upon good Grounds, rejected them; and find ing no reafon as yet to alter my Opinion, I fhall not further infift on them. Howbeit I will not deny but that the noxious and malignant Plants do many of them difcover fomething of their Nature by the fad and melancholick Visage of their Leaves, Flowers and Fruit. And that I may not leave that Head wholly untouch'd, one Obfervation I fhall add relating to the Virtues of Plants, in which I think there is fomething of Truth, that is, that there are, by the wife Difpofition of Providence, fuch Species of Plants produc'd in every Country as are moft proper and convenient for the Meat and Medicine of the Men and Animals that are bred and inhabit there. Infomuch that Solenander writes, that from the frequency of the Plants that sprung up naturally in any Region he could easily gather what endemial Difeafes the Inhabitants thereof were fubject to: So in Denmark, Friezland, and Holland, where the Scurvy ufually reigns, the proper Remedy thereof, Scurvy-grafs, doth plentifully grow.

Of Bodies endued with a fenfitive Soul, or Animals.

I proceed now to the confideration of Animate Bodies endu'd with a fenfitive Soul call'd Animals. Of thefe I fhall only make fome general Obfervations, not curioufly confider the Parts of each particular Species, fave only as they ferve for Inftances or Examples.

First of all, because it is the great defign of Providence

Providence to maintain and continue every Species, I fhall take notice of the great Care and abundant provifion that is made for the securing this End. Quanta ad eam rem vis, ut in fuo quaque genere permaneat? Cic. Why can we imagine all Creatures fhould be made Male and Female but to this purpofe? Why should there be implanted in each Sex fuch a vehement and inexpugnable Appetite of Copulation? Why in viviparous Animals, in the time of Geftation fhould the Nourishment be carried to the Embryon in the Womb, which at other times goeth not that way? When the Young is brought forth, how comes all the Nourishment then to be transfer'd from the Womb to the Breafts or Paps, leaving its former Channel, the Dam at fuch time being for the moft part lean and illfavour'd? To all this I might add, as a great Proof and Inftance of the care that is taken, and provifion made for the prefervation and continuance of the Species, the lafting fœcundity of the Animal Seed or Egg in the Females of Man, Beafts and Birds. I fay the Animal Seed, because it is to me highly probable, that the Females as well of Beafts as Birds have in them from their firft formation the Seeds of all the Young they will afterwards bring forth, which when they are all spent and exhausted by what means foever, the Animal becomes barren and effete. Thefe Seeds in fome Species of Animals continue fruitful, and apt to take life by the admixture of the Male-Seed fifty years of more, and in fome Birds fourfcore or an hun

dred. Here I cannot omit one very remarkable Obfervation I find in Cicero: Atque ut intelligamus (faith he) nihil horum effe fortuitum, fed bac omnia provide folertifque natura, qua multiplices foetus procreant, ut Sues, ut Canes, his mammarum data eft multitudo, quas eafdem paucas habent ea beftia que pauca gignunt. That we may understand that none of these things (he had been fpeaking of) is fortuitous, but that all are the effects of provident and fagacious Nature; multiparous Quadrupeds, as Dogs, as Swine, are furnished with a multitude of Paps: Whereas thofe Beasts which bring forth few, have but a few.

That Flying Creatures of the greater fort, that is Birds, fhould all lay Eggs, and none bring forth live Young, is a manifeft Argument of Divine Providence, defigning thereby their Prefervation and Security, that there might be the more plenty of them; and that neither the Birds of Prey, the Serpent, nor the Fowler fhould ftraiten their Generations too much. For if they had been viviparous, the Burden of their Womb, if they had brought forth any competent number at a time, had been fo great and heavy, that their Wings would have fail'd them, and they become an eafie Prey to their Enemies Or if they had brought but one or two at a time, they would have been troubled all the Year long with feeding their Young, or bearing them in their Womb. Dr. More Antid. Atheism. 1. 2. c. 9.

This mention of feeding their Young puts

me

me in mind of two or three confiderable Obfervations referring thereto.

Firft, Seeing it would be for many reafons inconvenient for Birds to give Suck, and yet no lefs inconvenient if not deftructive to the Chicken upon exclufion all of a fudden to make fo great a change in its Diet, as to pafs from liquid to hard Food, before the Stomach be gradually confolidated and by ufe ftrengthen'd and liabituated to grind and concoct it, and its tender and pappy Flesh fitted to be nourish'd by fuch ftrong and folid Diet; and before the Bird be by little and little accuftom'd to use its Bill, and gather it up, which at firft it doth but very flowly and imperfectly; therefore Nature hath provided a large Yolk in every Egg, a great part whereof remaineth after the Chicken is hatch'd, and is taken up and enclos'd in its Belly, and by a Channel made on purpose receiv'd by degrees into the Guts, and ferves inftead of Milk to nourish the Chick for a confiderable time; which nevertheless mean while feeds it felf by the Mouth a little at a time, and gradually more and more, as it gets a perfecter Ability and Habit of gathering up its Meat, and its Stomach is ftrengthened to macerate and concoct it, and its Flesh hardned and fitted to be nourish'd by it.

Secondly, That Birds which feed their Young in the Neft, tho' in all likelihood they have no ability of counting the number of them, fhould yet (tho' they bring but one morfel of Meat at a time, and have not fewer (it may be) I 3

then

then feven or Eight Young in the Neft together, which at the return of their Dams, do all at once with equal greedinefs, hold up their Heads and gape) not omit or forget one of them, but feed them all; which, unless they did carefully obferve and retain in Memory which they had fed, which not, were impoffible to be done; This, I fay, feems to me most strange and admirable, and beyond the poffibility of a meer Machine to perform.

Another Experiment I fhall add to prove, that tho' Birds have not an exact power of numbring, yet have they of diftinguishing many from few, and knowing when they come near to a certain number, And that is, that when they have laid fuch a number of Eggs, as they can conveniently cover and hatch, they give over and begin to fit; not because they are neceffarily determin'd to fuch a number; for that they are not, as is clear, because they have an ability to go on and lay more at their pleafure. Hens, for example, if you let their Eggs alone, when they have laid fourteen or fifteen, will give over and begin to fit, whereas if you daily withdraw their Eggs, they will go on to lay five times that number. [Yet fome of them are fo cunning, that if you leave them but one Egg, they will not lay to it, but forfake their Neft.] This holds not only in domeftick and manfuete Birds, for then it might be thought the effect of cicuration or inftitution, but also in the wild; for my honour'd Friend Dr. Martin Lifter inform'd me, that of