In treating of the oak, I have considered that the species of it growing in warm climates is superior to that which is produced in cold countries. But we must not imagine this to be the case with all woods; on the contrary, the fir timber grown in cold countries is superior to that produced in warm ones, where its growth is rapid.
For my part, I hold it equally impossible for a small shellfish to be produced without generation as for a whale to have its origin from the mud.
