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chafed for a penny a pound, whereas the b Judæa, when moft plenty, was fold on fpot that produced it, for double it's w filver, if we may credit Pliny; who alfo us that the best balfam of Judæa flowed or the bark, and that it was adulterated with oil of turpentine. Now comparing the have experienced in tar, with thofe I find to the precious balm of Judæa, of Gilea Mecha (as it is diverfly called) I am of that the latter is not a medicine of more efficacy than the former,

23. Pliny fuppofed amber to be a refin diftil from fome fpecies of pine, which he from it's fmell. Nevertheless it's being d the earth fhews it to be a foffil, though of different kind from other foffils. But th is certain, that the medicinal virtues of a to be found in the balfamic juices of pines Particularly the virtues of the most valua paration, I mean falt of amber, are in degree answered by tar-water, diaphoretic, and diuretic,

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grow in higher and more expofed fituations. And Theophraftus further obferves, that the inhabitants of mount Ida in Afia, who diftinguish the Idæan pine from the maritime, affirm, that the tar flowing from the former is in greater plenty, as well as more fragrant than the other. Hence it fhould feem, the pines or firs in the mountains of Scotland, might be employed that way, and rendred valuable; even where the timber, by it's remoteness from water-carriage, is of fmall value. What we call the Scotch fir is falfly fo called, being in truth a wild forest pine, and (as Mr. Ray informs us) agreeing much with the defcription of a pine growing on mount Olympus in Phrygia, probably the only place where it is found out of thefe iflands; in which of late years it is fo much planted and cultivated with fo little advantage, while the cedar of Lebanon might perhaps be raised, with little more trouble, and much more profit and ornament.

26. The pines which differ from the firs in the length and difpofition of their leaves and hardness of the wood, do not, in Pliny's account, yield fo much refin as the fir trees. Several fpecies of both are accurately defcribed and delineated by the naturalifts. But they all agree fo far as to feem related. Theophraftus gives the preference to that refin which is got from the filver fir and pitch tree (ἐλάτη and πίτυς) before that yielded by the pine, which yet, he faith, is in greater plenty. Pliny, on the contrary, affirms that the pine produceth the fmalleft quantity. It fhou'd feem therefore that the interpreter of Theophraftus might have been mistaken, in rendering dan by pinus, as well as Jonftonus, who likewife takes the pine for the adx of Theophraftus. Hardouin will have the pinus of Pliny to have been by others called xn, but by Theophrastus wires. Ray thinks the common

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fir, or picea of the Latins, to be, the Theophraftus. This was probably the f for the picea, according to Pliny, yields m loves a cold and mountainous fituation, tinguifhed, tonfili facilitate, by it's fit fhorn, which agrees with the fpruce fir, have feen close fhorn hedges.

27. There feems to have been fome co the naming of these trees, as well amon cients as the moderns. The ancient C Latin names are by later authors applied ferently. Pliny himfelf acknowledgeth, eafy even for the fkilful to diftinguish th their leaves, and know their fexes and ki that difficulty is fince much encreafed, by covery of many new fpecies of that evergr growing in various parts of the globe. criptions are not fo eafily mifapplied a Theophraftus tells us, that wirus differ dun, among other things, in that it is tall nor fo ftreight, nor hath fo large a le fir he diftinguifheth into male and fem latter is fofter timber than the male, it is al and fairer tree, and this is probably the

28. To fay no more on this obfcure which I leave to the critics, I fhall obfe according to Theophraftus not only the t trees, the pines, and the firs yield refin or alfo the cedars and palm trees; and the w and refina are taken by Pliny in fo large to include the weepings of the lentifcus and and the balms of Arabia and Judæa; a perhaps are near of kin, and in their mo qualities concur with common tar, efpec Norvegian, which is the moft liquid and medicinal ufes of any that I have exp Thofe trees that grow on mountains, ex

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the fun or the north wind, are reckoned by Theophraftus to produce the best and pureft tar: And the Idaan pines were distinguished from those growing on the plain, as yielding a thinner, fweeter, and better fcented tar, all which differences I think I have obferved, between the tar that comes from Norway, and that which comes from low and fwampy countries.

29. Agreeably to the old obfervation of the Peripatetics, that heat gathereth homogeneous things and difperfeth fuch as are heterogeneous, we find chemistry is fitted for the analysis of bodies. But the chemistry of nature is much more perfect than that of human art, inafmuch as it joineth to the power of heat that of the most exquifite mechanism. Those who have examined the ftructure of trees and plants by microscopes, have difcovered an admirable variety of fine capillary tubes and veffels, fitted for feveral purposes, as the imbibing or attracting of proper nourishment, the diftributing thereof through all parts of the vegetable, the discharge of fuperfluities, the fecretion of particular juices. They are found to have ducts anfwering to the tracheæ in animals, for the conveying of air; they have others anfwering to lacteals, arteries, and veins. They feed, digeft, refpire, perspire and generate their kind, and are provided with organs nicely fitted for all thofe uses.

30. The fap veffels are obferved to be fine tubes running up through the trunk from the root. Secretory veffels are found in the bark, buds, leaves, and flowers. Exhaling veffels for carrying off excrementitious parts, are difcovered throughout the whole furface of the vegetable. And (though this point be not fo well agreed) doctor Grew in his Anatomy of plants, thinks there appears a cir

circulation of the fap, moving downwa root, and feeding the trunk upwards.

31. Some difference indeed there is learned men, concerning the proper use parts of vegetables. But whether the d have rightly gueffed at all their ufes or much is certain, that there are innume and curious parts in a vegetable body, an derful fimilitude or analogy between the of plants and animals. And perhaps think it not unreasonable to suppose the of plants more curious than even that of if we confider not only the feveral juice by different parts of the fame plant, but endless variety of juices drawn and form the fame foil, by various fpecies of v which must therefore differ in an endle as to the texture of their abforbent veff cretory ducts.

32. A body, therefore, either animal table, may be confidered as an organised tubes and veffels, containing feveral fort And as fluids are moved through the animal bodies, by the fyftole and diaft heart, the alternate expanfion and cond the air, and the ofcillations in the memb tunicks of the veffels; even fo by means panded and contracted in the trachea made up of elaftic fibres, the fap is through the arterial tubes of a plant, ar getable juices, as they are rarefied by he denfed by cold, will either afcend and into air, or defcend in the form of a grof

33. Juices therefore, firft purified by through the fine pores of the root, are exalted by the action of the air and the the plant, but, above all, by the action

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