THE KINSHIP OF PLANTS TO 



ANIMALS 



An interesting theory suggesting that plants possess rudimentary senses 



By WALTER P. WRIGHT 



THE theory of Mr. Francis Darwin 

 that plants have senses closely 

 akin to those possessed by animals 

 — that they can see, feel and smell — ■ 

 has done more than arouse controversy 

 among scientists ; it has 

 arrested the attention 

 of that large section of 

 the general public which 

 strives to look with 

 seeing eyes into the 

 manifold processes of 

 creation. 



The theory is at once 

 picturesque and stimu- 

 lating. It immediately 

 extends the view and 

 \ddens the sympathies 

 of mankind. It links 

 plants with humanity in 

 closer bonds, ^^'e feel 

 that the flowers which 

 v.-e have cultivated from 

 selfish motives^for the 

 pleasurable sensations 

 which their colour and 

 perfume impart — may 

 well minister to the linei 

 emotions of love and 

 friendship. They are an 

 integral part of the vast, yet simple, 

 evolutionary scheme which has peopled 

 the orbs in the solar system with their 

 myriad forms of life. 



Manv who may have looked askance 

 at evolution because of an imconquerable 

 repugnance to the association which it 

 entails with the lower forms of animal 

 life mav be expected to consider it with 

 sympathy when it not only brings within 

 its scope, but gives new attributes to. 

 beautiful plants. They will look on the 



sprawling sprays of the wild rose, the 

 snowy cumuli of the Traveller's Joy. the 

 i\-ory spires of the chestnut, the golden 

 cascades of the laburnum, with a sense 

 of intimacy, of oneness, that can hardly 



y'/;^>.-.:^ r.i/,'; o !'■■ 7- ll'itltis, AVri- Orccn. 

 STRELITZIA REGINA. 



fail to have a far-reaching effect both on 

 their imagination and their hearts. 



It needs but a very slight study of 

 plants to perceive that there is evidence 

 of intelligence among them which puts 

 them at once on a par with at least the 

 lower animals. They breathe, they move, 

 they simulate other objects, they dex-elo]") 

 extraordinary and beautiful jirocesses for 

 re])r()ducti()n. self-jirescrvation and secur- 

 ing nourishment. Roots, stems, leaves 

 and flowers alike appear to be capable of 



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