well in Earth undung'd, it would not be amiss to make a Tryal with it;
for 'tis an annual Plant, that arises where it prospers, sometimes as
high as a Tall Man; and I have had leaves of it in my Garden neer a
Foot and a Halfe broad. But the next time I Try this Experiment, it
shall be with several seeds of the same sort, in the same pot of
Earth, that so the event may be the more Conspicuous. But because
every Body has not Conveniency of time and place for this Experiment
neither, I made in my Chamber, some shorter and more Expeditions
[Transcriber's Note: Expeditious] Tryals. I took a Top of Spearmint,
about an Inch Long, and put it into a good Vial full of Spring water,
so as the upper part of the Mint was above the neck of the Glass, and
the lower part Immers'd in the Water; within a few Dayes this Mint
began to shoot forth Roots into the Water, and to display its Leaves,
and aspire upwards; and in a short time it had numerous Roots and
Leaves, and these very strong and fragrant of the Odour of the Mint:
but the Heat of my Chamber, as I suppose, kill'd the Plant when it was
grown to have a pretty thick Stalk, which with the various and
ramified Roots, which it shot into the Water as if it had been Earth,
presented in its Transparent Flower-pot a Spectacle not unpleasant to
behold. The like I try'd with sweet Marjoram, and I found the
Experiment succeed also, though somewhat more slowly, with Balme and
Peniroyal, to name now no other Plants. And one of these Vegetables,
cherish'd only by Water, having obtain'd a competent Growth, I did,
for Tryals sake, cause to be Distill'd in a small Retort, and thereby
obtain'd some Phlegme, a little Empyreumaticall Spirit, a small
Quantity of adust Oyl, and a _Caput mortuum_; which appearing to be a
Coal concluded it to consist of Salt and Earth: but the Quantity of
it was so small that I forbore to Calcine it. The Water I us'd to
nourish this Plant was not shifted nor renewed; and I chose
Spring-water rather than Rain-water, because the latter is more
discernably a kinde of [Greek: panspermia], which, though it be
granted to be freed from grosser Mixtures, seems yet to Contain in it,
besides the Steams of several Bodies wandering in the Air, which may
be suppos'd to impregnate it, a certain Spirituous Substance, which
may be Extracted out of it, and is by some mistaken for the Spirit of
the World Corporify'd, upon what Grounds, and with what Probability, I
may elsewhere perchance, but must not now, Discourse to you.
But perhaps I might have sav'd a great part of my Labour. For I finde
that _Helmont_ (an Author more considerable for his Experiments than
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