THE SENSES OF PLANTS. 283 



pushing through and then spreading out their 

 arms. All are exposed to the same influences and 

 have responded in a different way. 



Instead of mechanical uniformity we have even 

 greater diversity than among men, probably be- 

 cause trees want the means of combination. Every 

 one stands up for itself entirely regardless of its 

 neighbours except to push them away when they 

 become too aggressive. We call this selfishness, 

 but can hardly conceive of its existence apart from 

 a knowledge of what is to be gained by the struggle. 

 A blundering fool can never be credited with such 

 a vice (or virtue ?), but a calculating business man 

 is often charged with it. When a man gains some 

 particular object for which he has been long striving, 

 we call him persevering, energetic, and industrious, 

 and when a tree does the same we can hardly do 

 less than give it due credit 



It is hardly necessary to state that plants are 

 sensitive, or to attribute the faculty only to those 

 popularly so called. Of the five senses credited to 

 animals they certainly possess three feeling, taste, 

 and smell. True they have neither eyes nor ears, 

 but men and women are not necessarily wanting 

 in intelligence because they are blind or deaf. 

 Like human beings when deprived of both these 

 organs, trees enjoy the sunlight, and are even 



