PERSONALITY OF PLANTS 
ward and outward? If a telescope or an in- 
strument such as Sir Jaghadish Bose’s cresco- 
graph be trained on a healthy plant, it is pos- 
sible to see the growth actually take place before 
the eye somewhat as it is managed in motion pic- 
tures. Travelers aver that if a Banana Plant 
be cut off close to the ground and the surround- 
ing soil well supplied with water, the sturdy cre- 
ature will make such strenuous efforts to destroy 
the effects of its mutilation that its growth may 
easily be perceived with the unaided eye, and 
a full-sized leaf produced in a single day. 
Leaves and flowers are usually quite mobile. 
When they go to sleep, they droop and fold 
their edges together very carefully, sometimes 
to such an extent as to make themselves almost 
invisible. Even such an astute man as Linnaeus 
was once completely deceived by some sleep- 
ing specimens of Lotus. They were very fine 
red flowers and he was proud of them. Taking 
a friend to view them one evening by lantern- 
light, what was his dismay to find that they 
had completely disappeared. He concluded 
that they had been stolen or eaten by insects 
and went away, only to find them in full array 
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