r,8 LIVING PLANTvS 



Touch the leaf of a sensitive plant and see it 

 shrink away into the smallest compass at- 

 tainable. 



What do all these animal and plant move- 

 ments mean, except it be that the individual 

 has felt something and acts responsiveh', ac- 

 cording to its ability. And yet it may be ob- 

 jected that while man and some of the higher 

 animals may possess genuine feeling, that is, 

 to be more explicit, maj^ experience conscious 

 pain, yet the lower animals and all plants 

 only react mechanically upon stimulation, 

 such as frictional contact, shock, light, heat, 

 electricit\^ etc. To illustrate: when a dog 

 howls upon being hit with a stone, it will 

 ofcnerallv be admitted that it is because he 

 suffers pain ; but when an earthworm strug- 

 gles as the angler threads it upon the hook, a 

 question arises whether the movement is in- 

 dicative of pain or whether it is simply reac- 

 tionary, like the quivering of a mass of jelly 

 when struck ; and when a twig is pulled from 

 a tree no more thought of pain is connected 

 with the act than in the breaking of a stone. 

 In discussing a subject like this considerable 

 difficult}^ is found in using terms in such a 

 of terms way that the}^ will convey an exact and imi- 



form meaning. In the task I have essayed, 

 nothing is easier than to upset the whole ar- 

 gument by employing the words feeling, 



Definition 



