_Of the Seed._
As the Original, so the ultimate end & Perfection of _Vegetation_ is the
_Seed_. How it is the former, and in its state apt for _Vegetation_,
hath already been seen. How the latter, and in its state of Generation,
we shall now lastly enquire. In doing which, what in the other state
was either not distinctly existent, or not so apparent, or not so
intelligible, will occur.
The two general Parts of the _Seed_ are its _Covers_ and _Body_. The
_Covers_ in this estate are usually four; the outmost we may call
the _Case_: ’Tis of a very various form; sometimes a _Pouch_, as in
_Nasturtium_, _Cochlearia_; a _Cod_, as in all _Pulse_, _Galega_;
sometimes not entire, but parted, or otherwise open, as in _Sorrel_,
_Knotgrass_, with many other forms; I think alwaies more heterogeneous to
that of the _Seed_, by which it differs from the proper Coats. To this
the Caps of _Nuts_, and the _Parenchyma’s_ of Fruits are analogous.
The two next are properly the Coats: In a _Bean_ especially, and the
like; from whence to avoyd Confusion, the denomination may run common
to the responding Covers of other _Seeds_. The Colour of the outer
is of all degrees, from White to the Blackness of _Jett_: Its Figure
sometimes Kidney’d, as in _Alcea_, _Behen_, _Poppy_; triangular, as in
_Polygonatum_, _Sorrel_; triangular spherical, in _Mentha_, _Melissa_;
circular, in _Leucoium_, _Amaranthus_; globular, in _Napus_, _Asperula_;
oval, in _Speculum Veneris_, _Tithymalus_; half Globe, in _Coriander_;
that which we take for one single round _Seed_, being a Conjugation of
two; half Oval, in _Anise_, _Fennel_; Hastal, in _Lactuca_; Cylindrical,
as, if I mistake not, in _Jacobæa_, Pyramidal, in _Geranium_, _Althææ
Fol._ with many other differences: But the Perfection of one or two
of the said Figures lieth in the _Case_: So that as all Lines and
Proportions are in the _Flower_, so all Regular Figures in the _Seed_, or
rather in its _Covers_.
’Tis sometimes glistering, as in _Speculum Veneris_; Rough-cast, in
_Catanance_; Studded, in _Behen_, _Blattaria_; Favous, in _Papaver_,
_Antirrhinum_, _Lepidium annuum_, _Alcea Vesicaria_, _Hyosciamus_, and
many more, before the _Seeds_ have lain long by; Pounced, in _Phalangium
Cretæ_, _Lithospermum_; Ramified, in _Pentaphyllum fragiferum_, _Erectum
majus_, resembling the Fibres of the Ears of the Heart; some just
_Quinquenerval_, as in _Anisum_, and many more, the _Lignous Body_ being
in five main Fibres branched therein.
The Covers of not only _Quince_-Seeds, and those of _Psyllium_ (more
usually taken notice of) but those also of _Horminum_, _Nasturtium_,
_Eruca_, _Camelina_, _Ocymum_, and divers others, have a _Mucilage_;
which, though it be not visible when the Seeds are throughly dry; yet
lying a while in some warm Liquor, or only on the Tongue, it swells more
or less, and upon them all fairly shews it self. On that of _Ocymum_ it
appears grayish; on the other, transparent; and on that of _Nasturtium
Hortense_ very large; even emulous of the inner Pulp surrounding a
_Gooseberry-seed_. The putting of _Clary-seed_ into the Eye, may have
been brought into use from this _Mucilage_, by which alone it may become
Medicinal. And thus far of the _Superficies_.
The nature of the outer Coat is various, _Membranous_, _Cartilaginous_
and _Stony_; the like _Precipitations_ being sometimes made herein, as in
a Stone or Shell; as in that of the Seeds of _Carthamum_, _Lithospermum_,
and others. The Designment hereof, being either with respect to the
_Seed_ in its state of Generation; as where the Case is either wanting,
or at least insufficient of it self, there for its due protection and
warmth; or, in its state of _Vegetation_, for the better Fermenting of
its Tinctures and _Sap_; the Fermentations of some _Seeds_ not well
proceeding, unless they lie in their Stony Casks in the Mould, like
Bottled Liquors in Sand.
All _Seeds_ have their outer Covers open; either by a particular
_Foramen_, as in _Beans_, and other _Pulse_, as is said; or by the
breaking off of the _Seed_ from its _Peduncle_ or _Stool_, as in those
in _Cucumber_, _Cycory_; or by the entering and passage of a _Branch_ or
_Branches_, not only into the Concave thereof near the Cone, but also
through the Cone it self; as in _Shells_ and _Stones_.
For the sake of this _aperture_ it is, that _Akerns_, _Nuts_, _Beans_,
_Cucumbers_, and most other _Seeds_, are in their formation so placed,
that the _Radicle_ still standeth next to it; that, upon _Vegetation_, it
may have a free and ready passage into the Mould.
The Original of the outer Coat, though from Parts of the same substantial
nature, yet is differently made. In a _Plum_, the _Seed-Branch_ which
runs, as is described, through the Stone, is not naked, but, as is said,
invested with a thin _Parenchyma_, which it carries from the Stalk along
with it; and which, by the _Ramification_ of the said _Branch_ within
the Stone, is in part dilated into a Coat. That of a _Bean_ is from the
_Parenchyma_ of the Cod; the superficial part of which _Parenchyma_, upon
the large _peduncle_ of the _Bean_ becoming a thin Cuticle, and upon the
_Bean_ it self a _cartilaginous_ Coat.
The Original of the inner Coat of the _Bean_ is likewise from the inner
part of the said _parenchyma_; which first is spred into a long Cake, or
that which with the _seed-Branch_ maketh the _peduncle_ of the _Bean_;
under which Cake, there is usually a black part or spot; by the length of
which, the inner part of the Cake is next inserted into the outer Coat,
and spred all over the Concave thereof.
This inner Coat, though when the _Seed_ is grown old and dry, ’tis shrunk
up, and in most Seeds so far as scarcely to be discern’d; yet in its
first and juvenile Constitution, is a very Spongy and Sappy Body; and is
then likewise (as the _Womb_ in a pregnant Animal) in proportion very
thick and bulky; in a _Bean_, even as one of the _Lobes_ it self: And in
a _Plum_ or _apricot_, I think I may safely say, half an hundred times
thicker than afterwards, when it is dried and shrunk up; and can scarcely
be distinguished from the upper Coat. Upon which Accounts it is, in this
estate, a true and fair _Parenchyma_.
In this Inner Coat in a _Bean_, the _Lignous Body_ or _Seed-Branch_ is
distributed: Sometimes, as in _French-Beans_, throughout the whole Coat;
as it is in a Leaf: In the Great _Garden-Bean_, upon its first entrance,
it is bipartite, and so in small Branches runs along the Circumference of
the Coat, all meeting and making a kind of Reticulation against the Belly
of the _Bean_. In the same manner the main Branches in the outer Coat of
a _Kernel_, circling themselves on both hands from the place of their
first entrance, at last meet, and mutually inosculate.
So that all the Parts of a _Vegetable_, the _Root_, _Trunk_, _Branch_,
_Leaf_, _Flower_, _Fruit_ and _Seed_, are still made up of two
substantially different Bodies.
And as every Part hath two, so the whole _Vegetable_ taken together, is a
composition of two only, and no more: All properly Woody Parts, Strings
and Fibres, are one Body: All simple _Barques_, _Piths_, _Parenchyma’s_
and _Pulps_, and as to their substantial Nature, _Pills_ and _Skins_
likewise, all but one Body: the several Parts of a _Vegetable_ all
differing from each other, only by the various Proportions and Mixtures,
and variously sized Pores of these two Bodies. What from these two
general Observations might reasonably be inferr’d, I shall not now
mention.
The fourth and innermost Cover we may call the _Secondine_; the sight
whereof, by cutting off the Coats of an _Infant-Bean_, at the Cone
thereof in very thin Slices, and with great Caution, may be obtain’d.
While unbroken, ’tis transparent; being torn and taken off, it gathers
up into the likeness of a Jelly, or that we call the _Tredle_ of an Egg,
when over-boyl’d. This _Membrane_ in larger or elder _Beans_, is not
to be found distinct; but becomes as it were the Lining of the inner
Coat: But (as far as our Enquiries yet discover) it may in most other
_Seeds_, even full grown, be distinctly seen; as in those of _Cucumber_,
_Colocynthis_, _Burdock_, _Carthamum_, _Gromwel_, _Endive_, _Mallows_,
&c. ’Tis usually so very thin, as in the above-nam’d, as very difficultly
to be discover’d. In some _Kernels_, as of _Apricots_, ’tis very thick;
and in some other Seeds. That all these have the Analogy of one and the
same Cover, which I call the _Secondine_, is most probably argu’d from
their alike Natures; being all of them plain simple _Membranes_, with
not the least Fibre of the _Lignous Body_ or _Seed Branch_, visibly
distributed in them; as also from their Contexture, which is in all of
them more close.
The Concave of this _Membrane_ is filled with a most transparent
Liquor, out of which the Seed is formed; as in cutting a _petite_ and
_Infant-Bean_, may be seen; and yet better in a young _Walnut_. In
_Beans_ I have observed it to turn, upon boyling, into a tender white
_coagulum_.
Through this _Membrane_, the _Lignous Body_ or _Seed-Branches_
distributed in the inner Coat, at last shoot downright two slender
Fibres, like two Navles, one into each _Lobe_ of the _Bean_. The places
where the said Fibres shoot into the _Lobes_, are near the _Basis_ of
the _Radicle_; and by their Blackishness well enough remark’d: but the
Fibres themselves are so very small, as scarcely to be discern’d: Yet in
a _Lupine_, of the larger kind, both the places where the Navel-Fibres
shoot into the _Lobes_ (which here from the _Basis_ of the _Radicle_
is more remote) and the Fibres themselves, are fairly visible. For the
_Seed-Branch_, upon its entrance into the Coat of the _Lupine_, is
presently divided into two _main Branches_, and those two into other
less; whereof some underly, others aloft, run along the Coat, and
towards its other end meet and are inosculated; where about two opposite,
shallow, round, and most minute Cavities, answerable to two Specks of
a _cartilaginous_ gloss, one in either _Lobe_, may be observed, which
Specks are the ends of the said _Navel-Fibres_, upon the ripening of
the _Seed_ there broken off. These Fibres, from the Superficies of each
_Lobe_, descend a little way directly down; presently, each is divided
into two Branches, one distributed into the _Lobes_, the other into the
_Radicle_ & _Plume_, in the manner as in the first Chapter is describ’d.
And thus far the History. I shall now only with a brief account of
the _Generation_ of the _Seed_, as hereupon dependent, conclude this
Discourse.
Let us say then, that the _Sap_ having in the _Root_, _Trunk_, and
_Leaves_, passed divers Concoctions and Separations, in the manner as
they are said to be perform’d therein; ’tis now at last, in some good
maturity, advanced towards the _Seed_.
The more copious and cruder part hereof is again seperated by a free
reception into the _Fruit_, or other Part analogous to it: being either
sufficiently ample to contain it, or at least laxe enough for its
transpiration, and so its due discharge. The more Essential part is
into the _Seed-Branch_ or Branches entertain’d; which, because they are
evermore of a very considerable length, and of a Constitution very fine,
the said _Sap_ thus becomes in its Current therein, as in the _Spermatick
Vessels_, still more mature.
In this mature estate, from the _seed-Branch_ into the Coats of the
_seed_, as into the Womb, ’tis next delivered up. The meaner Part
hereof again, to the outer, as _aliment_ good enough, is supplied.
The finer part is transmitted to the Inner; which, being, as is said,
a _Parenchymous_ and more spatious Body, the _Sap_ therefore is not
herein, as in the outer, a meer _aliment_; but in order to its being, by
Fermentation, farther prepared.
Yet the outer Coat, being on the contrary hard and dense; for that
reason, as it admitteth not the Fermentation of the _Sap_ so well within
it self; so doth it the more promote and favour it in the Inner, being
Bounds both to it and its _Sap_; and also quickneth the process of the
whole Work in the formation of the _Seed_.
Nor doth the outer Coat, for the same reason, more promote than declare
the purity of the _Sap_ now contained in the Inner: For being more hard
and dense, and so not perspirable, must needs suppose the Parts of the
_Sap_ encompassed by it, since thus uncapable of any evacuation, to be
therefore all, so choice, as not to need it.
The _Sap_ being thus prepared in the inner Coat, as a Liquor now apt to
be the _Substratum_ of the future _Seed-Embrio_, by fresh supplies, is
thence discharged; yet that it may not be over-copious; which, because of
the laxity of the Inner Coat from whence it issues, it might easily be;
therefore as the said inner Coat is bounded without by the upper Coat,
so by the _Secondine_ or _Membrane_ is it bounded within; through which
_Membrane_ the _Sap_ being filtr’d, or, as it were, transpiring, the
depositure hereof, answerable to the _Colliquamentum_ in an Egg, or to
the _semen Mulibre_, into its Concave at last is made.
The other Part of the purest _sap_ embosom’d in the Ramulets of the
_seed-Branch_, runs a Circle, or some progress therein; and so becomes,
as the _Semen Masculinum_, yet more elaborate.
Wherein also, lest its Current should be too copious or precipitate,
by their co-arcture and divarication where they are inosculated, it is
retarded; the noblest portion only obtaining a pass.
With this purest _sap_, the said _Ramulets_ being supplied, from thence
at last, the _Navel-Fibres_ shoot (as the privitive _Artery_ into the
_Colliquamentum_) through the _Secondine_ into the aforesaid Liquor
deposited therein.
Into which Liquor, being now shot, and its own proper Sap or Tinctures
mixed therewith, it strikes it thus into a _Coagulum_; or, of a Liquor,
it becomes a Body consistent and truly _Parenchymous_; and the supply of
the said Liquor still continu’d, and the shooting of the Navel-Fibres,
as is above described, still carried on, and therewith the said
_Coagulation_ or _Fixation_ likewise.
And in the Interim of the _Coagulation_, a gentle _Fermentation_ being
also made, the said _Parenchyma_ or _Coagulum_ becometh such, not of
any Constitution indifferently, but is thus raised (as we see Bread
in Baking) into a _Congeries_ of _Fixed Bubbles_: For such is the
_Parenchyma_ of the whole Seed.