CHAPTER II 



WHAT KINDS OF THINGS ARE LIVING? 



Questions. 1. Can all living things move ? 2. Can plants feel ? 3. Can 

 insects hear ? 4. Are plants alive in the same way as animals are ? 5. Are 

 animals alive in the same way as we are ? 6. Can plants protect themselves ? 



8. Great variety among living things. At first thought living 

 things differ so much among themselves that to many people it 

 seems hopeless to find out what they have in common. How 

 shall we begin to compare the eel and the elephant, the cow and 

 the cabbage, the spruce and the sparrow? We may begin by 

 dividing our problem up into sections, and then examine some 

 material to solve each section separately. First we can profit- 

 ably consider general forms and structures, then chemical char- 

 acteristics, and finally the behavior, or doings, of living things ; 

 for, after all, it is what plants and animals do that most con- 

 cerns us. And we may proceed by studying a representative 

 plant with two or more representative animals. 



9. A whole plant. If we examine a geranium plant, or any 

 other small plant that is easily handled, we find that the part 

 which is usually below ground (the root) differs from the part 

 above the ground (the shoot) in several ways. There is a differ- 

 ence in color and a difference in texture ; the smallest branches 

 or subdivisions of the root are, as a rule, more delicate than 

 those of the shoot. The shoot also has parts which we easily 

 distinguish (in most kinds of plants) as stem and leaves; and 

 the leaves differ from the stem in shape, color, and texture. 



At certain seasons of the year the stem bears other structures 

 besides leaves, namely flowers. In most kinds of plants the 

 flowers last but a short time and are succeeded by fruits, inside 

 of which there are usually seeds. 



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