The anatomy of plants with an idea of a philosophical history of plants, and several other lectures, read before the royal society / by Nehemjah Grew ...

CHAP. V. Of the Use of the Attire.

OF the Secundary Use hereof, I have spoken in the First Book;* 1.1 and particularly, of the Globulets or small Particles within the Thecae of the Seed-like At∣tire, and upon the Blades of the Florid, I have con∣jectur'd, That they are that Body which Bees gather and carry upon their Thighs, and is commonly cal∣led their Bread. For the Wax they carry in little Flakes in their Chaps: but the Bread is a Kind of Powder; yet some∣what moist, as are the said little Particles of the Attire.

2. §. But the Primary and chief Use of the Attire is such, as hath respect to the Plant it self; and so appears to be very great and neces∣sary. Because, even those Plants which have no Flower or Foliature, are yet some way or other Attir'd; either with the Seminiform, or the Florid Attire. So that it seems to perform its service to the Seed, as the Foliature, to the Fruit.

3. §. In discourse hereof with our Learned Savilian Professor Sir Thomas Millington, he told me, he conceived, That the Attire doth serve, as the Male, for the Generation of the Seed.

4. §. I immediately reply'd, That I was of the same Opinion; and gave him some reasons for it, and answered some Objections, which might oppose them. But withall, in regard every Plant is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 or Male and Female, that I was also of Opinion, That it serveth for

the Separation of some Parts, as well as the Affusion of others. The sum therefore of my Thoughts concerning this Matter, is as follows.

5. §. And First, it seems, That the Attire serves to discharge some redundant Part of the Sap, as a Work preparatory to the Generation of the Seed. In particular, that as the Foliature serveth to carry off the Vo∣latile Saline Sulphur: So the Attire, to minorate and adjust the Aereal; to the end, the Seed may become the more Oyly, and its Principles, the better fixed. And therefore the Foliature generally hath a much stronger Odour, than the Attire: because the Saline Sulphur is stronger, than an Aerial, which is too subtile to affect the Sense. Hence also it is, that the Colour of the Parts of the Attire, is usually White, or Yellow, ne∣ver Red: the former, depending upon a greater participation of Aer; the latter, of Sulphur. I add further, That the most Volatile and Aeri∣al Sulphur; being by means of these Parts much discharged; it may hereby come to pass, not only that the Seed is more Oylie, and its Princi∣ples more fixed; but also, that the Body or Parenchyma thereof, is so compact and close: For although it consists of Bladders, yet such, as are Twenty times smaller than in any other Part of a Plant of the like bigness. Whereas, were the Aer copiously mixed with the Sap here, as in the Pith, Fruit, and other Parenchymous Parts; it would give so quick a Ferment to the Sap, as to dilate and amplify the Bladders of the Seed, beyond its present compact and durable Texture; and so expose it, either to a precipitant Growth, or sudden Rot. Wherefore, as the Seed-Case is the Womb; so the Attire (which always stands upon or round about it) and those Parts of the Sap herinto discharged; are, as it were, the Menses or Flowers, by which the Sap in the Womb, is duly qualified, for the approaching Generation of the Seed.

6. §. And as the young and early Attire before it opens, answers to the Menses in the Femal: so is it probable, that afterward when it opens or cracks, it performs the Office of the Male. This is hinted from the Shape of the Parts. For in the Florid Attire, the Blade doth not unaptly resemble a small Penis, with the Sheath upon it, as its Praeputi∣um. And in the Seed-like Attire, the several Thecae, are like so many little Testicles. And the Globulets and other small Particles upon the Blade or Penis, and in the Thecae, are as the Vegetable Sperme. Which, so soon as the Penis is exerted, or the Testicles come to break, falls down upon the Seed-Case or Womb, and so Touches it with a Proli∣fick Virtue.

7. §. Consentaneous hereto it is also observable, That those Herbs generally have the Seed-like Attire, which either produce a greater Quan∣tity of Seed, or a Perennial Root: and that there is no Tree, with the Florid Attire. As if the other, because it contains a far greater Pro∣portion of the abovesaid Particles, that is, of Sperm; 'tis able to beget a more Numerous, Vivaceous, or Gigantick Birth.

8. §. That the same Plant is both Male and Female, may the ra∣ther be believed, in that Snails, and some other Animals, are such. And the Parts which imitate the Menses, and the Sperm, are not pre∣cisely the same: the former, being the External Parts of the Attire, and the Sap, which feeds them; the latter, the small Particles or moyst Powder which the External inclose.

9. §. And that these Particles, only by falling on the Uterus, should communicate to it or to the Sap therein, a Prolifick Virtue; it may seem the more credible, from the manner wherein Coition is made by some Animals; as by many Birds, where there is no Intromission, but only an Adosculation of Parts: And so in many Fishes. Neither in others, doth the Penis ever enter any further than the Neck of the Womb. Nor doth perhaps the Semen it self: or if it doth, it can by no means be thought, bodily or as to its gross Substance, to enter the Mem∣branes, in which every Conception, or the Liquor intended for it, be∣fore any Coitiou, is involved; but only some subtle and vivifick Efflu∣via, to which the visible Body of the Semen, is but a Vehicle. And the like Effluvia may be very easily transfused from the above said Particles into the Seed-Case or Womb of a Plant.

10. §. If any one shall require the Similitude to hold in every Thing; he would not have a Plant to resemble, but to be, an Animal.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Ch. 5.