18 INTRODUCTION. 



Vegetables have no stomach ; they do not require such 

 a magazine, since they find a regular supply of nourish- 

 ment at the extremity of their roots : with them, there- 

 fore, there is no occasion for accumulation. In order to 

 conceive an idea of the form in which plants receive 

 nourishment, you must represent to yourself a very del- 

 icate cobweb network, of such extreme tenuity as to ren- 

 der it invisible until the interstices are filled and distend- 

 ed by the nutriment lodged within them. The food of 

 plants is not like that of animals, of a complicated nature ; 

 but consists of the simplest materials, water, and the 

 solid and gaseous matter contained within it. 



The second distinction between the animal and vege- 

 table creation is, that the latter are not endowed with 

 sensibility. 



Emily. But the mimosa or sensitive plant, Mrs. B., 

 when it shrinks from the touch, wears a strong appear- 

 ance of sensibility. 



Mrs. B. Yet I should doubt whether it is any thing 

 more than appearance. Some ingenious experiments 

 have, indeed, been recently made, which tend to favor 

 the opinion that plants may be endowed with a species of 

 sensibility ; and seem to render it not improbable that 

 there may exist in plants something corresponding with 

 the nervous system in animals. 



Caroline. The sensitive plant would then, no doubt, 

 be a nervous fine lady at the court of Flora. But, pray, 

 of what nature were these experiments ? 



Mrs. B. There are certain vegetable poisons, such as 

 nux vomica, laurel-water, belladonna, hemlock, and sev- 

 eral others, which are known to destroy life in animals, 

 not by affecting the stomach, but merely by acting on the 

 nervous system. These poisons were severally adminis- 

 tered to different plants, either by watering them with or 

 steeping their roots in infusions of these poisons. The 

 universal effect was, to produce a sort of spasmodic ac- 



30. Why have vegetables no need of a stomach 1 ? 31. What is 

 necessary in order to conceive how vegetables receive nourishment'? 

 32. Of what does the food of vegetables consist! 3a. What is the 

 second distinction between the animal and vegetable creation! 34. 

 What objection does Emily make to this distinction! 85. What do 

 some ingenious experiments tend to show, to which Mrs. B. alludes! 

 36 What were these experiments! 



