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.

FINIS.