WOOD-SORREL TRIBE 165 



of evening, and droops down its green or ripening ears to await the morn ; 

 while many a delicate cup and vase bend downwards, and drooping bells 

 droop more and more as night coraes on. There are flowers, however, which 

 close even at noon, when the sun is shining down brightly upon them, and, 

 like the goat's-beard of our field, excite our wonder by folding up at mid-day. 

 This act has direct relation to the habits of the insects that fertilize it. 



Even after various investigations and careful experiments, the folding up 

 of plants presents phenomena for which we cannot account; and the closing 

 up of the Wood-sorrel leaf at a touch is yet a wonder to thoughtful men. 

 Miller tells of a Calabrian philosopher who became mad while considering the 

 nature of sensitive plants ; and were we not accustomed to observe to what 

 singular opinions the transcendentalism pervading the German mind may some- 

 times lead, we might almost fancy that a similar occupation had similarly 

 aftected the mind of the botanist Von Martins. This philosopher, who pub- 

 lished his views on the Soul of Plants, says, that in the more highly developed 

 vegetable forms, phenomena occur which belong to animal life, so that a soul 

 cannot be denied to vegetables. He ascribes to them " internal perceptions 

 and ideas ; a dark sensibility and consciousness ; a sympathy, and, probably 

 also, a kind of memory," though he says we are not to trace in them " a 

 higher sense, understanding, or free-will." He describes the fraternity as 

 governed by a soft and peaceful spirit. Erasmus Dar^\^n, author of the 

 "Botanic Garden," would have rejoiced in these opinions of Von Martins. 

 Poets of all ages, ever ready to endow Nature with personal attril^utes and 

 sympathies, have described flowers and trees as enjoying pleasing sensations. 

 Wordsworth thus clothes in words his poetic fancy — 



"Througli primrose tufts in that sweet bower 

 The periwinkle trail'd its wreaths ; 

 And 'tis my faith, that ev'ry flower 

 Enjoys the air it breathes." 



So, too, in sweetest verse we have Walter Savage Landor saying — 



" And 'tis, and ever was my wish and way 

 To let all flowers live freely, and all die 

 Whene'er their genius bids their soul depart, 

 Among their kindred to their native place : 



I never pluck the rose, the violet's head ' < 



Hath shaken with my breath upon the bank, 

 And not reproach'd me ; the ever sacred cup 

 Of the pure lily, hath between my hands 

 Felt safe unsoil'd, nor lost one grain of gold." 



But it is not poets or German philosophers alone who have persuaded them- 

 selves that trees and flowers shared the feelings of the animal kingdom, 

 Erasmus believed that the tree felt the stroke of the woodman's axe ; and, in 

 later days. Sir J, E. Smith declared his opinion that plants received enjoy- 

 ment from their existence. 



The Wood-sorrel was formerly called Wood-sower, and also Wood-sour, 

 and very acid indeed are its leaves. They contain pure oxalic acid, and Avere 

 in former days compounded into a confection which was used medicinally, and 

 termed Conserva Luzula. Twenty pounds of the leaves of Wood-sorrel yield 



