bleeding place, then theSap which is between 
the bark and the wood below that difbarked place, is 
deprived of the ftrong attrading power of the leaves, 
&c. and confequently the bleeding wound cannot be 
. fupplied lb fall with Sap, as it was before the bark 
was taken off. 
But the moil confiderable objedion againft this pro- 
greffive motion of the Sap without a circulation, arifes 
from hence, viz. That it is too precipitate a courfe 
for a due digeftion of the Sap, in order to nutrition, 
whereas in animals, nature has provided that many 
parts of the blood fhall run a long courfe before they 
are either applied to nutrition, or difcharged from 
the animal. 
But when we confider that the great work of nutrition 
in vegetables, as well as animals (I mean, after the 
nutriment is got into the veins and arteries of ani- 
mals,) is chiefly carried on in the fine capillary vef- 
fels, where nature feleds and combines, as fhall beft 
fuit her different purpofes, the feveral mutually at- 
tracting nutritious particles, which were hitherto kept 
disjoined by the motion of their fluid vehicle. We 
fhall find that nature has made abundant provifion for 
this work in the ftrudure of vegetables, all whofe 
compofition is made up of nothing elfe but innumera- 
rable fine capillary veflfels, and glandulous portions 
of veffels. 
Upon the whole he thinks we have, from thefe experi- 
ments and obfervations, fufficient ground to believe, 
that there is no circulation of the Sap in vegetables, 
notwithftanding many ingenious perfons have been 
induced to think there was from feveral curious obfer- 
vations and experiments, which evidently prove that 
the Sap does in fome meafure recede from the top to- 
ward the lower part of plants, whence they were, with 
good probability of reafon, induced to think that the 
Sap circulated. 
SAPINDUS. Tourn. Inft. R. H. 659. tab. 440. 
Lin. Gen. Plant. 448. The Sopeberry-tree. 
The Characters are. 
The empalement of the flower is compofed of four plain , 
oval, coloured leaves , which fpread open and fall away. 
T'he flower has four oval petals which are lefs than the 
empalement \ it has eight ftamina which are the length 
of the petals , terminated by ere hi fummits , and an oval 
germen with three or four lobes , fupporting a floor t ftyle , 
crowned by a Jingle ftigma. The germen afterward be- 
comes one , two, or three globular berries , including nuts of 
the fame form. There is rarely above one of thefe preg- 
nant , the other are abortive. 
This genus of plants is ranged in the third fedion 
of Linnaeus’s eighth clafs, which contains thofe 
plants whofe flowers have eight ftamina and three 
ftyles. 
The Species are, 
3. Sapindus ( Saponaria ) foliis impari pinnatis, caule 
inermi. Lin. Sp. Plant. 526. Sopeberry-tree with une- 
qual winged leaves. Sapindus foliis colts alatae innaf- 
centibus. Tourn. App. 659. Sopeberry-tree with leaves 
growing from the wings of the midrib. 
2. Sapindus ( Rigidus ) foliis quaterno-pinnatis rigidis 
acutis. Sopeberry-tree with winged leaves , which are com- 
pofed of four ftiff acute-pointed lobes. 
3. Sapindus ( Pinnatus ) foliis pinnatis fuperne alternis, 
lobis ovato-oblongis. Sopeberry-tree with winged leaves, 
whofe upper lobes are placed alternate. 
The firft: fort grows naturally in the iflands of the 
Welt-Indies, where it rifes with a woody ftalk from 
twenty to thirty feet high, fending out many branches 
toward the top, which are garnifhed with winged 
leaves, compofed of three, four, or five pair of fpear- 
fhaped lobes, which are from three to four inches 
long, and an inch and a quarter broad in the middle, 
drawing to points at both ends. The midrib has a 
membranaceous or leafy border running on each fide 
from one pair of lobes to the other, which is broadeft 
in the middle between the lobes •, they are of a pale 
green colour, and are pretty ftiff ; the flowers are 
produced in loofe fpikes at the end of the branches •, 
they are fmall and white, fo make no great appear- 
S A P 
ance. Thefe are fucceeded by oval berries as large as 
middling Cherries, fometimes Angle, at others two, 
three, or four are joined together ; thefe have a fa- 
ponaceous fkin or cover which inclofes a very fmooth. 
roundifh nut of the fame form, and of a fhining black 
when ripe. Thefe nuts were formerly brought to 
England for buttons to waiftcoats, fome were tipped 
with filver, and others with different metals ; they 
were very durable, as they did not wear, and feldom 
broke. The Ikin or pulp which furrounds the nuts, 
is uled in America to wafh linen, but it is very apt to 
burn and deftroy it, if often ufed, being of a very 
acrid nature. 
The fecond fort was difcovered by the late Dr. Houf- 
toun, growing naturally at La Vera Cruz in New 1 
Spain ; this hath a ftrong woody ftalk which rifes 
about twenty feet high, fending out manyfhort, ftrong, 
ligneous branches, which are covered with a fmooth 
gray bark, and are garnilhed with winged leaves, 
compofed of two pair of fpear-lhaped lobes which are 
very ftiff and fmooth ; the inner pair are fmall, being 
feldom more than an inch and a half long, and half 
an inch broad in the middle ; the two outer lobes are 
near three inches long, and almoft an inch broad in 
the middle, drawing to points at both ends ; they are 
oblique to the foot-ftalk, the midrib running much 
nearer to the border on one fide ; they are of a pale 
green, and fit clofe to the midrib, which has no bor- 
der or wing like the other. The end of the branches 
are divided into two or three foot-ftalks, each fuftain- 
ing a loofe fpike of flowers like thofe of the other fort; 
thefe are fucceeded by roundifh berries like thofe of 
the former, but there are generally two, three, or 
four of them joined together. 
The third fort grows naturally in India ; this rifes with 
a ftrait jointed Item to the height of twenty feet, 
fending out fome lateral branches at the top, covered 
with a pale fmooth bark, which are garnifhed with 
winged leaves compofed of eight or ten pair of ob- 
long oval lobes, each near four inches long, and an 
inch and a half broad at their bafe, of a light green 
colour, having very fhort foot-ftalks ; thofe on the 
lower part of the midrib are ranged oppofite, but on 
the upper part of the midrib they are alternate, and 
always end with two lobes. As the plants have not 
as yet flowered in England, fo I can give no farther 
account of them. 
Thefe plants are propagated by feeds (which muft be 
obtained from the countries where they naturally grow, 
for they have not produced fruit in Europe ;) the 
feeds muft be put into fmall pots filled with richfrefti 
earth, and plunged into a hot-bed of tanners bark.' 
The pots muft be frequently watered, otherwife the 
berries, whofe outer cover is very hard, will not ve- 
getate. In five or fix weeks the plants will appear, 
when the glaffes of the hot-bed fhould be raifed every 
day in warm weather to admit frefh air to the plants. 
In a month or fix weeks after the plants appear they 
will be fit to tranfplant, when they muft be fhaken 
out of the pots, and carefully parted, fo as not to in- 
jure their roots, and each planted into a feparate fmall 
pot filled with light rich earth, and then plunged into 
the hot-bed again, obferving to fhade them from the 
fun every day until they have taken new root ; after 
which time they muft have free air admitted to them 
every day when the weather is warm, and will require 
to be frequently watered. 
After the plants are well rooted, they will make great 
progrefs, fo as to fill thefe pots with their roots in a 
few weeks time, therefore they fhould be fluffed into 
larger pots, and as the plants advance, they fhould 
be inured to bear the open air by degrees ; for if they 
are forced too much in fummer, they feldom live 
thro’ the winter, efpecially the firft and fecond forts, 
which are very fubjed to be loft in the firft winter. I 
have frequently raifed thefe plants from feeds to the 
height of two feet in one fummer, and the leaves of 
thefe plants have been a foot and a half in length, fo 
that they made a fine appearance ; but thefe plants 
did not furvive the winter, whereas thofe which were; 
6 expofed 
/ 
1 
