CHAP. IV. FUNCTION OP NUTRITION. 24-7 



and diameters of trees from 1 year to 5000 years old. 

 From this we shall make the following extract : 



Age. Height. Diameter. 



1 year. 5 feet. T ^ feet. 



30 22 2 



100 29 4 



210 40 6 



660 53 11 



1050 58| 14 



2800 67 20 



5150 73 30 



It will be observed, according to this table, that the 

 ages of trees whose diameters are 6 feet would be no 

 more than 210 years; whereas it was satisfactorily 

 shown that those which Thevet had described must at 

 least be 600. So far then this table would underrate 

 rather than exaggerate, the ages of these trees. It 

 must be confessed that the estimate given for those of 

 the largest dimensions is too startling to be received 

 with implicit confidence ; and that we need further 

 evidence to satisfy us that these calculations are good 

 approximations to the truth. Be this as it may, it 

 seems to be sufficiently proved that the world is pos- 

 sessed of living monuments of antiquity, whose ages 

 surpass those of the most stupendous fabrics which 

 the labour of man has reared to perpetuate the memory 

 of his folly or his superstition. 



(242.) Tables of Longevity of certain Trees 



From various sources of information some the re- 

 sults of direct observation, others the approximate values 

 obtained from the kind of inferences which we have 

 referred to De Candolle has furnished us with the 

 following list of remarkable trees, whose ages he con- 

 siders that he has succeeded in ascertaining with some 

 degree of precision : 



R 4 



