NATURAL HISTORY. 
during the life of the plant ; for the flower- 
ftem, {hooting to fo high a ftature, draws 
from the centre fuch a quantity of nourifh- 
ment as to render the leaves irrecoverably 
decayed ; and when the flowers are full 
blown, fcarcely any of the leaves remain 
alive : but whenever this happens, the old 
root Ihoots an innumerable quantity of off- 
fetts, by which thefe plants are not. only^ 
preferved, but confiderably increafed. 
The accounts of this plant are, like thofe 
of many others, rather fabulous. That of 
its blooming only once in a hundred years, 
and making a report like a gun, are equally 
falfe ; foV many American aloes have been 
known to bloom in much lefs time. In the 
year 1729, a great American aloe flowered 
at the age of forty years, in a garden be- 
longing to Mr. Cowal, at Hoxton: and of 
a later date, fome have been known to 
bloom at the diftance of twenty years. 
SENSITIVE PLANT. 
1 'HIS plant is very furprifing in its con- 
texture, and has caufed much invefti- 
gation among the naturaliifs, to account for 
the contradion of its leaves when any of them 
are touched. They clofe themfelves by 
pairs, joining their upper fiiperflces toge- 
ther. Aqua-fortis being dropped on the 
