MOTION AND HABIT. 



interest and amusement, exhibit the same phenomena 

 in a still more remarkable degree. 



Dr. Smith, to whom I shall frequently have occasion 

 to refer, and from whom on a subject like this it is gen- 

 erally unsafe to differ, thinks that vegetables possess 

 *ome degree of sensation, and consequently an inferior 

 degree of happiness. He says that such a supposition, 

 accords with all the best ideas we can form of the 

 Divine Creator, nor could the consequent uneasiness 

 which plants must suffer, no doubt in a very inferior 

 degree from the depredations of animals, bear any 

 comparison with their enjoyment on the whole. 

 Whatever opinions we adopt on this subject, until our 

 knowledge is more extended, sensibility must not be 

 regarded as the peculiar attribute of either kingdom. 



Some have attempted to draw the line of distinction, 

 by limiting to animals the power of locomotion ; but 

 they forget that while the corals are attached to the 

 rocks of the ocean, the fact are seen to swim on its 

 wateis. 



Plants like men are much under the power of habit. 

 The following examples are sufficient to evince the ex- 

 tent of this power. Several plants which are natives 

 of warm climates where their existence is prolonged for 

 several successive years, have been removed to less 

 temperate regions. They are unable to endure the 

 cold of their new situations, and consequently must 

 change their habits of growth ere they can be cultivated 

 with success. To secure this object some of them 

 pass through the successive stages of their existence 

 with astonishing velocity, and accomplish in a single 

 summer what they had been accustomed to require 

 years to perform. Our garden Nasturtion was origin- 

 ally a shrub which flourishes without cultivation on 



