CHAPTER VII. 



HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



THE history of the plant kingdom from early ages 

 to the present time requires but brief notice. The 

 problems connected with this kingdom are much 

 simpler than those relating to animals. While plants 

 certainly constitute important factors in the develop- 

 ment of life, their relation to the history of mankind, 

 which is after all the primal object of study, is very 

 distant. Like animals they have had a history, and 

 it is one of even more constant progression. Very 

 early in the history of life plants became separated 

 from animals by acquiring the power of utilizing 

 sunlight as a source of energy, and though some of 

 them have subsequently lost this power, it is never- 

 theless probable that this was the real point of 

 separation of the two kingdoms. Whether plants 

 or animals were the first to appear cannot be de- 

 termined, though it is certain that animals, as they 

 exist to-day, could not have preceded plants. We 

 have seen, however, that probably neither of them 

 preceded the other, and that the first organic life 

 was neither animal nor plant. 



Of the early history of plants we know little or 

 nothing. The general simplicity of their structure 



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