CHAPTER IX 
SCIENCE IN THE PLANT WORLD 
“Weak with nice sense, the chaste Mimosa stands, 
From each rude touch withdraws her timid hands.” 
LANTS are profound scientists. Their 
knowledge may not be as broad and far- 
reaching as that of man, but they are more suc- 
cessful workers than he. With all his wonder- 
ful discoveries in physics and chemistry, man 
as a class has not yet learned to conduct his 
own body so as to make it yield the highest 
efficiency. In fact, members of the human race 
are today wearing out their frames at a faster 
rate than ever before. Adept at running huge 
mechanisms of steel, they are neglectful of 
those most delicate and wonderful machines 
which are bound up with their own life nro- 
cesses. 7 
Plants are not so prodigal. Whenever they 
are given a chance, they develop and expand 
their powers in the most marvelous way. They 
bring out the latent strength in their beings and 
so conduct themselves as to conserve their ener- 
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