THE HIGHER LIFE OF PLANTS 
forces of bodily dissolution, must it not also be 
infinite, immortal? 
With so many modern people doubting (or 
pretending to doubt) the immortality of man, 
it may seem presumptuous to claim immortality 
for the plants, yet that is the unescapable con- 
clusion to which the writers of this book are 
driven. All life is one, indivisible and insepar- 
able. There is a divine spark in every living 
creature and it is reasonable to expect it to live 
beyond death. Immortality by reproduction is 
not enough. If it were true that the eternal 
principle continually passes from parent to off- 
spring, and that when the parent dies, he is 
dead spiritually as well as physically, then we 
should expect immediate degeneracy and death 
after reproduction takes place. That a portion 
of soul essence descends through countless gen- 
erations we do not doubt, but each plant and 
animal is also a spiritual entity. Man and plants 
are both tools in the hands of Maeterlinck’s all- 
prevailing intelligence. Yet man feels that he 
is a free agent. Why not the plants also? 
Every plant has racial and family traits, and 
each one also has a marked personality. If im- 
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