the gradual increase which takes place in animal or vegetable bodies by the addition of matter through ducts and secretory vessels.

Among the numerous instances recorded of an extraordinary degree of early development in the human frame, not the least remarkable is that of a boy who was exhibited before the Academy of Sciences at Paris in the year 1729. This boy, though then only seven years of age, measured four feet eight inches and four lines in height. It was stated that at two years of age he began to exhibit signs of pubescence, which soon afterwards were completely developed. At the age of four he was able to toss the common bundles of hay in stables into the horses' racks; and at six, he could raise as much as a sturdy fellow of twenty. But though he thus increased in bodily strength, his understanding was not greater than is usual with children of his age, and their playthings were also his favourite amusements. A similar instance of precocious virility was exhibited to the great meeting of naturforscher (natural philosophers) at Hamburg in 1830; and another more recently to the British Association. It has been generally observed that such abnormal precocity is indicative of premature decay, and that few of these individuals ever attain the ordinary term of manhood.

For the physiological consideration of the subject of growth in plants and animals, see Botany, vol. v., p. 99-103, and Physiology.