THE " INTELLIGENCE " OF PLANTS 87 



long ago pointed out that in Degeneration the suppression of 

 form corresponds to the cessation of work, that the " lower " 

 condition incidental upon Degeneration is due to the organism 

 being fitted for less complex action and reaction in regard to its 

 surroundings and that the " habit " of Parasitism, for instance, 

 clearly acts upon animal organisation in the same way as we see 

 an active, healthy man sometimes degenerate, when he becomes 

 suddenly possessed of a fortune, or as Rome degenerated when 

 possessed of the riches of the ancient world. He adds that 

 wherever we see symptoms of parasitism and of sluggishness, as 

 expressed by " habits," we are justified in applying the hypothesis 

 of Degeneration. T have italicised some of Sir E. Ray's remarks 

 to indicate that the identical economic and psychological sequences 

 apply universally and above all that we have in Degeneration a 

 disintegration of a previous sense of work, of service, of orientation 

 and of " responsibility." Maeterlinck expresses wonderment 

 at the essential knowledge, evidently engendered by the symbiotic 

 relation, thus : 



Shall I speak of the seeds which provide for their dissemination by 

 birds and which, to entice them, as in the case of the Mistletoe, the Jumper, 

 the Mountain-ash, lurk inside a sweet husk ? We see here developed such 

 a powerful reasoning faculty, such a remarkable understanding of final 

 causes that we hardly dare dwell upon the subject, for fear of repeating 

 the ingenious mistakes of Bernardin de Saint-Pierre. And yet the facts 

 can be no otherwise explained. The sweet husk is of no more use to the 

 seed than the nectar, which attracts the bee, is to the flower. The bird 

 eats the fruit because it is sweet and, at the same time, swallows the seed, 

 which is indigestible. He flies away and, soon after, ejects the seed in the 

 same condition in which he has received it, but stripped of its case and 

 ready to sprout far from the attendant dangers of its birth-place. 



I shall be glad if anyone will produce a better and more rational 

 interpretation of these phenomena than the socio-physiological 

 one for which I contend. This interpretation, moreover, enables 

 one to understand how the plant is able to communicate a share 

 of its vital psychic equipment to the animal, fitting it in many 

 ways for the purposes of organic progress. When so much that 

 is good is seen to arise from the symbiotic relation, and when the 

 plant in particular is seen to be, not only the fundamental 

 capitalist, but also the fundamental inventor and contriver of 

 service, the assumption is by no means fanciful that the plant 

 is also a direct sustainer of animal intelligence. The animal 

 takes in " knowledge " with its food, as it were essential 



