45 



general mass, springs up into life in ve- 

 getation. We see vegetables as it were 

 self formed and producing their own 

 species. We observe them also exerting 

 most of the powers which animals pos- 

 sess. That they have irritability is evi- 

 dent from the current of their sap and their 

 secretions ; nay, in some we observe those 

 vivacious motions which seem chiefly to 

 belong to animal life, as is evident in 

 the Mimosae, the Dionaea Muscipula, and 

 Heydysarum gyrans. We see them like 

 animals having alternate seasons of ac- 

 tion and repose; and though in general 

 vegetables like animals are in action during 

 the day and rest in the night, yet also 

 some vegetables like some animal^ rest 

 in the day and are in action during the 

 common season of repose, 



We see animals scarcely differing from 

 vegetables in their functions, like them 



