FOOTNOTES:
[a] The fifth Book of Theophrastus’s Hist. Plant. may be here consulted: Where he gives ample instances of the various Constitutions and Uses of Trees, in various Works, &c. See also before [Book IV. Chap. 13. Note (a).]
[] Invisis quoque herbis inseruit [Natura] remedia: quippe cùm medicinas dederit etiam aculeatis——in quibus ipsis providentiam Naturæ satis admirari amplectique non est.——Inde excogitavit aliquas aspectu hispidas, tactu truces, ut tantùm non vocem ipsius fingentis illas, rationemque reddentis exaudire videamur, ne se depascat avida Quadrupes, ne procaces manus rapiant, ne neglecta vestigia obterant, ne insidens Ales infringat: his muniendo Aculeis, telisque armando, remediis ut tuta ac salva sint. Ita hoc quoque quod in iis odimus, hominum causa excogitatum est. Plin. N. H. L. 22 c. 6.
Are some of the Species of Nature noxious? They are also useful——Doth a Nettle sting? It is to secure so good a Medicine from the Rapes of Children and Cattle. Doth the Bramble cumber a Garden? It makes the better Hedge; where if it chanceth to prick the Owner, it will tear the Thief. Grew Cosmolog. L. 3. c. 2. §. 47.
[c] That the most abject Vegetables, &c. have their Use, and are beneficial to the World, may in some measure appear from the Use the Northern People put rotten Wood, &c. unto. Satis ingeniosum modum habent populi septentrionales in nemoribus nocturno tempore pertranseuntes, imo & diurno, quando in remotioribus Aquilonis partibus ante, & post Solstitium hyemale continuæ noctes habentur. Quique his remediis indigent, Cortices quercinos inquirunt putres, easque collocant certo interstitio itineris instituti, ut eorum splendore, quò voluerint, perficiant iter. Nec solùm hoc præstat Cortex, sed & Truncus putrefactus, ac fungus ipse Agaricus appellatus, &c. Ol. Mag. Hist. L. 2. c. 16.
To this we may add Thistles in making Glass, whose Ashes Dr. Merret saith, are the best, viz. the Ashes of the Common-way Thistle, though all Thistles serve to this Purpose. Next to Thistles are Hop-strings, cut after the Flowers are gathered. Plants that are Thorny and Prickly, seem to afford the best and most Salt. Merret’s Observ. on Anton. Ner. p. 265.
Quid majora sequar? Salices, humilesque Genistæ.
Aut illæ pecori frondem, aut pastoribus umbram
Sufficiunt, Sepemque satis, & pabula melli.
Virg. Georg. L. 2. ℣. 434.