TEE BARK. 121 



dress of theirs, or, anticipatorily, weaves. What difference is 

 there between the making of the corky excrescence of other 

 trees, and of this almost transparent fine white linen ? I per- 

 ceive that the older it is, within limits, the finer and whiter ; 

 hoary tissue, instead of hoary hair honouring the tree's aged 

 body : the outer sprays have no silvery light on their youth. 

 Does the membrane thin itself into whiteness merely by 

 stretching, or produce an outer film of new substance ? * 



4. And secondly, this investiture, why is it transverse to the 

 trunk, swathing it, as it were, in bands ? Above all, when 

 it breaks, why does it break round the tree instead of down ? 

 All other bark breaks as anything would, naturally, round a 

 swelling rod, but this, as if the stem were growing longer ; 

 until, indeed, it reaches farthest heroic old age, when the 

 whiteness passes away again, and the rending is like that of 

 other trees, downwards. So that, as it were in a changing 

 language, we have the great botanical fact twice taught us, by 

 this tree of Eden, that the skins of trees differ from the skins 

 of the higher animals in that, for the most part, they won't 

 stretch, and must be worn torn. 



So that in fact the most popular arrangement of vegetative 

 adult costume is Irish ; a normal investiture in honourable 

 rags ; and decorousness of tattering, as of a banner borne in 

 splendid ruin through storms of war. 



5. Now therefore, if we think of it, we have five distinct 

 orders of investiture for organic creatures ; first, mere secre- 

 tion of mineral substance, chiefly lime, into a hard shell, 

 which, if broken, can only be mended, like china by stick- 

 ing it together ; secondly, organic substance of armour which 

 grows into its proper shape at once for good and all, and can't 

 be mended at all, if broken, (as of insects) ; thirdly, organic 

 substance of skin, which stretches, as the creature grows, by 

 cracking, over a fresh skin which is supplied beneath it, as in 

 bark of trees ; fourthly organic substance of skin cracked 

 symmetrically into plates or scales which can increase all 



* I only profess, you will please to observe, to ask questions in Pro- 

 serpina. Never to answer any. But of course this chapter is to intro- 

 duce some further inquiry in another place. 



