THE ANATOMY OF PLANTS.

WITH AN

IDEA

OF A

Philosophical History of Plants,

And several other

LECTURES,

Read before the

ROYAL SOCIETY.

By NEHEMJAH GREW M.D. Fellow of the ROYAL SOCIETY, and of the COLLEGE of PHYSICIANS.

Printed by W. Rawlins, for the Author, 1682.

TO HIS MOST Sacred Majesty CHARLES II. King of Great Britain, &c.

May it please Your Majesty,

HE The Dedication of one Part of the following Anatomy having been very graciously received by Your Majesty: I am now emboldened most humbly to present the Whole into Your Royal Hands.

By which Your Majesty will find, That there are Terræ Incognitæ in Philosophy, as well as Geography. And for so much, as lies here, it comes to pass, I know not how, even in this Inquisitive Age, That I am the first, who have given a Map of the Country.

Your Majesty will here see, That there are those things within a Plant, little less admirable, than within an Animal. That a Plant, as well as an Animal, is composed of several Organical Parts; some whereof may be called its Bowels. That every Plant hath Bowels of divers kinds, conteining divers kinds of Liquors. That even a Plant lives partly upon Aer; for the reception whereof, it hath those Parts which are answerable to Lungs. So that a Plant is, as it were, an Animal in Quires; as an Animal is a Plant, or rather several Plants bound up into one Volume.

Again, that all the said Organs, Bowels, or other Parts, are as artificially made; and for their Place and Number, as punctually set together; as all the Mathematick Lines of a Flower or Face. That the Staple of the Stuff is so exquisitely fine, that no Silk-worm is able to draw any thing near so small a Thred. So that one who walks about with the meanest Stick, holds a Piece of Natures Handicraft, which far surpasses the most elaborate Woof or Needle-Work in the World.

That by all these Means, the Ascent of the Sap, the Distribution of the Aer, the Confection of several sorts of Liquors, as Lympha’s, Milks, Oyls, Balsames; with other parts of Vegetation, are all contrived and brought about in a Mechanical way. In sum, Your Majesty will find, that we are come ashore into a new World, whereof we see no end.

It may be, that some will say, into another Utopia. Yet not I, but Nature speaketh these things: the only true Pallas, wherewith it is treasonable for the most couriously handed Arachne to compare. In whose Name, I, the meanest of her Pupils, do in all humility crave Your Majesties Gracious Patronage. Whereof I cannot doubt, since Your Majesty hath been pleased to be the Founder, and to style Your Self the Patron of that Society, of which I have the honour to be a Member. Your Majesty deeming it to be a more Noble Design, To enlarge the Territories of Knowledge, than those of Dominion: and the Highest Pitch of Human Glory, not to rule, in any sort, over many; but to be a Good Prince over Wise Men. I am

Your Majesties most humble and most obedient Subject NEHEMJAH GREW.