9A VEGETABLE LIFE. 



ing atmosphere. It is needless to mention that the 

 temperature of animals is commonly greater, though it 

 is equally true that it is sometimes less than that of the 

 air they inspire. Plants though in an inferior degree 

 possess the properties which distinguish them from in- 

 animate matter. He who has escaped from the almost 

 intolerable heat of pared streets, knows how much the 

 green and living grass, can contribute to his comfort. 



Near a volcano in the island of Tanna, the surface 

 of the earth which is but 10 degrees below that of boil- 

 ing water, is decorated with leaves and flowers com- 

 paratively cool ; and the roots of the Chaste tree were 

 discovered by Sonnerat, receiving nourishment from a 

 rivulet which was nearly as warm. Yet the source 

 from which it derived its nourishment, had little or no 

 effect on the temperature of the plant. Under differ- 

 ent circumstances, especially during the impregnation 

 of their flowers, plants possess the property of genera- 

 ting heat. And from the simple elements which are 

 absorbed by their roots, they form combinations which 

 transcend, if they do not subvert, the established laws 

 of chemical action. Thus by a process which we can 

 neither imitate nor explain, they convert the insipid 

 fluid which they derive from the earth, into substances, 

 as distinguished for their various yet peculiar qualities, 

 as for the important uses to which they are subservi- 

 ent. 



Darwin, whose exuberant genius too often soared 

 above the field of sober observation, has attributed to 

 vegetables a sensibility capable of enjoyment and suf- 

 fering, with the power of volition, subject to the pas- 

 sion of love and the necessity of sleep. 



The irritability of vegetables, en which depends the 

 absorption and circulation of their fluids, was ingenious- 



