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LIVING PLANTS 



Likeness of 

 plants and 

 animals 



merit of air and light and fragrance. And 

 there is a travest}^ upon human cruelty enact- 

 ed b3^ those curious swamp plants of North 

 Carolina,when they clasp their bristling leaves 

 together over the incautious insect with the 

 same blasting results to the mortal life of the 

 prisoner as befell the unfortunate victims of 

 inquisitorial times who succumbed to the 

 deadly embrace of the eiserne Jungfrau . When 

 standing in the castle tower at Nuremberg, 

 viewing this torture weapon of mediaeval in- 

 genuity, one can not butfeel that herethe God- 

 like powers of man dropped perilously near 

 the blind forces of lower nature. 



In all the essentials that go to constitute a 

 living organism of whatever degree of com- 

 plexity, that is, the ability to take food, to 

 grow, to respond to stimulation and to ex- 

 hibit spontaneous and directive energies, the 

 plant is the Ishmaelitic branch of the same 

 great world's family in which the animal has 

 acquired a higher standing by superior aware- 

 ness. In other words, the plant and the ani- 

 mal, in ultimate essentials are of like consti- 

 tution. It is evident, therefore, that the argu- 

 ment for natural rights may be supported 

 from either branch of the organic phylon ; 

 bearing in mind, however, that in shifting 

 irom the animal to the plant, or from the 



