Vegetal Causes. 161 



subsists between mineral and vegetal structure and 

 energy. 



The above process is repeated indefinitely in the uni- 

 cellular vegetal. When cells aggregate, and aggregates 

 aggregate into larger vegetal structures, a physiological 

 specialization automatically occurs whereby different 

 groups of cells drift apart for the efficient administra- 

 tion of the plant's assimilative, supportive, protective, 

 and reproductive functions. In a sense the plant 

 becomes a colony of cells, each group undertaking 

 some special work. Growth in all vegetals, however, 

 proceeds in the same fundamental suicidal fashion, 

 each cell increasing and dividing itself, and so on 

 interminably. The likeness of each organism is thus 

 inviolably maintained and perpetuated in the only 

 way in which likeness could possibly be secured. 



Section 4. The Evolution of Vegetal Energy : 

 We have said that a plant as composed of magnetic 

 atoms is also a magnet ; hence its energy is also 

 magnetism. A plant, however, is a living and grow- 

 ing magnet only when it is under normal life con- 

 ditions. Thus a plant lifted out of the soil may 

 remain alive for a time, but it will not grow. 



A horse-shoe magnet is what we may call a dry- 

 magnet, for it attracts matter or iron filings in a dry 

 state. But a plant is what may be called a wefr 

 magnet, because it can only attract matter and grow 

 under moist conditions. All plants thus have their 



roots embedded in the soil, a moist habitat containing 



L 



