CONCLUSIONS 439 



demonstrated of late that the cells at the end of the roots 

 exercise the same selective power as the cells in the stom- 

 ach. Knowing what is required by orders coming from 

 different places of the body, they select those particles 

 and material which are called for, and reject all others. 

 The materials selected by the cell at the surface of the 

 roots are carried inward and up to the places where they 

 are required, in the same manner as in animals ; and the 

 leaves absorb all the moisture they can from the air, and 

 what more is necessary is brought up from the roots. The 

 plants have in a way a mouth at each end. They have 

 a circulation of the sap in different directions, up and 

 down, for the purpose of transportation, just as animals 

 have a circulation of the blood. 



We do not know very much about the beings that go 

 to make up the intelligent individuals we call the cells. 

 We see them move about in the cells, produce this and 

 that, and we call them granules, just as a number of years 

 ago, we gave the name cell to the intelligent builder of all 

 life on earth that we now see, and which we call plants 

 and animals. When the cell was first discovered it was 

 thought to be merely a crystal of matter and was not 

 considered a living individual. Man could not then com- 

 prehend that he had discovered his maker. 



It is singular how the cells of plants are affected by 

 chloroform, drugs and poisons in precisely the same man- 

 ner as man and animals are. It can be observed in sensi- 

 tive plants that they cease to be sensitive when chloro- 

 formed ; and sensitive plants who close their leaves when 

 jaired or disturbed will get used to it if this disturbance 

 is kept up for a time and will pay no attention to it, being 

 affected in the same manner as man and animals would 

 be. There is a plant called Nepenthes, which has an in- 

 sect trap like other pitcher plants that catch insects, but 



