The works of the Honourable Robert Boyle, Esq., epitomiz'd by Richard Boulton ... ; illustrated with copper plates.

OBSERVATION III.

* 1.1It is usually believ'd, That Plants by the Fa∣culties of a Vegetative Soul, select and suck in a Juice, appropriated to each; rather than that they are all nourish'd by one Juice differently modify'd in that Plant: But the Latter will ea∣sily appear, if we consider, what happens in Grafting and Inoculations; for if a Pear-Tree be Grafted into a White-Thorn, the Aliment suck'd in by that Root, will be so alter'd, as to yield Nourishment to a Pear; Fruit much diffe∣rent from that of the White-Thorn: The same is evident in Inoculations, where the Sap, selected by the Root, is so alter'd in the Bud inoculated, that the same Sap, which in the Genuine Branches of the Tree, constitutes one sort of Fruit, is turn'd into another, in those springing from the inoculated Bud. And here it is further Re∣markable, That not only the same Juice yields various sorts of Substances in different Plants, but even in the same Tree; where the Skin of the Fruit differs from its Flesh, and that from the Stone, and all of them from the Substance of the Tree; not only in Colour, but several other Qualities; as the Blossoms of a Peach, have a Purgative Virtue, which is not in the Fruit: And Garcias ab Horto affirms, That the Seeds of so∣lutive Cassia fistula, are Astringent: An Account not unlike to which we have of certain Kernels of a Fruit, much like a White Pear-Plum, by

Mr. Lygon, in his History of Barbados, p. 67, 68. Five of which work'd a dozen times upwards with him, and twenty times by Stool; yet by taking away a thin Film, which divides the Ker∣nel into halves, the Nut is as sweet as a Jordan Almond, and has no sensible Operation: Which Relation is also favour'd by Monardes, under the Title of Fabae Purgatrices, where he speaks of a Purgative Fruit, brought from America, from Carthagena, and also from Nombre de Dios. And Vincent le Blank, in his Survey of the World, p. 260. Part. 2. gives an Account of a Golden Apple, as bitter as Gall, containing Five Kernels, of an equal Bigness with Almonds, whose Juice is sweet; and he also relates, That of a thick Film, which encompasses the Nut in the Shell, they prepare an Excellent Sweet-Meat.

Notes

• * 1.1

  All Plants may be nou∣rish'd by one and the same Sub∣stance.