( 20 ) 
MELLEUS LIQUOR. 
D uring all the time that the Flowers continued freih and bloom* 
ing, and even after they began to decay, 1 never failed to ob- 
fervc upon the outer Surface of the Umbilicus or middle Subftancc at 
the Root of the "Petala and Stamina^ a few fmall Drops of a tran- 
Iparcnt, clear, and vifcuous Subftancc, fweet to the Tafte, and of a 
perfedly liquid Conftftcnce, like that of a thin Syrup. 
Not believing that this Melleous Liquor, as it may be very fitly 
called, could be peculiar to this Plant only, I judged it worthwhile 
to confult a good Number of the moft accurate Botanical Writers, 
to fee how they had accounted for what I then thought to be a very 
furprizing Phacnomenon : And as amongft all thole 1 had recourfe to, 
(one of whom was our learned Country Man Dr. Grew) there arc 
but very few who feem to have ever obl'erved it, the Reader I am per- 
fwaded, will willingly allow me a fhort Digrclllon, in order to lay 
before him what thcle few have told us about it. 
Cdcfalpinus, to whom the World owes the firft Hints of more Dif- 
coveries in Nature, than they are willing to allow him the Credit of, 
is the firft that I can find to have remarked this Liquid Subftance in 
Plants. Talking of the wonderful Contrivance of Nature, for the 
Security and Protedion of the Seed, efpecially in its Embryo State; 
he tells us, Flores igitur partim necejjitate partim ad tuendos fru^us 
incipient es dati funt, ex necejjitate quidem, quoniam turgente plant ay 
ut in Venere folent Animalia, ejjiari necejfe ejl aliquem J'piritiim, non 
enim Jine fpiritu Jit feminis erupt io ,* quod autem ex hujtis modi fub' 
Jiantia Jlores Orti Jint, manifejium ejt id enim indicant ijy fubjlantia 
tenuitas qua conjiant, & odores quos ut plurimum Spirant indicat d?* 
Mellea dulcedo, qu£ in pier if q-, reperitur, quamq; apes feligentes in 
fiios alveoles recondunt, ut enim mel c^yFreum ex percoEla a foie exka- 
latione nafeitur, roris modo ex aere decidens, Jic ex plant a halitu per- 
coSio, qua parte egrejfum habet, veluti fublimatum foris Concamera- 
tioni O' Jiaminibus haret alt erum genus mellts quod apes colligimt (O 
favis reponunt. 
From this PaftTage we learn with relation to our prefent Subject, 
That according to C^efalpinus, I'uch a fweet Liquor or Honey as I 
have deferibed, is to be found in moft Plants; that this is what the 
Bees carry oflF from them, and of which their Honey is made ; that 
it is nothing elfe than the more fpiritous Parts, exhaled from the Juices 
of Plants, or rather thruft out from them, by the Force and Prefturc 
of the fucceeding Sap ; And laftly, That the Place where it is found, 
is the foris concameratio, which may cither mean the whole Cavity of 
the Flower, or only the Bottom of the Infide of it. From what the 
Author 
