4 SAGACITY AND MORALITY OF PLANTS. 



account, and nobody then doubted these so-called 

 little animals behaved consciously and intelligently. 



The life of a plant, like that of an animal, is a 

 series of constant adjustments between internal struc- 

 ture and organisation and external surroundings. 

 The latter are of such an almost infinitely variable 

 and varying character that we cannot wonder the 

 adjustments, or in other words the habits, of plants 

 are so infinitely numerous — especially when we 

 remember the long geological periods of time during 

 which the constant adaptations and modifications 

 have been taking place. 



We sometimes hear people speak of the " instinct" 

 of plants. But how can instincts arise unless there 

 be some kind of consciousness ? For instinct is now 

 generally regarded as the experience of the race, as 

 distinguished from that of the individtial. The 

 registration of experience may be in itself an in- 

 telligent rather than an automatic act. To speak 

 of the " tendencies " on the part of plants to assume 

 a certain habit is merely to coin a word to disguise 

 our ignorance of the process. A " tendency " for a 

 plant to behave in a certain manner is merely a 

 habit based upon the past experience of its ancestors 

 as to what has proved best for them as a species. 



Many people still regard even the higher animals 

 as automata. They are unwilling to allow that the 

 various intelligent acts they perform proceed from 

 cerebration, exactly in the same way as the intelligent 



