^8 A Difcottrfe of Forcft-Trees. 



wan.t of InduHry in this Age of ours ; and (that we may return to 

 the Argument of this large Chapter) to aflert the procerity andfia- 

 ture of Jrees from their very great Antiquity : For -certainly if 

 that be true, which is by divers affirmed concerning the ^err:e?»/» 

 of Mambre, recorded ' by Eufebim to have continued till the time 

 of Goujiantim the Great, we are not too prejudicatcly to cenfure 

 what has been produc'd for the proofs of their Antiquity ; nor for 

 my part do I much queftion the Authorities ; But let this fnfficc 5 

 . what has been produc'd being only an hiftorical jpecuUtion^ of 

 more c»ctf«r^^e«/c«^ haply then other w/ejbut fuchas was pertinent 

 to the fubjeif under confideration, as well as what I am about to 

 add concerning theTexture andjimilar parts of the body oiTrees^ 

 which may ako hold in jhrubs^ and other lignout plants, becaufe 

 it is both a curious and Rational account of their Anatomization^ 

 and worthy of the fagacious Inquiry of that incomparably learned 

 Perfon D' Goddard^ as I find it entered amongft other of thofe 

 precious CoUeHions of this Illustrious Society. 



1 9. The Trunk^oT bough of a Tree being cut tranjverfely plain and 

 fmooth, (heweth fcveral Circles or Rings more ot lefs Orbicular^ 

 according to thd external figure, in fome parallel proportion, one 

 without the other, from the centre of the Wood to the infide of the 

 Bark^^ dividing the whole into fo many circular {paces. Thefe 

 Rings are more large, grofs, and diftinft in colour and fubftance in 

 fome kind of Tree/, generally in fuch as grow to a great bulk in a 

 ftiort time, as Fir^ Ajh^^c. fmaller or lefs diftinft in thofe that 

 either not at all or in a longer time grow great, as ^ince. Holly ^ 

 Box, Lignum-vit£, Ebony, and the like lad coloured and hard 

 TPoods 5 fo that by the largenefs or fmallneft of the Rings , the 

 quicknefs or flownefs of the growth of any Tree may perhaps at 

 certainty be eftimated. 



Thefe jj'^fex are manifeftly broader on the out. fide then on the 

 other, elpecially the more outer, to a double proportion5or more, 

 the inner being neer an equality. 



It is afl'erted,that the larger parts of thefe Rings are on the South 

 and funny fide of the Tree (which is very rational and probable) 

 infomuch that by cutting a Tree tranfverfe,2ind. drawing a diametre 

 through the broadeft and narroweft parts of the Rings,a. Meridian 

 line may be defcribed. 



The outer fpaces are generally narrower then the inner, not 

 only on their narrower fides, but aUb on their broader, compared 

 with the fame fides of the inner / Notwithftanding which, they 

 are for the moft part, if not altogether, bigger upon the whole 

 account. 



Of thefe fpaces, the outer extremities in Fir^ and the like woods, 

 that have them larger and grofler, are more denfe, hard, and com- 

 paft^ the inner more foft and fpungy^ by which difference of 

 fubftance it is that the Rings themfelves come to be diftinguilhed. 



According as the bodies and boughs of "Trees, or feveral parts 

 of tlie fame, are bigger or leffer, fo is the number as well as the 

 breadth of the circular fpaces greater or lefs j and the like accord- 

 ing to the rfge,efpecially the number. It 



