the gradual increase of bulk and stature that takes place in animals or vegetables, to a certain period.—The increase of bulk in such bodies as have no life, owing to fermentations excited in their substance, or to other causes, is called EXPANSION, SWELLING, &c.

The growth of animals, nay even of the human species, is subject to great variations. A remarkable instance in the last was observed in France in the year 1729. At this time the Academy of Sciences examined a boy who was then only seven years old, and who measured four feet eight inches and four lines high without his shoes. His mother observed the signs of puberty on him at two years old, which continued to increase very quick, and soon arrived at the usual standard. At four years old he was able to lift and toss the common bundles of hay in stables into the horses racks; and at six years old could lift as much as a sturdy fellow of twenty. But though he thus increased in bodily strength, his understanding was no greater than is usual with children of his age, and their play-things were also his favourite amusements.

Another boy, a native of the hamlet of Bouzanquet, in the diocese of Alais, though of a strong constitution, appeared to be knit and stiff in his joints till he was about four years and a half old. During this time nothing farther was remarkable of him than an extraordinary appetite, which was satisfied no otherwise than by giving him plenty of the common aliment of the inhabitants of the country, consisting of rye-bread, chestnuts, bacon, and water; but his limbs soon becoming supple and pliable, and his body beginning to expand itself, he grew up in so extraordinary a manner, that at the age of five years he measured four feet three inches; some months after, he was four feet eleven inches; and at fix, five feet, and bulky in proportion. His growth was so rapid, that one might fancy he saw him grow: every month his clothes required to be made longer and wider; and what was still very extraordinary in his growth, it was not preceded by any sickness, nor accompanied with any pain in the groin or elsewhere. At the age of five years his voice changed, his beard began to appear, and at fix he had as much as a man of thirty; in short, all the unquestionable marks of puberty were visible in him. It was not doubted in the country but this child was, at five years old, or five and a half, in a condition of begetting other children; which induced the rector of the parish to recommend to his mother that she would keep him from too familiar a conversation with children of the other sex. Though his wit was riper than is commonly observable at the age of five or fix years, yet its progress was not in proportion to that of his body. His air and manner still retained something childish, though by his bulk and stature he resembled a complete man, which at first sight produced a very singular contrast. His voice was strong and manly, and his great strength rendered him already fit for the labours of the country. At the age of five years, he could carry to a good distance three measures of rye, weighing 84 pounds; when turned of fix, he could lift up easily on his shoulders and carry loads of 150 pounds weight a good way off: and these exercises were exhibited by him as often as the curious engaged him thereto by some liberality. Such beginnings made people think that he would soon shoot up into a giant. A mountebank was already soliciting his parents for him, and flattering them with hopes of putting him in a way of making a great fortune. But all these hopes suddenly vanished. His legs became crooked, his body shrunk, his strength diminished, his voice grew sensibly weaker, and he at last sunk into a total imbecility.

In the Paris Memoirs also there is an account of a girl who had her menstis at three months of age. When four years old, she was four feet fix' inches in height, and had her limbs well proportioned to that height, her breasts large and plump, and the parts of generation like those of a girl of eighteen; so that there is no doubt but that she was marriageable at that time, and capable of being a mother of children. These things are more singular and marvellous in the northern than in the southern climates, where the females come sooner to maturity. In some places of the East Indies, the girls have children at nine years of age.

Many other instances of extraordinary growth might be brought, but the particulars are not remarkably different from those already related.—It is at first sight astonishing that children of such early and prodigious growth do not become giants: but when we consider, that the signs of puberty appear so much sooner than they ought, it seems evident that the whole is only a more than usually rapid expansion of the parts, as in hot climates; and accordingly it is observed, that such children, instead of becoming giants, always decay and die apparently of old age, long before the natural term of human life.