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"some naturalists have regarded it, as being PART I. "with respect to trees, what bones are in the

bodies of animals. The ligneous, or woody "folds, are at first soft and herbaceous, before

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they acquire the solidity of wood. They do "not suddenly pass from the state of softness "which they first have, to the hardness of "perfect wood; they only acquire that hardness, of which they are capable, after many

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years. In a young tree, all those woody "folds (I mean those sensibly apparent folds "which indicate the growth of each year,) are "of unequal firmness, hardness, and density; "those of the centre being the hardest, and "those of the circumference the most tender. "The hardness of these folds is, therefore, only effected by degrees1:—and since Nature does

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nothing but by a progressive course, it is not surprising that wood acquires its hardness only by little and little."

This is, indeed, the nature and composition of wood, according to the law established, after creation, by the creating agent, for the formation and gradual growth of the vegetable structure; and which we call one of the laws of vegetable matter. But, we are now concerned exclu

' DUHAMEL, La Physique des Arbres, tom. i. c. 3. p. 30.

CHAP. VI.

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PART I. sively with the first, created, unpropagated tree, and with its wood; from the period of CHAP. VI. whose first formation only, those laws were to

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begin to operate. In the wood of this tree, it is evident that none of those gradual processes took place; but it was created, by the will and immediate power of God, in the same form, and of the same structure, which, after it, was to be produced only by the operation of those laws. Its wood, therefore, was not formed by degrees," but "suddenly;" its solidity was not acquired "by a progressive course-by little " and little-after many years;" not by a gradual hardening from a state of softness and herbaceousness; for that has its origin in a growth from seed, from whence this tree did not proceed. In this wood, therefore, the act of the Creator produced at once, by the mode of creation, that form, structure, and composition, which in all succeeding trees is produced by the gradual process of lignification, which has been described.

Here, then, we find the same first principle in the first formations of created vegetable matter, which we found in the first formations of created animal matter; a principle, common to both; viz. "That in those first formations the Creating

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Agent anticipated, by an immediate act, effects "which were thenceforth to be produced only

"by a gradual process, of which he then esta- PART I. "blished the laws."

If a portion of this created tree now remained, and if a section of its wood were to be mingled with other sections of propagated trees, and submitted to the inspection and examination of a naturalist; what opinion and judgment would its sensible phænomena suggest to him, respecting the mode of its first formation; and what would be his conclusion? If he were unapprized of its true origin, his mind would see nothing in its sensible phænomena, but the laws of lignification; just as the mineral geologist "sees nothing in the details of the forma"tions of primitive rock, but precipitations, "crystallizations, and dissolutions." He would, therefore, naturally pronounce of it as of all the other sections of wood: that its "fibres," when they first issued from the seed, "“were soft and "herbaceous;" that they "did not suddenly pass "to the hardness of perfect wood," but, "after many years;" that the hardness of their folds, "which indicate the growth of each year," was therefore effected only "by degrees ;" and that, "since Nature does nothing but by a progres"sive course, it is not surprising that its sub"stance acquired its hardness only by little and "little."

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Physically true, as the naturalist would here

CHAP. VI.

CHAP. VI.

PART I. appear to reason; yet his reasoning, like that of the anatomist, would be morally and really false. And why would it be false? For the same reason; because he concluded, from mere sensible phænomena, to the certainty of a fact which could not be established by the evidence of sensible phænomena alone; namely, the mode of the first formation of the substance of created wood.

We thus find a second principle, common to the first formations both of animal and vegetable matter; viz. "That their sensible phænomena "alone cannot determine the mode of their

formations; inasmuch as the real mode was "in direct contradiction to the sensible indications "of those phænomena." What has here been said of the solid parts of the vegetable structure, is applicable equally to all its parts, and to every member of the vegetable kingdom, at its first creation.

If, therefore, the natures of created bone and created wood had suffered them to subsist, and to be preserved until the present day; we plainly perceive, how easy it would have been to demonstrate to the science of physics, its absolute incompetence to determine any thing at all, by phænomena alone, concerning the mode of the first formations of the first individuals composing either the animal or vegetable kingdoms of matter.

CHAPTER VII.

CHAP. VII.

THERE Only now remains to be considered, the PART I. third, or mineral kingdom of this terrestrial system; and it appears probable, to reason and philosophy, by prima facie evidence, that the principle determining the mode of first formations, in two parts of this threefold division of matter, must have equal authority in this third part. And indeed, after the closest investigation of the subject, we can discover no ground whatever for supposing, that this third part is exempted from the authority of that common principle; or that physics are a whit more competent to dogmatize concerning the mode of first formations, from the evidence of phænomena alone, in the mineral kingdom, than they have been found to be in the animal or vegetable; or, to affirm, from the indications of the former, that the mode of its first formations was more gradual and tardy than those of the other two.

Let us try this point, by proceeding with our comparison; and let us consider the first created rock, as we have considered the first created

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