44 DEFINITION OF A PLANT. [LECT. II. 



" wise, from the depredations of animals, bear 

 " any comparison with their enjoyment on the 

 " whole." Before perusing this passage of Sir J. E. 

 Smith's work, we thought this fanciful idea had 

 sunk into the grave with Dr. Darwin; and we 

 must acknowledge that our inflexible imaginations 

 have never yet been able so far to overcome the 

 suggestions of cooler judgment, as to lead us to 

 suppose that the general sum of enjoyment would 

 be increased by such a circumstance. It must, 

 however, be allowed, that the spontaneous move- 

 ments of some plants which we shall hereafter no- 

 tice, appear at first sight to be the effect not of 

 sensation only, but even of volition; and, although 

 the possession of that faculty by vegetables cannot 

 be proved, yet neither can it be completely dis- 

 proved. The experiments of M. Humboldt with 

 the galvanic pile upon those plants which are par- 

 ticularly irritable and are generally regarded as 

 possessing sensibility, tend, perhaps more strongly 

 than any observations that have been made on the 

 spontaneous movements of plants, to settle this 

 question. He did not succeed in rendering any of 

 them susceptible of the galvanic influence. Until, 

 therefore, further observations be made, tending 

 to confirm the opinion that vegetables are endowed 

 with sensation, or to disprove it completely, the 

 definition which mentions the want of it, as the 



