NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 223 



reticulated veins and branches, is the typical number of the fingers and toes 

 of vertebrate animals, and is of frequent occurrence among star-fishes. Six is 

 the proportional number of carbon in chemistry, and 3 X 2 is a common 

 number in the floral organs of monocotyledouous plants, such as the lilies of 

 the field, which we are exhorted to consider. Seven appears as significant 

 only in a single order of plants (Heptandria), but has an importance in the 

 animal kingdom, where it is the number of vertebrae hi the neck of mammalia, 

 and, according to Mr. Edwards, the typical number of rings in the head, in the 

 thorax, and in the abdomen of Crustacea. Eight is the definite number in 

 chemical composition for oxygen, the most universal element hi nature, and is 

 very common in the organs of sea-jellies. Nine seems to be rare in the organic 

 kingdom. Ten or 5 X 2 is found in star fishes, and is the number of digits on 

 the fore and hind limbs of animals. Without going over any more individual 

 numbers, we find multiple numbers acting an important part in chemical com- 

 positions, and in the organs of flowers ; for the elements unite in multiple 

 relations, and the stamens are often the multiples of the petals. In the 

 arrangement of the appendages of the plant we have a strange series, 1, 2, 3, 

 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, which was supposed to possess virtues of an old date, and 

 before it was discovered in the plant. In natural philosophy the highest law, 

 that of forces acting from a centre, proceeds according to the square of num- 

 bers. In the curves and relative length of branches of plants, there are 

 evidently quantitative relations which mathematics have not been able to seize 

 and express. 





