MENTALITY AND SPIRITUALITY 193 



ject, whether or not the mind of the human wants 

 that particular object; and as the human mind 

 would realise instantly that its hand is clasping the 

 wrong object, so the mind of the sundew realises 

 that this pebble is an inedible thing. It instantly 

 opens its tentacles and allows the pebble to fall 

 out. How does the plant know that the pebble is 

 not a fly? Its opening its tentacles and unclasping 

 the foreign substance is a direct voluntary action, 

 and must be at the command of an active, reason- 

 ing mentality. 



Another carnivorous plant, Venus's fly-trap, has 

 been used frequently for a similar experiment. Its 

 leaves will enclose anything with which it comes in 

 contact. Even a tiny pebble, or a bit of dry wood, 

 will be enveloped. But the plant soon detects its 

 mistake, if it happens to catch something that is 

 not edible, and the unwelcome substance is imme- 

 diately dropped. On the other hand, if the leaf 

 catches a fly or a bit of raw meat, it holds it tightly 

 until all the food material is extracted. There 

 seems no explanation for this discretionary power 

 on the part of the plant unless the theory of plant 

 intellect be accepted. 



In their response to the reproductive and paren- 

 tal instincts, certain plants show a state of intellec- 

 tual development which compares not unfavourably 



