The anatomy of plants

O speak of the Causes of Tasts, before we have well enumerated and distinguished them; is to provide Furniture for a House, before the Roomes have been counted and measured out. But the Varieties of Tasts having been first laid down; it will induce us to believe, and investigate as great a variety in their Causes.

2. §. Now the Causes of Tasts, particularly of the Tasts of Plants, whereof we chiefly speak, are, in general, these Four or Five, sc. The Bed out of which they grow; The Aer in which they stand; The Parts of which they consist; The several Fermentations under which their Juyces pass; And the Organs by which their Tastable Parts are perceiv’d: as will appear upon Instance.

3. §. But the immediate Causes, besides the Organs of Taste, are the Principles of Plants. As many of which, as come under the notice of Sense, we have already supposed to be these Seven, Alkaline, Acid, Aer, Water, Oyl, Spirit and Earth. The Particles both of Alkaline and Acid Salts, are all angular and poynted. Those of Aer, properly and strictly so called, are Elastick or Springy; and therefore also Crooked; as I have likewise formerly conjectured. And I find the Learned Borelli, in a Book of his since then published, to be of the same Opinion. Those of all Fluid Bodies, quà Fluid, and therefore of Water, Oyl and Spirit, I conceive to be Globular, but hollow, and with holes in their Sides. Those of Water, to be larger Globes, with more holes; those of Oyl, to be lesser, with fewer holes; and those of Spirit the least. Lastly, that the particles of Earth are also Round; yet angular; and nearer to a solid.

4. §. These Principles affect the Organs of Sense, according to the variety of their Figures, and of their Mixture. So those which are sharp or poynted; and those which are springy; are fitted to produce any stronger Taste: and those which are round, are apt, of their own Nature, to produce a weaker or softer one. And so by the diversities of their Mixture; not only with respect to their Proportion, but also the very Mode of their Conjunction. Hence it is, that many Bodies which abound with Salt, as Ambar with an Acid, and the Bones of Land-Animals with an Alkaline, have notwithstanding but a weak Tast; the Saline Parts being in the former drowned in the Oyl, and in the latter also buried in the Earth.

5. §. The same is further confirmed by an Experiment mentioned in a former Discourse; Of Mixt. Ch. 5. sc. the Transmutation of Oyl of Anise-Seeds, with the help of Oyl of Vitriol, into a Rosin. For both those Liquors, though so strongly tasted, apart; yet the Rosin made of them, being well washed, hath a very mild Taste, and without any smatch of that in either of the Liquors. Whence it follows, that the very Mode of Mixture is sufficient, not only for the variation of the Degrees in any one Species of Tast; but also for the destroying of one Species, and the introducing of another.

6. §. THESE things being premised, I conceive, That as an Unctuous Tast dependeth upon Oyl; so a Vapid either on Water, or Earth: or upon such an intimate Mixture of other Principles, as renders them indissoluble by the Saliva, and so, in a manner, untastable.

7. §. That a Pungent, is made either by an Alkaly or an Acid sharpned or whetted; that is, cleared from the soyl of other Principles; as in the Spirit of Sal Armoniac or of Sulphur. And so in those Plants which have a Pungent Tast; whose Juyces or Tinctures, although they consist of divers Principles, yet all so loosely mixed, that being dissolved by the Saliva, the Saline are hereupon left naked. Wherefore biting Plants, qua biting, are Nitrous Plants. So that the Juyce of such Plants, is a kind of Spirit of Nitre, made by the several Parts of the Plant. Hence Arum grows best under an Hedg; where the Ground, not being exposed to the Sun, but the Aer only, like those Rooms in Houses, which are covered, is impregnated with a greater quantity of Nitrous Salt. And those Roots which are Biting, have but few or but small Aer-Vessels; whereby fewer parts of the nitroaereal Sap are carryed off into the Trunk. For the same Cause, it is no wonder, that many Aquaticks are Biting; Water being, though it self cold, yet the Menstruum by which all Salts are imbibed most easily, and in laxer state of Commixture with other Principles.

8. §. Penetrant (something slower than Pungent) is made by any Salt that is also soiled or guarded with Earth. Sower, by an Acid only soyled with Earth. Salt, by an Acid guarded by an Alkaly, and soyled with Earth. Cold, by an Acid drowned in Water, and soyled with Earth.

9. §. In all these, the Salts are predominant; In Heat the Oyl or Sulphur. The particles whereof being Spherick and bored with holes; those of Salt stick in them, as the Spokes do in the Hub of a Wheel, or as the Quills in the Skin of a Porcupine. Whereby, as in Common Fire the Sparks of Sulphur being agitated and whirled about by the Aer; with the help of the Salts, which stick in them, tear in pieces all kinds of Bodies: so here, being agitated by the Circulation of the Blood, they make a kind of hurry or combustion; and so, according to the degree and strength of their Motion, tear in pieces fewer or more of the Fibers of the Tongue; and in a greater quantity, would raise a Blister upon it; the common Effect of Fire, or any strong Epispastick. So that a Hot Tast, is produced by Sulphur toothed or armed with Salts. Wherefore all Stillatitious Oyls are Hot; being strongly impregnated or armed with the Essential Salts of the Plants from whence they are distilled. And as those Plants which are very Parenchymous, from the predominancy of their Volatile Acid, are biting: So those which are Lignous, that is, have a good quantity of Lympheducts, from the dominion of their Sulphur are commonly Hot. For the same reason it is, that many both Biting and Hot Plants, as the Roots of Dragon, Garden-Radish, Onion, Iris, Rape-Crowfoot, &c. being corked up in a bottle with Water, and set in a Cellar or other cool place; they do all of them turn Sower in a few days: The same Fermentation, at once sullying the Salts of the one, and disarming the Sulphurs of the other. But some, wherein the Sulphureous parts are more copious, will hardly ever become Sower. Hence also, some Plants, whose Roots are neither Hot, nor of any strong Taste, as those of Wild Anemone; yet their Leaves and Flowers are plainly Caustick: So that it seems, that as their Juyces rise up into the Trunk or Stalk, and are therein further fermented, the Sulphurous Parts thereof, are at the same time relaxed from the other Principles, and acuated with an Aereal Salt.

10. §. A Stupifacient Tast (as the Impression which some Hot Plants make upon the Tongue may be called) is in some sort, analogous to the mortifying of any part of the Body by the application of a Caustick. For as there the mortification succeeds the burning pain, so here, the Stupifaction, neither comes before, nor with the Heat, but follows it.

11. §. Sweetness is produced, sometimes by an Alkaly; smoothed either by a Sulphur, as in Lime-Water; or by both a Spirit and a Sulphur, as in the Stillatitious Oyls of Animals. But most commonly, by a smoothed Acid; as in Malt, Sugar, Hony. Hence a Sweet Taste, is generally founded in a Sower; So Sower Apples, by mellowing, and harsh Pears, by baking become sweet; the Spirit and Sulphur being hereby at once separated from the other Principles and brought to a nearer union with the Acid. So the Sower Leaves of Wood-Sorrel, being dry’d, become sweet: and those of a sower Codlin, while they hang on the Tree, and even of a Crab-Tree, are neither Astringent, nor sower, but sensibly sweet. And so commonly, wherever the said Principles are a little exalted by a soft Fermentation; as in the Juyce of the Stalk of Maze or Indian Wheat, which is as sweet as Sugar; and in the green Stalks of all sorts of Corn and Grass, in several degrees. So likewise Tulips and some other Roots, being taken up, in open weather, sometime before they sprout; if tasted, are as sweet as Liquirish or Sugar; and at no other time: not only Fruits, but many Roots, Seeds, and other Parts, upon their first or early Germination, acquiring a curious Mellowness, wherein, all their Principles are resolved, and their most Spirituous Parts exalted and spread over the Acid. Wherefore also most Roots, which are not meerly long, but grow deep in the ground, have at least some of their Juyces of a sweet Tast; as Liquirish, Eryngo, Hounds-Tongue, Garden-Parsnep, Black Henbeane, Deadly Night-shade, &c. Even the Juyce of Horse Radish, which bleeds at the Lympheducts, is of a sweet Taste. And of the same kindred those which grow the deepest, are the sweetest; as a Parsnep is sweeter than a Carrot, especially if you tast the bleeding Sap; and the Root of Common Tall Trefoyl tasteth somewhat like Liquirish, but is not near so sweet. For all deep Roots, are fed with a less Nitrous Aliment: and being remoter from the Aer, their Juyces pass under much more soft and moderate Fermentations.

12. §. Bitterness is produced by a Sulphur well impregnated, either with an Alkaline, or an Acid Salt, but also shackled with Earth. And therefore the Bitterest Plants, commonly yield the greatest quantity of Lixivial Salt. So also many Stillatitious Oyls digested with any strong Acid, will acquire a Bitter Taste. Wherefore this Taste is often founded either in a Hot Taste, or a Sweet. Hence it is, that the Leaves of all sweet Roots are Bitter. And that the Fig-Tree, which bears a sweet Fruit, bleeds a Bitter Milk. So likewise those Plants, which bear a Bitter Stalk, have not Bitter, but Hot Roots, as in Yarrow, Primrose, Wormwood, Rue, Carduus benedictus &c. is manifest. So the Coats of the Seeds of Viola Lunaria are of a hot and biting Tast; but the Seeds themselves, in which the Salts, though copious, yet are also immersed in a greater quantity of Oyl, are Bitter. And that the Earthy Parts do also contribute something more to this, than to most of the forementioned Tasts, is argued from its being more Fixed; that is, the Body in which it resides, is either more Fixed, or else flyeth not away in that same state of conjunction, by which it maketh a Bitter Taste. For whereas Hot, Biting, and divers other Plants lose the strength of their Taste, by drying; most of those which are Bitter, do hereby increase it. And although the Extract of Dandelion and some other Roots, which are very Bitter, hath scarce any Tast, yet generally, they are Bitter Plants, which are best for the making of Extracts. And the distilled waters of Plants which are Hot and Bitter, notwithstanding that they always tast high of the Heat, yet rarely and very faintly of the Bitter.

13. §. Astringency, is made, partly, by the further increase and more intimate union of the Earth. And therefore this is seated still in a more Fixed Composition, than a Bitter. And partly, by the diminution of the Sulphur. And therefore the Acid Parts ingredient to it, either by Fermentation or otherwise, are easily exposed. Astringency being the Womb or Bud of a Sower. For all or most Astringent Roots bear a sower Leaf, or a sower Fruit; as those of all Docks and Sorrels, Black-Thorn, Dog-Rose, and others. Wherefore also, Astringency is often found in conjunction with Bitter, Sweet, or Sower; but scarce ever with Pungent, or Hot.

14. §. An Aromatick Tast, seems to be produced, chiefly, by a spirituous, acid, and volatile Sulphur; as in Ambar-griese, Cardamon-Seeds, many Stillatitious Oyls &c. A Nauseous, by a Sulphur less Spirituous and Volatile, and more Alkaline; as in the Root of Dog-stones, Sheep scabious, the young and green Leaves of Coriander, or the Seeds of Cumine. The Spirit, as it enters the Nerves, carrying the Alkaline Sulphur along with it; as when a City is betrayed by one of its Inhabitants to an Enemy.

15. §. An Intermittent Taste, as in Arum, seems to have its dependance upon a simple and very pure Nitre, which by its subtilty enters into the very Concaves of the Nervous Fibers of the Tongue: and so being lodged there, is little affected or stirred, by the Motion of the Blood; but only when the Tongue it self is moved, at which time it causeth a kind of pricking Taste.

16. §. A Tremulous Taste, as in Pyrethrum, dependeth probably, upon an Aereal Sulphur; which being agitated by the Blood in its Circulation, the springy Motion or Vibration of the Aereal Parts produce that Taste.

17. §. A Tast is Lingual, Guttural, &c. according to the grosness or fineness or other difference of the Membranes into which the tastable parts are admitted. For Tasts are made not meerly by the outward Contact, but the Ingress of the tastable parts. Now the outer Skin of the Tongue, which is commonly observed to pill off in boyling, like the Cuticula in other Parts, hath either no sense, or much less than that which lies under it; and is therefore, but a Sieve or Strainer to the tastable parts. So that being of different fineness in the several parts of the Tongue; it hereby comes to pass, that according as the tastable parts of any Plant are more or less penetrant, subtle, or dissoluble, they are admitted into one part of the Tongue, and not another. And in the Throat, the outer Skin it self, seems to be the immediate Sensory; and so, to be evidently affected with the Juyces of some Plants, from which the Tongue receiveth little or no sensible Impression.

18. §. When the Tast is Permanent and Fixed in some one Part; it is a sign, either that the Gustable Parts are less dissoluble; or more subtle, so as to enter the Concaves of the Fibers; and that there is an admixture of an Aereal Salt, or a like Sulphur; some of the parts whereof, being crooked, hang like Hooks on the Fibers of the Tongue. For the reception of such a Tast, is not to be looked upon as a wound made with a Lancet, and so the Lancet taken away; but with the Lancet sticking in the wound; until in time, ’tis carryed off by the Circulation of the Blood; which like the Stream of a River in a Flood, carries all before it, but those things last, which stick in the Mud.

19. §. But when the Tast, though Permanent, yet is Diffusive or Transitive; it seems probable, that as there is a less admixture of Aer; so a greater subtlety of the Tastable Parts, whereby they are conveyed, through the Nervous Fibers, from one Part to another.