IN GENERAL. 



35 



^ure is the produdllon of organized bodies ; and 

 here her power knows no limitation. 



To render this idea more plain, we fhall Cal- 

 culate what may be produced by a Tingle germ. 

 The Teed of an elm, which w^elirhs not above the 

 hundredth part of an ounce, will, in loo years, 

 form a tree, of which the mafs wnll amount to 

 ten cubic fathoms. But, at the tenth year, this 

 elm will have produced looo feeds, each of 

 which, in loo years more, will conhft often cu- 

 bic fathoms. Thus, in the fpace of i lo years, 

 more than 10,000 cubic fathoms of organized 

 matter are produced. Ten years after, we lliall 

 have ten million of fathoms, without including 

 the annual increafe of 10,000 wdiich would a- 

 mount to 100,000 m.ore ; and in ten years more, 

 the number of cubick fathoms would be 

 10,000,000,000,000. Hence, in 130 years, a 

 fmgle germ would produce a mafs of organized 

 matter equal to 1000 cubic leagues; for a cubic 

 league contains only about io,ooo,ooo,ooocubic 

 fathoms. Ten years after, this mafs would be in- 

 creafed to a thoufand times a thoufand leagues, or 

 one million of cubic leagues; and in ten more 

 it would amount to 1,000,000,000,000 cubic 

 leagues; fo that, in the fpace of 150 years, the 

 whole globe might be converted into organized 

 matter of a fnigle fpecies. Nature would know 

 no bounds in the production of organized bodies, 

 if her progrefs were not obftrudcd by matter 



C 2 which 



