The Brain Power of Plants 



By Arthur Smith, Superintendent of the George B. Hurst Estate, Reading, Pa. 



The modern student of plant life no longer regards the 

 objects of his study as so many things which merely 

 demand classification and arrangement, and whose history 

 is exhausted when a couple of Latin or Greek names have 

 been appended to them. On the contrary, the botanist of 

 todav seeks to unravel the mysteries of plant life. For 

 him the plant is no longer an inanimate being, but stands 

 revealed as an organism not only endowed with animal 

 functions, many of which are certainly as clearly defined 

 as are the analogous traits in the possession of the animal, 

 but which has also still further powers that are more 

 complex and wonderful than any exhibited by animals. 

 Plant physiology has therefore become a distinct branch 

 of natural science, and every biologist who has followed 

 it feels the difiiculty which confronts him in attempting 

 to draw a line of demarcation between the vegetable and 

 animal kingdoms. This difficulty is clearly shown by the 

 fact that there are certain organisms which are claimed 

 by both zoologists and botanists as belonging to their 

 respective departments of natural science. 



Every living organism, both plant and animal, consists 

 in its embryonic form of a single cell : and not only this, 

 but the lowest plants and the lowest animals are, in their 

 full-grown, mature state, merely minute single cells. 

 From this comparatively neutral starting point, as pre- 

 senting the minimum amount of differentiation, one im- 

 portant feature, generally stated to be exhibited only by 

 members of the animal world, is the specialization of 

 structure which enables animals to feed upon organic mat- 

 ter taken into the body in an undigested form. But this, 

 as will be shown, is not confined to animals only. 



A second supposed mark of distinction is the possession 

 by animals of a nervous system which has culminated in 

 the higher groups of animals in the development not only 

 of special sense, but of sense organs. But at the same 

 time it must not be forgotten that many of the lower 

 groups of organisms, universally classed with animals, 

 are entirely destitute of any structural trace of sense-or- 

 gans or nervous system'. 



Although no trace of brain-tissue has been found in 

 any member of the vegetable kingdom, yet examples of 

 the possession of a nervous system, sensibility, and con- 

 sciousness are to be found in it. Many plants manifest 

 distinct movements agreeing in important and essential 

 points with similar movements shown under correspond- 

 ing circumstances in connection with animals, and which 

 in the latter are the outcome of nervous excitement or 

 brain-power. 



Some will naturally exclaim, "How can plants be pos- 

 sessed of brain-power if they have neither brains nor 

 nerve-tissue !" And yet, among those who have devoted 

 any time to closely observing plant-life, few, if any, will 

 deny the existence, not only of instinct, but of a power 

 much higher, which runs very closely to that faculty of 

 reasoning which no one disputes is found among at least 

 the higher groups of animals. 



A few words on the mechanism connected with animal 

 consciousness may at this point not be out of place. 



Including the genus homo, each individual of the higher 

 genera is, in a greater or less degree, the owner of a mass 

 of gray and white matter, generally contained in the head, 

 known as the brain. This brain is the seat of all its ener- 

 gy, movement and sensibility. It is divided into centers, 

 each of which is an area for the conscious perception of 

 the different forms of sensory impressions, and also for 

 the transmission of energy to the various muscles. Fer- 



rier, Horsley, and others have mapped out the brain into 

 motor areas and centers. The term center involves the 

 following mechanism : A sensitive surface ; a nerve going 

 to a nerve-cell or group of nerve-cells, from which passes 

 a nerve-fiber to a muscle. Each center has nothing to do 

 with the transmitting to, or receiving impulses from, any 

 other part of the body than that to which it is connected. 

 For example, it has been proved that the nerve called the 

 pneumogastric is the sensory to the muscles of the heart, 

 lungs, and stomach. Similarly, the olfactory nerve is en- 

 tirely devoted to the sense of smell, the optic nerve to 

 that of sight, and so on, every portion of the brain has 

 been proved by experiments to have exclusive functions. 

 Therefore the brain may be looked upon as a motor or 

 engine, which keeps the wonderful and complicated ma- 

 chinery going that produces all the movements of the 

 animal' body. But all motors must, in the first instance, 

 be under the control of some power. In the mechanical 

 world we use the powers of water, steam, and electricity. 

 ^^'hat then is the power at the back of the movements, 

 etc., of organized beings? Its existence and efTect can- 

 not be doubted. It permeates not only the animal but also 

 the vegetable kingdom, and may be described, in a word, 

 as brain-power. It must be quite evident that the brain 

 itself is not the source of this power, but merely acts, I 

 repeat, as an intermediate motor to transmit the power. 

 The motor is absent in plants ; but does it follow that the 

 power or force is non-existent ? A piece of iron may pos- 

 sess the power of magnetism, but a microscope or chemi- 

 cal examination of it will detect no difference between it 

 and another piece of iron similar in every other way, but 

 which does not possess that power, but because of this 

 we do not deny the existence of the power in the one, be- 

 cause ample evidence of it is shown. The brain is en- 

 tirely absent in some members of the animal kingdom, 

 but in these cases it is admitted that the power is present. 

 For instance, none of the creatures known as Protozoa 

 have any sign of special nerves or brain, and the same 

 remark applies to the next more highly organized sub- 

 kingdom — Coelenterata. But it is not disputed that these 

 lowly animals have a certain amount of consciousness, or 

 even that they have developed that accumulated experi- 

 ence which we call instinct. 



It is. perhaps, sometimes difficult actually to define 

 whether a given action is instinctive or intelligent. A 

 great authority has said that instinct is only "blind habit 

 or automatically carried out action." If this be so. and 

 the idea is certainly in harmony with the experience of 

 most biologists, then instinctive actions only move in one 

 direction, and are not adapted to changing circumstances. 

 .Again, it has been defined as "reflex action into which 

 there is imported an element of consciousness." But 

 where one finds variation in action according to varying 

 circumstances, a condition which is seen over and over 

 again throughout the plant world, there seems ample 

 grounds for believing that plants are capable of intelligent 

 action, and are endowed with consciousness to perceive 

 and feel any variation in their environment, and so are 

 able to vary their actions accordingly. 



But those acquainted, even su])erficially with the habits 

 of plants will scarcely deny that they have the power of 

 adapting themselves to circumstances and have many 

 movements which are the very reverse of automatic, 

 pointing to the idea that they are endowed with a power 

 something higher than mere instinct. Numerous in- 

 stances will occur to one's mind of sensibility as fully de- 



