108 THE HUMAN SIDE OF PLANTS 



there would be no written history, and the advances 

 or retreats of life would be retarded or stopped. 

 All records are the results of this prompting ; in all 

 life it is evident. The same instinct that told the 

 cave-man to cut his story into the rock surface 

 prompts the small boy to whittle his initials on the 

 top of his desk or on the old back fence. Each 

 obeys an indefinable impulse; neither reasons in his 

 act. 



And as in animals and plants we find other visi- 

 ble forms of a universal nature, this purely nat- 

 ural instinct, appearing in the human type, ap- 

 pears in all types if we can but discover it in 

 animal, bird, fish, and plant. 



The bear makes his mark by rubbing high upon 

 the bark of a tree. Is he conscious that he is leav- 

 ing a record, a guide for other bears to aim for, to 

 attain, and to supermark? Whether he realises this 

 or not, the record is made, and other bears do strive 

 to attain and supermark it ; and incidentally in the 

 striving become a better, hardier, greater race of 

 bears. 



So the dog makes his mark, the wild-cat his, and 

 the lion his. The birds have their records; the 

 fishes theirs ; and, in concession to this requirement 

 of universal nature, all plant life, from the tiniest 

 fern to the hardiest monarch of the forest, makes 



