86 
- Io the Editor-of the Monthly ly Magaxine 
LEST 
N the econ volume of Dr. Wither 
ing’s Arrangement of Britifh Plants, 
there is a very “interetit ng and eee : 
ing account of the fenfitive properties of 
the avofeva, or fundew, communicated by 
two very ingenious botanical friends of 
the author. Since the perufal of that 
account, IT have been able to afcertain 
the ey of the fag, by numerous 
and repeated experimmnel nts made on, frefh 
and vigorous plants, though I did not 
fucceed in- difcovering the fame proper- 
wes inherent in all the plants I tried ; 
tor fome, whether from their not hav 
jng arrived at maturity, or from haying 
loft their acrimonious properties by the 
exhalation of the fun, I am notable to 
determine, produced not the teaft ee 
tive effect on the irritation of a fl 
pin, when applied to the leaf. 
re{pect only, my experiments have dii- 
fered in their refult from thofe mention 
ed by Dr. Withering. As few of ome 
readers. are, in all probability, acquaint- 
ed with the fingular ftruéture and econo- 
my of this curicus plant, I will, with 
your permifiion, briefly delineate them : 
The fundew is a very minute villous 
plant, ufually growing entangled with 
mofs, on peat bogs; the leaves are cu- 
-rioufly fringed with numerous firong 
reddifh hairs, terminated by fmall pel- 
lucid globules of vifcous: liquor, which 
eccafion, by the refleéiion’ of the fun, 
that peculiar luftre from which its name 
is derived. It ts 'm Se hairs that the 
_€ffential properties of the plant refide ; 
for, if a fmall infeé fhould fix itfclf on 
ene of the leaves, thefe hairs immediate- 
ly begin to clofe, one by one, till the in- 
~ fect is hy environed by them, and 
then the leaf, in which it is im moprifoned, 
gradually bends inwards, fo as to reach 
“the bafe ;, 1n this ftate ‘the iniect is kill- 
ed by the operation of the acrimonious 
Juice exuding from the ends of the hairs. 
Rothius alfo (as quoted by Withering), 
in his Beytrage xur Botanifche, pag. 64, 
mentions the effedts of this angular plant, 
occafioned by the irritation of an ant, 
which’ he placed on the centre of 
one of the leaves, with a pair of pin- 
cers : the ant, in endeavouring to ei cape, 
was he! ¢ faft by the vifcous juice of the 
fmaller hairs, till the large ones, toge- 
ther with the edges of the leaf, clofed in, 
and imprifoned it, The ant died in fif- 
teen minutes; but he obferves, that the 
effets followed fooner or later, in dif- 
ferent experiments, according to the 
Properties of Sundew....ddentity without Plagiarifm. 
In hee 
ferted at p. 
[Aug 
fiate of the weather; but whenever I 
tried, the iafeét has commonly perithed 
in a lefs time than that mentioned by 
this author. All] thefe experiments were 
made on the drofeva rotundifolia: Rothivs, 
however, obferves, that the longifolia 
proguces the fame effeéts, but with great- 
er rapidity.. In conciuding his account, 
Dr. Withering fuggefts this enquiry: 
‘ whether this defiruétion of infeéts be 
not neceffary to the welfare of the 
plant ?” The farther inveftization of 
this fubjeét is worth the labour it may 
occafion ; and if any of your intelligent 
readers fhould be difpofed to enter upon 
it, I fhall be happy to learn the rejuir 
of theirrefearches, by the fame channel 
through which the communication of 
this is requefted, by your’s, &c. 
Auguft 4 1797. ‘R H.C, 

To the Editor of the Monibly Mazaxine. 
SIR, 
Ee things in literary ‘hiftory are ~ 
more perplexing than charges of pla- 
giarifm, which often feem fo ~\well fup- 
ported on the one. hand, and are fo 
ftrongly denied on the other, that an en- 
quirer is entirely at a lofs what judgment 
to form onthe caie. That fome odd and 
unexplained concurrence of  circum- 
fiances has frequently occafioned an ap- 
pearance of plagiarifm, where it has not 
exifted, I can the more eafily believe, 
from the following faét, relative to my- 
felf, which has jn come to my know- 
ledge : 
Several years ago, 
NicHoLs, a paper relative to Wife- 
man’s Evidence concerning the Roya! 
Youch for the King’s Evil; and never 
feeing it inferted in his Magazine, I 
concluded, that for fome reafon or other, 
he had thought fit to _rejeét it. The fub- 
fiance of it, under a different form, and 
Mwith feveral additienal remarks, I com- 
municated ta your Niifcellany, with the 
fignature of Mi- Pfeudes, and it is in- 
765 of your fir& volume. 
To my great furprife, I have. this day 
found my old paper printed in a noteé 
under the life of Carre, the hiftorian, 
in the new edition of the Brograpbia 
Britenica, where it is faid to be a paper 
communicated by Mr. Nichols. fF 
certainly do not mean to object to the 
ufe he made of it, which was, indeed, the 
handfomeft mark of his approbation he 
could give; but I write this to remark 
the eafe with which a miftaken charge 
of plagtariim might be derived from the 
T. Garo mCnte: 
 circumfance.. Who, on happening to 
meet 
