But there are several other
Vegetable substances that are much more sensible then even this Beard of a
wilde _Oat_; such I have found the Beard of the seed of Musk-grass, or
_Geranium moschatum_, and those of other kinds of _Cranes-bil_ seeds, and
the like. But always the smaller the wreathing substance be, the more
sensible is it of the mutations of the Air, a conjecture at the reason of
which I shall by and by add.
The lower end of this wreath'd Cylinder being stuck upright in a little
soft Wax, so that the bended part or _Index_ of it lay _horizontal_, I have
observ'd it always with moisture to unwreath it self from the East (For
instance) by the South to the West, and so by the North to the East again,
moving with the Sun (as we commonly say) and with heat and drouth to
re-twist; and wreath it self the contrary way, namely, from the East, (for
instance) by the North to the West, and so onwards.
The cause of all which _Phaenomena_, seems to be the differing texture of
the parts of these bodies, each of them (especially the Beard of a wilde
_Oat_, and of _Mosk-grass_ seed) seeming to have two kind of substances,
one that is very porous, loose, and spongie, into which the watry steams of
the Air may be very easily forced, which will be thereby swell'd and
extended in its dimensions, just as we may observe all kind of Vegetable
substance upon steeping in water to swell and grow bigger and longer.
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