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mote that general tendency to cor- 

 ruption which all dead bodies of the 

 animal and vegetable kingdom, and 

 many other fubftances, are fo liable 

 to, the trees difplay in a few days 

 the moil: wonderful fcene that can 

 be imagined. Contracted as they 

 w r ere in that ftate of ftupor and in- 

 activity in which they remain during 

 the winter, expofing to the air no 

 other furface than that of their 

 trunk and branches, as if they 

 wanted to have as little to do as pof- 

 iible with the external air, they all 

 at once increafe, perhaps more than 

 a thoufand times, their furface by 

 difplaying thofe kind of mmibeiiefs 

 fans which we call leaves. Some 

 of them produce their leaves a long 

 while before any flowers appear 

 upon them; others a good while 

 after the flowers are formed^ and. 

 B 4 the 



