LETTER II. 



21 



Yet it is still vigorous. Every year " it is adorned 

 with abundance of leaves, and laden with acorns." 



13. The considerations now stated, and others to be 

 adduced hereafter, when they will be better appre- 

 ciated, can scarcely fail to suggest a doubt whether 

 there may not be some peculiarity in trees as regards 

 their longevity, beyond merely a very prolonged ex- 

 istence ; nay, although according to the view com- 

 monly taken of their nature, it were absurd seriously 

 to entertain the idea, whether there may not be in 

 their case a virtual, if not an actual, exemption from 

 the law of mortality. Some such idea may not un- 

 reasonably be supposed to have been present to the 

 mind of M. Eichard, when he remarked of the Cedars 

 of Lebanon, that they appear to be indestructible — 

 an expression which, if it have any meaning, is equi- 

 valent to saying that they appear to live for ever, and 

 would imply that the law of mortality is not univer- 

 sally operative. 



14. Such is the present unsatisfactory state of our 

 knowledge respecting the natural longevity and the 

 natural size of trees — regard being had to the popular 

 belief as to their real nature. In the case of each 

 species of animal, the natural term of life, and the 

 appointed size of organism, are either known to us, or 

 may, with comparative ease, be ascertained by us. 

 But with respect to trees, these particulars in their 

 history may fairly be said to be absolutely unknown 



