ry of a very curious exotic, which has been delivered to Plants. us from good authority; and confirmed by the obfervations of feveral European botanists." Plants dies: but the experiments of Count Marfigli evinced, that they are endued with life, and led him to clafs them with the maritime plants. And the obfervations of Ellis, Juffieu, and Peyfonel, have fince raised them to the rank of animals. The detection of error, in long eftablifhed opinions concerning one branch of natural knowledge, juftifies the fufpicion of its exiftence in others, which are nearly allied to it. And it will appear from the profecution of our inquiry into the inftincts, fpontaneity, and self-moving power of vegetables, that the fufpicion is not without foundation. He then goes on to draw a comparison between the inftincts of animals and thofe of vegetables: the calf, as foon as it comes into the world, applies to the teats of the cow; and the duckling, though hatched under a hen, runs to the water. "Inftinets analogous to these (says our author), operate with equal energy on the vegetable tribe. A feed contains a germ, or plant in miniature, and a radicle, or little root, intended by nature to fupply it with nourifhment. If the feed be fown in an inverted pofition, fill each part pursues its proper direction. The plumula turns upward, and the radicle ftrikes downward into the ground. A hop-plant, turning round a pole, follows "the course of the fun, from fouth to weft, and foon dies, when forced into an oppofite line of motion: but remove the obftacle, and the plant will quickly return to its ordinary position. The branches of a honey-fuckle fhoot out longitudinally, till they become unable to bear their own weight; and then ftrengthen themfelves, by changing their form into a spiral: when they meet with other living branches, of the fame kind, they coalefce, for mutual fupport, and one fpiral turns to the right and the other to the left; thus feeking, by an inftinctive impulfe, fome body on which to climb, and increafing the probability of finding one by the diverfity of their courfe: for if the auxiliary branch be dead, the other uniformly winds itself round from the right to the left. "Thefe examples of the inftinctive economy of vegetables have been purposely taken from fubjects familiar to our daily obfervation. But the plants of warmer climates, were we fufficiently acquainted with them, would probably furnish better illuftrations of this acknowledged power of animality: and I fhall briefly recite the hifto The Doctor then goes on to give a defcription of the dionea muscipula (1), for which fee vol. vi. p. 32. and concludes, that if he has furnished any prefumptive proof of the inftinctive power of vegetables, it will neceffarily follow that they are endued with fome degree of fpontaneity. More fully to evince this, however, the Doctor points out a few of thofe phenomena in the vegetable kingdom which feem to indicate fpontaneity."Several years ago (fays he), whilft engaged in a course of experiments to afcertain the influence of fixed air on vegetation, the following fact repeatedly occurred to me A fprig of mint, fufpended by the root, with the head downwards, in the middle glafs veffel of Dr Nooth's machine, continued to thrive vigorously, without any other pabulum than what was fupplied by the ftream of mephitic gas to which it was expofed. In 24 hours the ftem formed into a curve, the head became erect, and gradually afcended towards the mouth of the veffel; thus producing, by fucceffive efforts, a new and unufual configuration of its parts. Such exertions in the sprig of mint, to rectify its inverted pofition, and to remove from a foreign to its natural element, feems to evince evolition te avoid what was evil, and to recover what had been experienced to be good. If a plant, in a garden-pot, be placed in a room which has no light except from a hole in the wall, it will fhoot towards the hole, pass through it into the open air, and then vegetate upwards in its proper direction. Lord Kames relates, that, amongst the ruins of New Abbey, formerly a monaftery in Galloway, there grows on the top of a wall a plane tree, 20 feet high. Straitened for nourishment in that barren fituation, it feveral years ago directed roots down the fide of the wall till they reached the ground ten feet below: and now the nourishment it afforded to these roots, during the time of defcending, is amply repaid; having every year fince that time made vigorous fhoots. From the top of the wall to the furface of the earth, these roots have not thrown out a fimple fibre, but are now united into a pretty thick hard root. "The regular movements by which the fun-flower prefents its fplendid disk to the fun have been known to B 2 naturalifts, (8) Dr Watfon, the prefent bishop of Landaff, who has efpoufed the fame fide of the question with Dr Percival (fee the 5th vol. of his Chemical Effays), reafons thus on the motions of vegetables." Whatever can produce any effect (fays he) upon an animal organ as the impact of external bodies, heat and cold, the vapour of burning fulphur, of volatile alkali, want of air, &c. are found to act alfo upon the plants called fenfuive. But not to infift upon any more inftances, the mufcular motions of the dionæa mufcipula lately brought into Europe from America, feem far fuperior in quickness to thofe of a variety of animals. Now to refer the mufcular mo tions of fhell-fifh and zoophytes to an internal principle of volition, to make them indicative of the perceptivity of the being, and to attribute the more notable ones of vegetables to certain mechanical dilatations and contrac tions of parts occafioned by external impulfe, is to err against that rule of philofophizing which aligns the fame caufes for effects of the fame kind. The motions in both cafes are equally accommodated to the prefervation of the being to which they belong, are equally diftinct and uniform, and fhould be equally derived from mechanifm, or equally admitted as criterions of perception. "I am fenfible that thefe and other fimilar motions of vegetables may by fore be confidered as analogous to the automatic or involuntary motions of animals; but as it is not yet determined among the phyfiologifts, whe ther the motion of the heart, the peristaltic motion of the bowels, the contractious obfervable upon external impulfe in the mufcles of animals deprived of their heads and hearts, be attributable to an irritability unaccompanied with perceptivity, or to an uneafy fenfation, there feems to be no reafon for entering into fo obfcure a difquifition; efpecially fince irritability, if admitted as the caufe of the motions of vegetables, must a fortiori be admitted as the cause of the lefs exquifite and difcernible motions of beings univerfally referred to the animal kingdom." Plants. naturalifts, and celebrated by poets, both of ancient and, which conftantly and uniformly exerts a felf-moving modern times. Ovid founds upon it a beautiful story; power, uninfluenced either by chemical ftimuli, or by and Thomson describes it as an attachment of love to any external impulfe whatsoever. This curious fhrub, the celestial luminary. which was unknown to Linnæus, is a native of the East Indies, but has been cultivated in feveral botanical gardens here. I had an opportunity of examining it in the collection of the late Dr Brown. See HEDY SARUM. I cannot better comment on this wonderful degree of vegetable animation than in the words of Cicero, Inanimum eft omne quod pulfu agitatur externo ; quod autem eft animal, id motu cietur interiore et fuo. See Pennatula, Of Brea, Myti lus, &c. • But one, the lofty follower of the fun, Dr Percival next touches on motion; he mentions corallines, feapens‡, oysters, &c as endued with the power of motion in a very small degree, and then he speaks in the following manner. "Mr Miller (fays he), in his late account of the island of Sumatra, mentions a fpecies of coral, which the inhabitants have mistaken for a plant, and have denominated it lalan-cout, or fea-grafs. 、Ît is found in shallow bays, where it appears like a ftraight ftick, but when touched withdraws itself into the fand. Now if felf-moving faculties like these indicate ani mality, can fuch a diftinction be denied to vegetables, poffeffed of them in an equal or fuperior degree? The water-lily, be the pond deep or fhallow in which it grows, pushes up its flower-ftems till they reach the open air, that the farina fecundans may perform without injury its proper office. About feven in the morning the ftalk erects itself, and the flowers rife above the furface of the water in this ftate they continue till four in the afternoon, when the stalk becomes relaxed, and the flowers fink and clofe. The motions of the fenfitive plant have been long noticed with admiration, as exhibiting the moft obvious figns of perceptivity. And if we admit fuch motions as criteria of a like power in other beings, to attribute them in this inftance to mere mechanifm, actuated folely by external impulfe, is to deviate from the foundeft rule of philofophizing, which directs us not to multiply caufes when the effects appear to be the fame. Neither will the laws of electricity better folve the phenomena of this animated vegetable: for its leaves are equally affected by the contact of electric and non-electric bodies; fhow no change in their fenfibility whether the atmosphere be dry or moift; and inftantly clofe when the vapour of volatile alkali or the fumes of burning fulphur are applied to them. The powers of chemical ftimuli to produce contractions in the fibres of this plant may perhaps lead fome philofophers to refer them to the vis infita, or irritability, which they affign to certain parts of organized matter, totally diftinct from, and independent of, any fentient energy. But the hypothefis is evidently a folecifm, and refutes itself. For the prefence of irritability can only be proved by the experience of irritations, and the idea of irritation involves in it that of feeling. "But there is a fpecies of the order of decandria, "I have thus attempted, with the brevity preferibed by the laws of this fociety, to extend our views of animated nature; to gratify the mind with the contemplation of multiplied acceffions to the general aggregate of felicity; and to exalt our conceptions of the wifdom, power, and benificence of God. In an undertaking never yet accomplished, disappointment can be no difgrace: in one directed to fuch noble objects, the motives are a juftification, independently of fuccefs. Truth, indeed, obliges me to acknowledge, that I review my fpecula tions with much diffidence; and that I dare not prefume to expect they will produce any permanent conviction in others, because I experience an inftability of opinion in myself. For, to ufe the language of Tully, Nefcio quomodo, dum lego, affentior; cum pofui librum, affenfio omnis illa elabitur.-But this fcepticism is perhaps to be afcribed to the influence of habitual preconceptions, rather than to a deficiency of reasonable proof. For befides the various arguments which have been advanced in favour of vegetable perceptivity, it may be further urged, that the hypothefis recommends itself by its confonance to thofe higher analogies of nature, which lead us to conclude, that the greatest poffible fum of happiness exifts in the universe. The bottom of the ocean is overfpread with plants of the most luxuriant magnitude. Immenfe regions of the earth are covered. with perennial forefts. Nor are the Alps, or the Andes, deftitute of herbage, though buried in deeps of fnow. And can it be imagined that fuch profufion of life subfifts without the leaft fenfation or enjoyment? Let us rather, with humble reverence, fuppofe, that vegetables participate, in fome low degree, of the common allotment of vitality; and that our great Creator hath apportioned good to all living things, in number, weight, and measure." See SENSITIVE Plant, MIMOSA, DIONEA Mufcipula, Vegetable MOTION, Sc. To thefe ingenious and fpirited obfervations, we shall fubjoin nothing of our own, but leave our readers to determine for themfelves (c). Speculations of this kind, when carried on by fober men, will never be productive of bad confequences; but by the fubtle fceptic, or the more unwary inquirer, they may be made the engine of very dangerous errors. By this we do not mean to infinuate (c) In the 2d volume of Tranfactions of the Linnean Society, we find Dr Percival's reafoning very ably combated, as far as he draws his confequences from the external motions of plants; where it is argued, that these motions, though in some respects fimilar to thofe of animals, can and ought to be explained, without concluding that they are endowed either with perception or volition. Mr Townfon concludes his paper in these words: "When alt is confidered (fays he), I think we fhall place this opinion amongft the many ingenious flights of the imagination, and foberly follow that blind impulfe which leads us naturally to give fenfation and perceptivity to animal life, and to deny it to vegetables; and fo ftill fay with Aristotle, and our great mafter Linnæus, Vegetabilia cref cunt & vivunt; animalia crefcunt, vivunt, & fentiunt." if it is fufficiently firm to allow of a change of pace; Planes. Plants. finuate that the fpirit of inquiry fhould be fuppreffed, because that spirit, in the hands of weak or of wicked men, may be abused. By those, however, who know the bad confequences that may be drawn, and indeed that have been drawn, from the opinions we have now given an account of, our caution will not be deemed impertinent. See PHYSIOLOGY paffim, and particularly n° 42, and note (4), p. 678. ment, Introd. P. 48. PLANTS growing on Animals. See INSECTS giving root to Plants. Sexes of PLANTS. See SEXES, and BOTANY, fect. v. Method of Drying and Preferving PLANTS for Bota- Withering's First prepare a prefs, which a workman will make Secondly, get half a dozen quires of large foft fpon- When it is perfectly dry, the ufual method is to faften it down, with palte or gum-water, on the righthand inner page of a fheet of large ftrong writing paper. It requires fome dexterity to glue the plant neatly down, fo that none of the gum or paste may appear to defile the paper. Prefs it gently again for a day or two, with a half fheet of bloffom-paper be twixt the folds of the writing-paper. When it is quite dry, write upon the left-hand inner page of the paper the name of the plant; the specific character; the place where, and the time when, it was found; and any other remarks you may think proper. Upon the back of the fame page, near the fold of the paper, write the name of the plant, and then place it in your cabinet. A fmall quantity of finely powdered arfenic, or corrofive fublimate, is ufually mixed with the pafte or gum-water, to prevent the devaftations of infects; but the feeds of Raves-acre finely powdered will anfwer the fame purpofe, without being liable to corrode or to change the colour of the more delicate plants. Some people put the dried plants into the fheets of writing paper, without faftening them down at all; and others only faften them by means of small flips of paper, pafted across the ftem or branches. Where the fpecies of any genus are numerous, and the fpecimens are fmall, feveral of them may be put into one fheet of paper. Another more expeditious method is to take the plants out of the prefs after the first or fecond day; let them remain upon the pafteboard; cover them with five or fix leaves of bloffom paper, and iron them with a hot fmoothing iron until they are perfectly dry. If the iron is too hot, it will change the colours; but fome people, taught by long practice, will fucceed very happily. This is quite the beft method to treat the orchis and other flimy mucilaginous plants. Another method is to take the plants when fresh gathered, and, inftead of putting them into the press, immediately to fasten them down to the paper with ftrong gum water: then dip a camel-hair pencil into fpirit-var nifh, and varnish the whole furface of the plant two or three times over. This method fucceeds very well with plants that are readily laid flat, and it preferves their colours better than any other. The spirit varnish is made thus. To a quart of highly rectified spirit of wine put five ounces of gum fandarach; two ounces of maftich in drops; one ounce of pale gum elemi, and one ounce of oil of fpike-lavender. Let it ftand in a warm place, and fhake it. frequently to expedite the folution of the gums. Where no better convenience can be had, the fpe- cimens may be difpofed fyftematically in a large folio book; but a vegetable cabinet is upon all accounts more eligible. In Plate CCCXCVII. there is a fection of a cabinet, in the true proportions it ought to be made, for containing a complete collection of British plants. By the affiftance of this drawing, and the adjoining fcale, a workman will readily make one. The drawers must have backs and fides, but no other front than a fmall Fients. fmall ledge. Each drawer will be 14 inches wide, and 10 inches from the back to the front, after allowing half an inch for the thickness of the two fides, and a quarter of an inch for the thicknefs of the back. The fides of the drawers, in the part next the front, must be sloped off in a ferpentine line, fomething like what the workmen call an ogee. The bottoms of the drawers must be made to flide in grooves cut in the uprights, fo that no fpace may be loft betwixt drawer and drawer. After allowing a quarter of an inch for the thickness of the bottom of each drawer, the clear perpendicular space in each must be as in the following table. XIV. Three inches and eight XV. tenths. Three inches and four tenths. XVI. One inch and three tenths. very fingular kinds, and fome species yet unknown to Plants These are the kinds most obvious in England; and these are either immersed in the flaty stone which conftiXVII. Two inches and eight tutes whole ftrata, or in flatted nodules, usually of about three inches broad, which readily fplit into two pieces on being struck. tenths. XVIII. Six-tenths of an inch. XIX. Ten inches XX. One inch and ninetenths. XXI. Four inches and four This cabinet fhuts up with two doors in front; and the whole may ftand upon a bafe, containing a few drawers for the reception of duplicates and papers. Foil PLANTS. Many fpecies of tender and herbaceous plants are found at this day, in great abundance, buried at confiderable depths in the earth, and converted, as it were, into the nature of the matter they lie among; foffil wood is often found very little altered, and often impregnated with fubftances of almost all the different foffil kinds, and lodged in all the feveral strata, fometimes firmly imbedded in hard matter; fometimes loofe: but this is by no means the cafe with the tenderer and more delicate fubjects of the vegetable world. Thefe are ufually immerfed either in a blackish flaty fubftance, found lying over the ftrata of coal, else in loose nodules of ferruginous matter of a pebble-like form, and they are always altered into the nature of the fubftance they lie among what we meet with of these are principally of the fern kind; and what is very fingular, though a very certain truth, is, that thefe are principally the ferns of American growth, not those of our own climate. The most frequent foffil plants are the polypody, fpleenwort, ofmund, trichomanes, and the feveral larger and smaller ferns; but befides thefe there are alfo found pieces of the equifetum or horfe-tail, and joints of the ftellated plants, as the clivers, madder, and the like; and thefe have been too often mistaken for flowers; fometimes there are alfo found complete graffes, or parts of them, as alfo reeds, and other watery plants; fometimes the ears of corn, and not unfrequently the twigs or bark, and impreflions of the bark, and fruit of the pine or fir kind, which have been, from their fealy appearance, mistaken for the fins of fishes; and fometimes, but that very rarely, we meet with moffes and fea-plants. Many of the ferns not unfrequently found, are of They are most common in Kent, on coal-pits near Newcastle, and the foreft of Dean in Gloucestershire; but are more or less found about almost all our coal-pits, and many of our iron mines. Though these seem the only fpecies of plants found with us, yet in Germany there are many others, and those found in different fubftances. A whitish ftone, a little harder than chalk, frequently contains them: they are found alfo often in a grey flaty ftone of a firmer texture, not unfrequently in a blackish one, and at times in many others. Nor are the bodies themselves less various here than the matter in which they are contained: the leaves of trees are found in great abundance, among which those of the willow, poplar, whitethorn, and pear trees, are the most common; fmall branches of box, leaves of the olive-tree, and ftalks of garden thyme, are also found there; and fometimes ears of the various fpecies of corn, and the larger as well as the smaller moffes in great abundance. These feem the tender vegetables, or herbaceous plants, certainly found thus immerfed in hard stone, and buried at great depths in the earth: others of many kinds there are also named by authors; but as in bodies fo imperfect errors are easily fallen into, these seem all that can be afcertained beyond mere conjecture. PLANTS, method of preferving them in their original shape and colour. Wafh a fufficient quantity of fine fand, fo as perfectly to feparate it from all other fubftances; dry it; pafs it through a fieve to clear it from any grofs particles which would not rife in the washing: take an earthen veffel of a proper fize and form, for every plant and flower which you intend to preferve; gather your plants and flowers when they are in a state of perfection, and in dry weather, and always with a convenient portion of the ftalk: heat a little of the dry fand prepared as above, and lay it in the bottom of the veffel, fo as equally to cover it; lay the plant or flower upon it, fo as that no part of it may touch the fides of the vellel: fift or shake in more of the fame fand by little upon it, fo that the leaves may be extended by degrees, and without injury, till the plant or flower is covered about two inches thick: put the veffel into a ftove, or hot-house, heated by little and little to the 50th degree; let it PLA [ Plant stand there a day or two, or perhaps more, according to the thickness and fucculence of the flower or plant; Plantago. then gently shake the fand out upon a fheet of paper, and take out the plant, which you will find in all its beauty, the shape as elegant, and the colour as vivid as when it grew. Some flowers require certain little operations to preferve the adherence of their petals, particularly the tulip; with refpect to which it is neceffary, before it is buried in the fand, to cut the triangular fruit which rifes in the middle of the flower; for the petals will then remain more firmly attached to the stalk. A hortus ficcus prepared in this manner would be one of the most beautiful and useful curiofities that can be. Moving PLANT. See HEDY SARUM. Sea PLANTS. See SEA Plants. Senfitive PLANT. See MIMOSA and SENSITIVE Plant. PLANTA Faminea, a female plant, is one which bears PLANTAGENET, the furname of the kings of PLANTÀGO, PLANTAIN; a genus of the mono- Of the coronopus, or buckthorn plantain, there are two H Planter- PLA PLANTATION, in the Weft Indies, denotes a PLANTERSHIP, in the West Indies, denotes the ma- To effect a defign fo comprehenfive, it is neceffary for But as negroes, cattle, mules, and horfes, are as it.. Of Negroes, Cattle, &c.] In the firft place, then, as. it is the intereft of every planter to preferve his negroes in health and ftrength; fo every act of cruelty is not lefs. to the laws of humanity: and if a manager confiders his repugnant to the mafter's real profit, than it is contrary negroes under his care with due benevolence, for good own ease and his employer's intereft, he will treat all on the contrary, it is evident from experience, that he. difcipline is by no means inconfiftent with humanity: who feeds his negroes well, proportions their labour to their age, fex, and strength, and treats them with kindnefs and good nature, will reap a much larger product, and with infinitely more eafe and felf-fatisfaction, than chaftifes them with undue feverity. Every planter then Martin on the most cruel talkmafter, who ftarves his negroes, or nomift; muft feed his negroes with the most wholesome who wishes to grow rich with eafe, muft be a good eco- Planterfipe food, fufficient to preferve them in health and vigour. planter may preferve his people in health and ftrength. Common experience points out the methods by which a Some of his moft fruitful land fhould be allotted to each negro in proportion to his family, and a fufficient portion of time allowed for the cultivation of it; but becaufe fuch allotment cannot in long droughts produce enough for his comfortable support, it is the incumbent duty |