The universe, or, The infinitely great and the infinitely little / by F.A. Pouchet.

  • Félix Archimède Pouchet
Date:
[1895]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The universe, or, The infinitely great and the infinitely little / by F.A. Pouchet. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    418/596 page 390
    a fact even lately attested by the vestiges which were seen of a little altar. This tree grows so slowly that after a tolerably long interval of time it was not possible to verify any change in its circumference. It was accurately measured in 1402 by the companions of Bethencourt at the time when they discovered the island, that is to say, more than 460 years ago, and since then it has in no way increased in diameter. Time has passed over without touching it.^ Humboldt, when he ascended the peak of Teneriffe in 1799, measured this tree a little above the level of the ground, and found it forty-five feet in circumference. CHAPTER IV. DENSITY OF PLANTS. As the duration of life in trees presents such vastly opposite limits, we expect to meet equally enormous differences in their density; and this is the case. Those singular plants the Tremellse, which after a wet night, or even merely a storm, suddenly bestrew the earth in the shape of so many tremulous masses of jelly, covering the ground where a few hours before there was not a vestige, and which, on account of the unexpected manner in which they appear, were looked upon by the alchemists as a super- natural production, an emanation from the stars, are so soft that the least pressure crushes and reduces them to water. In the same class to which these gelatinous plants belong, we find others of a surprising degree of firmness. This is the case with certain Algse scattered over the shores of Asia, and in particular with the Fucus tendo, the toughness of which has been compared to that of the tendons which convey movement to the limbs of animals. In appearance this marine plant is exactly like a cord, and as it possesses the strength of cordage, the Chinese, who are so ingenious in everything, make use of it in order to tie up bales of goods. In Japan this fucus serves for making fishermen's nets. In some trees of considerable size the trunk is scarcely harder than in these plants: for instance, that of the Bombax Ceiha, or cheese-plant, is as soft as the article of food after which it is named. 1 [The famous dragon-tree of Orotava was destroyed by a storm in 1868.—Tr.]
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3