ajid on the Means of ascertaining it. S4^ 



south of France, whose crawling stem extends itself as the 

 downs rise ; I attempted to tear them up, but never'could reach 

 the genuine root; i. e. the descending portion. I should almost 

 think that these vegetables are sometimes cotemporary with the 

 downs themselves. The rhizomas of the Nymphasa, Equisetum, 

 and ferns, should also afford examples of extreme longevity, 

 though I am not aware of any mode of discovering it with ac- 

 curacy. 



'I shall even descend to vegetables still more humble.*^ Mr 

 Vaucher has traced a lichen for forty years, without seeing any 

 apparent change in its size. For aught I know, it may be po^ 

 sible that, among the specks which cover the rocks, there may 

 be some whose origin goes back to the period when this rock 

 was first exposed to the air. It may be possible that, among 

 the mosses which line the bottom of certain rivers, some of thera 

 may have been in existence when ihey began to flow. 



If we set aside these plants, too obscure perhaps to attract 

 general attention, and confine ourselves to trees, the history of 

 which is an object of universal interest, we shall find the solu- 

 tion of a truly curious problem in the inquiries which I propose. 

 Let us hasten to solve it while there is time. On the one hand, 

 the progress of industry, the calculations of the art of forestry, 

 which are now thoroughly understood, the frequent change of 

 owners, the general spread of civilization, have caused the de- 

 struction of trees a hundred years old, in the most remote dis- 

 tricts ; whilst, on the other, changes in religious opinions, and 

 the decay of some notions worthy of respect, though supersti- 

 tious, tend to diminish the veneration which certain trees formerly 

 inspired in the people. Let us hasten to ascertain the dimen- 

 sions of those which do exist, and if possible to preserve those 

 monuments of ages now no more. If my isolated voice could 

 reach the proprietors of such trees, the municipal governments 

 of the districts where they are, I should like to induce them to 

 take measures which might tend to their preservation. Where 

 is the town which does not take an interest in the preservation 

 of coins, which refer to ages that are gone ? Old trees are coins 

 of a different kind, which deserve to be saved from destruction. 

 I should wish the oldest tree in each district to be recognised as 

 public property, that it should be preserved from injury, either 



