Perceptive Power of VegetaUesi 143 



though buried in depths of fnow. And can 

 it be imagined, that fuch profufion of life fub- 

 fifts \vithout the leafl fenfation or enjoyment ? 

 Let us rather, with humble reverence, fuppofe, 

 that vegetables participate, in fome low deo-ree 

 of the common allotment of vitality: And that 

 our great Creator hath apportioned good, to all 

 living things, in number, weight, and mea- 

 fure. 



Supplement to the foregoing Paper j containing 

 further Ohfervations on the Sensitive Plant. 



IN the fpeculations, concerning the perceptive 

 power of vegetables, which were read before this 

 Society laft fpring, I obferved, that the motions 

 of the fenfitive plant are not to be explained by 

 the laws of eleftricity. For its leaves are alike 

 affc6ted by the contaft of eleflric and non- 

 ele<ftric bodies 3 fliew the fame fenfibilitv whe- 



* It has been eftimated, that our globe contains 20,000 

 fpecies of vegetables ; 3000 of worms ; 12,000 of infefts ; 

 200 of amphibious animals; 2600 of fifhes ; 550 of birds; 

 and 2CO of quadrupedes. (Vid. Linn. Amsenit. Academ. 

 and Stillingfleet's Mifcellaneous Trafts, p. 125). A cal- 

 culation like this, it is evident, muft be very defedive ; 

 bccaufe founded on pad difcoveries in a fciencc, which is 

 now in a ftate of rapid progreffion. But future acceffions, 

 both of plants and animals, with refpeil to number, may 

 produce no material changes in their relative proportions. 



ther 



