INTELLIGENCE OF THE CELL 249 



plant some prompting sense which makes it realize any 

 unfitness in its life or being. 



"Plants, then, have seven senses: sight, hearing, feel- 

 ing, taste, smell, a psychic sense and a physical sense ; 

 or six senses and a reasoning power if the physical sense 

 be admitted as such. These senses might be termed 

 'passive' mentality that is, senses which, to perform 

 their functions, possibly do not require any command of 

 the will, but are merely natural to the plants. If, how- 

 ever, these seven senses are but passive powers, and not 

 in any way an evidence of intelligence in the plant, there 

 are certain actual and purposeful motions of the plant 

 which might be called its 'active' mentality." 



It is the purposive and intelligent acts of the plant that 

 compel us to impute to them intellect, will and conscious- 

 ness. When we consider the fact that the being that 

 builds the plant is the same being that builds the animal, 

 we should expect that either structure, plant or animal, 

 should exhibit the same signs of being occupied by and 

 guided by intelligence. The facts are that those in charge 

 are intelligent, just as are those in charge of the sub- 

 marine or the battleship. 



Man is supposed to be the most intelligent, but com- 

 pare his acts with those of the cell and you will be sur- 

 prised at the number of foolish and useless actions per- 

 formed by man. 



Consider the actions of the plant called the Didinium, 

 who lives a separate life in the water. The following by 

 Mr. Binet is a description of his actions: "The most 

 complicated instance of localization is met with in the 

 Didinium, which we have so often cited ; the Didinium 

 knows precisely the position of the prey it follows, for it 

 takes aim at the object of its pursuit like a marksman, 

 and transpierces it with its nettle-like darts. Between 



