XI. 



INSECTIVOROUS AND CLIMBING PLANTS.* 

 (The Nation, January 6 and 13, 1876.) 



" Minerals grow ; vegetables grow and live ; ani- 

 mals grow, live, and feel ; " this is the well-wom, not 

 to say out-worn, diagnosis of the three kingdoms by 

 Linnaeus. It must be said of it that the agreement 

 indicated in the first couplet is unreal, and that the 

 distinction declared in the second is evanescent. Crys- 

 tals do not grow at all in the sense that plants and 

 animals grow. On the other hand, if a response to 

 external impressions by special movements is evidence 

 of feeling, vegetables share this endowment with ani- 

 mals ; while, if conscious feeling is meant, this can be 

 affirmed only of the higher animals. What appears to 

 remain true is, that the difference is one of successive 

 addition. That the increment in the organic world is 

 of many steps; that in the long series no absolute 



1 " Insectivorous Plants. By Charles Darwin, M. A., F. R. S." With 

 Illustrations. London: John Murray. 1875. Pp.462. New York: 

 D. Appleton & Co. 



" The Movements and Habits of Climbing Plants. By Charles Dar- 

 win, M. A., F. R. S., etc." Second Edition, revised, with Illustrations. 

 London: John Murray. 1875. Pp.208. New York: D. Appleton & 

 Co. 



