2 BOTANY, WHAT IT RELATES TO. [LESSON 1. 



4. The organic world consists of two kinds of beings ; namely, 

 1. Plants or Vegetables, which make up what is called the Vegetable 

 Kingdom ; and, 2. Animals, which compose the Animal Kingdom. 



5. The Differences between Plants and Animals seem at first sight so 



obvious and so great, that it would appear more natural to inquire 

 how they resemble rather than how they differ from each other. 

 What likeness does the cow bear to the grass it feeds upon ? The 

 one moves freely from place to place, in obedience to its own will, 

 as its wants or convenience require : the other is fixed to the spot 

 of earth where it grew, manifests no will, and makes no movements 

 that are apparent to ordinary observation. The one takes its food 

 into an internal cavity (the stomach), from which it is absorbed 

 into the system : the other absorbs its food directly by its surface, 

 by its roots, leaves, &c. Both possess organs ; but the limbs or 

 members of the animal do not at all resemble the roots, leaves, 

 blossoms, &c. of the plant. All these distinctions, however, gradu- 

 ally disappear, as we come to the lower kinds of plants and the lower 

 animals. Many animals (such as barnacles, coral-animals, and 

 polyps) are fixed to some support as completely as the plant is to 

 the soil ; while many plants are not fixed, and some move from 

 place to place by powers of their own. All animals move some of 

 their parts freely ; yet in the extent and rapidity of the motion 

 many of them are surpassed by the common Sensitive Plant, by 

 the Venus's Fly-trap, and by some other vegetables ; while whole 

 tribes of aquatic plants are so freely and briskly locomotive, that 

 they have until lately been taken for animals. It is among these 

 microscopic tribes that the animal and vegetable kingdoms most 

 nearly approach each other, so nearly, that it is still uncertain 

 where to draw the line between them. 



6. Since the difficulty of distinguishing between animals and 

 plants occurs only, or mainly, in those forms which from their 

 minuteness are beyond ordinary observation, we need not further 

 concern ourselves with the question here. One, and probably the 

 most absolute, difference, however, ought to be mentioned at the 

 outset, because it enables us to see what plants are made for. It 

 is this : 



7. Vegetables are nourished by the mineral kingdom, that is, by 

 the ground and the a?r, which supply all they need, and which they 

 are adapted to live upon ; while animals are entirely nourished by 

 vegetables. The great use of plants therefore is, to take portions of 



