PLANT-LIFEASSIMILATION. 219 



side, consuming the Plant and thus assimilat- 

 ing inwardly what has been already assimi- 

 lated outwardly from the Cosmos and Dia- 

 cosrnos ; that is, the Animal feeds on vegetal 

 life (and certainly on some animal life too). 

 But the typical animal needs also the outer 

 elements of the earth (water and air) as well 

 as of the sun (the radiants and chemism)- 

 needs both the .Inorganic and the Organic. 



The function of the Plant, therefore, in 

 Assimilation is to transform Unlife in its 

 elemental forms to Life, that is, to the primal 

 vegetal Life. Its first act must be to appro- 

 priate and impart its food Alimentation; 

 then this prepared food must be circulated 

 through the body Distribution ; finally there 

 is the continual repetition of the Plant-form 

 externally Growth. 



The' twofold character of Assimilation in 

 the Plant may be noted further in its two op- 

 posite directions: downward for earth with 

 air and water (cosmical), upward for air 

 and for light and the radiants specially (dia- 

 cosmical) . The two extreme organs of Assim- 

 ilation (root and leaf) direct themselves to- 

 ward the two opposite sides of the inorganic 

 universe, seeking to bring them together into 

 the living individual, or into the unitary pro- 

 cess of the Biocosmos. The stage of Assimi- 

 lation is, accordingly, the stage of the pitched 



