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IT will not perhaps be thought im∣pertinent, but rather necessary, to add a word or two on this occasion for their sakes, that think the Matu∣ration of Fruits, and the changes of Tasts, by which 'tis usually known, must needs be the effect of the Vege∣table Soul of the Plant. For, after the Fruit is gathered, and so, by be∣ing no longer a part of the Tree,
does, according to the most common opinion, cease to be a part of the living Plant, as a Hand or a Foot cut off is no more reckoned among the Lims of the man it belonged to; yet 'tis very possible that some Fruits may receive maturation, after they have been severed from the Plants that bore them. For, not to mention, that Apples, gathered somewhat be∣fore the time, by lying in heaps, do usually obtain a mellowness, which seems to be a kind or degree of Matu∣ration; or that Medlars, gathered whilst they are hard and harsh, do be∣come afterwards in process of time soft and better tasted; in which state though some say they are rotten, yet others think that supposed rottenness is the proper Maturity of that kind of Fruit: Not to mention these, I say, or the like Instances, 'tis a famous Assertion of several Writers of the Indian affairs, that the Fruit they call Bananas is usually gathered green, and hung up in bunches or clusters in the house, where they ripen by de∣grees,
and have an advantageous change made both of their colour and of their tast. And this an an∣cient acquaintance of mine, a literate and observing person, of whom I in∣quired about it, assured me, he had himself lately tried and found to be true in America. And indeed I see not, why a convenient degree of warmth, whether external from the Sun and fire, or internal from some degree of fermentation or analo∣gous intestine Commotion, may not (whether the Fruit be united to the Plant or no) put the sporifick Cor∣puscles into motion, and make them, by various and insensible transcursi∣ons, rub against each other, and there∣by make the little bodies more slen∣der or thin, and less rigid, or cutting and harsh, than they were before, and by various motions bring the Fruit they compose to a state where∣in it is more soft in point of consi∣stence, and abound in Corpuscles less harsh and more pliable, than they were before, and more congruous
to the pores of the organ of Tast: And, in a word, make such a change in the constitution of the Fruit, as men are wont to express by the name of Maturity. And that such Mecha∣nical changes of Texture may much alter the Qualities, and among them the Tast of a Fruit, is obvious in brui∣sed Cherries and Apples, which in the bruised parts soon come to look and tast otherwise than they did be∣fore. This possibility of this is also obvious by Wardens, when slowly roasted in embers with so gentle a fire, as not to burn off the paper they are wont to be wrapt in, to be kept clean from the ashes. And I have seen, in the bordering Country be∣twixt France and Savoy, a sort of Pears, (whose name I now remember not,) which being kept for some hours in a moderate heat, in a Vessel exactly closed, with embers and ashes above and beneath them, will be re∣duced to a juicy Substance of a love∣ly red colour, and very sweet and lushious to the tast. Many other sorts
of Fruit in other Countries, if they were handled after the same way, or otherwise skilfully wrought on by a moderate heat, would admit as great alterations in point of tast. Neither is that sort of Pear to be here omit∣ted, which by meer Compression, duly ordered, without external heat, will in a few minutes be brought to exchange its former hardness and harshness for so yielding a Contex∣ture and pleasant a tast, as I could not but think very remarkable. And that even more solid and stubborn Salts than those of Vegetables, may have the sharpness and piercingness of their tasts very much taken off by the bare internal action of one part upon the other, without the addition of any sweetning body, I have been induced to think by having found, upon trial, that, by the help of insi∣pid Water, we may, without any vi∣olence of Fire, reduce Sea-salt into a Brine of so mild and peculiar (I had almost said) pleasant a tast, that one would scarce suspect what it had
been, or believe that so great a change of a Mineral body could be effected by so slight an intestine Com∣motion as indeed produced it; espe∣cially, since the alteration of tasts was not the most considerable that was produced by this Operation.
As to Liquours that come from Vegetables, the emerging of new Sa∣pors upon the intestine Commotion of the saporifick parts, as Consequen∣ces of such Commotions, is more obvious than is commonly considered in the juice of Grapes, which, from a sweet and spiritless Liquour, do by that internal motion we call Fer∣mentation, acquire that pleasing pun∣gency and briskness of tast that be∣longs to Wine, and afterwards dege∣nerates into that acid and cutting tast that is proper to Vinegar; and all this, by a change of Constitution made by the action of the parts them∣selves on one another, without the help of any external additament.