Chapter VIII 

 MARINE GROVES AND GARDENS 



As our knowledge regarding the nature of living 

 things increases, it becomes more and more evident that 

 the difference which is presumed to exist between the 

 plant and the animal kingdom is at best an artificial one. 

 That is to say, plants and animals are essentially the 

 same. It is true that we recognize plants by certain 

 characteristics, such as form, color, or development — 

 characteristics not commonly found among animals — 

 but, after all, a little reflection will show that these 

 distinctions are more or less superficial. There is, in 

 fact, no single attribute of fundamental importance to 

 the life processes that can be said to belong wholly 

 within the province of either kingdom. 



The chief biological difference that distinguishes 

 plants as such is in their capacity to utilize the sunlight 

 in transforming certain elements into parts of their cell 

 structure, and their ability to form organic compounds 

 from elements existing free in nature or derived by 

 breaking down inorganic compounds. This somewhat 

 technical statement is only another way of saying that, 

 whereas the truly typical animal can eat only substances 

 already manufactured, such as plants or 3ther animals, 

 the plants, on the other hand, manufacture their own 



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