468 CHARACTER OF VEGETABLE VITALITY. CHAP. XI. 



parts, and reproduction of the species. This defini- 

 tion is no doubt a great improvement upon the 

 former, but it cannot be said to be by any means 

 correct ; for as it has not yet been proved that plants 

 are endowed with sensation, so neither has it been 

 proved that they are totally devoid of it. And it is 

 very well known that all vegetables are not confined 

 to a particular spot, and that such as are so con- 

 fined do not always derive their nourishment from 

 that spot ; many of the aquatics even in their vege- 

 tating state are wafted on the surface of the water 

 by means of the winds, or impelled by the action 

 of the waves, and many of the Lichens and Algae 

 are attached even to the solid rock. 



Of Lin- Linnaeus, the great reformer of natural history 

 and chief of all botanists, undertook, as well be- 

 came him, to fix and define the boundaries of the 

 mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdom ; his defi- 

 tion is as follows : " Stones grow ; plants grow 

 and live ; animals grow, live, and feel." This defi- 

 nition is extremely plausible, and bears upon the 

 face of it the genuine stamp of the bold and mas- 

 terly manner of Linnseus. But with all due defe- 

 rence to that great and illustrious naturalist, still 

 his definition must be regarded as defective, at 

 least as relative to the distinction between the 

 animal and the plant. For in the first place, as it 

 is not quite certain that some plants do not also feel 

 as well as live, it is liable to the same objection with 

 the definition of Jungius, on which indeed it seems 



