engrafted into each other, from whence proceeds the 

 conic figure of the stalk and branches. 



From the assemblage of little cones which become 

 hardened during the first year, is formed a cone of a 

 woody nature, which determines the growth of that 

 year. This cone is inclosed in another herbaceous cone, 

 which is only the rind, and which, the following year, 

 will produce a second ligneous cone, <tc. : when the 

 wood is once formed, it does not extend itself any far- 

 ther; so that in cicatrices, grafts, and different kinds of 

 tumours, the rind is the only part that is employed. By 

 stretching, thickening, or swelling itself the rind insen- 

 sibly forms a roll, and produces excrescenses which are 

 more or less considerable, in proportion to the ease with 

 which it is distended, or according to the quantity of 

 juices it receives. 



7. The animal grows by expansion, or by the gra- 

 dual extension of its parts in every sense : to this exten-' 

 sion there succeeds a hardness in the fibres* The ex- 

 tension diminishes as the hardness increases. It ceases 

 when the hardness has arrived to such a pitch, as not to 

 admit of the fibres giving way to the force which con- 

 tributes to enlarge their couts. 



Those animals in which this hardness is formed latest, 

 are longest in their growth. Insects grow and harden in 

 a much less time than great animals. Some of them 

 cease growing at the end Of some weeks, and sometimes 

 in a few days : of the latter some continue growing for 

 a great number of years, and even some ages. 



One may observe analogous differences in the growth 

 of individuals of the same species; some of which, that 

 harden later than others, acquire a greater bulk. 



The fetus, in its original state, contains nothing of a 

 bony nature. As it is membraneous throughout, it only 

 becomes lony by degrees. The bones are composed of 

 a prodigious number of blades, folded in each other, 

 lying according to the length of the bone, and forming 

 various collections of fibres, which are themselves com- 



