MYSTICISM IN THE PLANT WORLD 
hind the other none, it will invariably bend its 
creeping steps over the ridge hiding the wall. 
The wall was invisible from the plant’s start- 
jng-point, and certainly betrayed its presence 
through no odour or other manifestation. In 
some mysterious way, the creeper simply knew 
that a vital necessity of its life lay in a certain 
direction. Ordinarily, we associate such phe- 
nomena with psychic influences. It is quite 
evident, that in certain ways, the plants display 
a very practical knowledge of such mysteries. 
For many years, man has instinctively been 
aware of this psychic superiority of the mem- 
bers of the vegetable kingdom, and has gone 
to them for advice in various troubles and dif- 
ficulties, even sometimes believing the plants 
to have a direct control over the affairs and 
lives of men. While the great mass of such al- 
leged influence is classed by modern thought as 
merest superstition, who can say that the wildest 
of these fancies does not contain certain germs 
of truth? At any rate, a brief investigation of 
some of the more popular beliefs of former 
years is very illuminating. 
In ancient days, many flowers and plants were 
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