all the other Senses. This Mr. Hook has undertaken to make out, that Tasting, Touching, Smelling, and Hearing, are as improveable as the Sight; and from his excellent Performances in the one, we may well rely on his Promise in all the rest.
§ XXVIII Mechanics improveable by Transplantations.The next Encrease of Manual Arts which is probable to succeed, may happen by the farther Transplanting and Communicating of the several Natural commodities of all Nations, to other Airs, and other Soils, and other ways of Cultivation. That this is not yet finish'd, is evident, in that there is no Land so well-furnish'd as to produce all the various sorts of Things, which its Ground and Temperature is capable to receive; and also, because many of the most fertile Countries contain large Spaces that are utterly Barren:
This Work then may be farther advanc'd, by three kinds of Endeavours.
The first by Transplanting out of one Land into another, of the same Situation in respect of the Heavens. This may be try'd by conveying the Eastern Spices, and other useful Vegetables, into our Western Plantations. Nor can it be imagin'd, why they should thrive in one Indies, and not in the other; why the Soil should not be as good where the Sun sets, as where it rises; seeing there are parts of both, which lie under the same Influence of that, and the other Celestial Bodies, to whose kindly Heat and Neighbourhood, the Oriental Nations are suppos'd to owe their Advantages. This also may be attempted in our Northern Climates: As for Instance, the Flax, of which we stand so much in need, may prosper in Ireland in many vast Tracts of Ground, now only possessed by wild Beasts, or Tories almost as wild.
