188 THE HUMAN SIDE OF PLANTS 



course the higher forms of animals can be separated 

 easily from the higher forms of plants ; but in the 

 lower forms, there is no distinction. There are 

 many of the lower animals which have no stomach 

 or even a trace of a nervous system; while many 

 of the lower plants can actually swim through the 

 water, taking any course they desire. The most 

 skilled scientist cannot be certain whether he is 

 dealing with animal or plant. If, then, a dividing 

 line cannot be drawn between the lower forms of 

 plant and animal life, how can an intelligence be 

 assigned to the one in its higher forms without a 

 similar power being attributed to the other, espe- 

 cially when, with all other powers of the animal, the 

 plant favourably compares? 



"There is nothing unscientific," says Francis 

 Darwin, "in classing animals and plants together 

 from a psychological standpoint." 



In a previous chapter it has been shown that 

 plants see and are sensitive to the presence or ab- 

 sence of light ; that they will approach a sunny spot 

 from the shade or a shady spot from the sun ; that 

 an approaching shadow will cause some plants to 

 close their petals ; thus proving that plants have the 

 sense of sight. 



That plants hear has been shown in the instances 

 of those sensitive-plants which are susceptible to 



