SENSITIVE PLANT AFTER CONTACT. 



CHAPTERS IN PLANT LIFE 



VII— THE FEELINGS OF PLANTS 



By S. LEONARD BASTIN 

 With Photographs by the Author 



Ol'ITE a short while ago the vegetable 

 world was considered to be some- 

 thing very distinct from the 

 animal kingdom. The difference between 

 the two living creations appeared to be 

 so sharply defined that the idea of any 

 connection seemed to be entirely out of 

 the question ; at any rate, such was the 

 view of the matter to those who were 

 content to take a mere external survey. 

 It is now, of course, well known that in 

 the primal forms of e.xistence plant and 

 animal so closely resemble one another 



that the keenest investigation fails to 

 establish any line of demarcation. Indeed, 

 the same basis is responsible for tlie 

 manifestation of life equally in the 

 vegetable and the animal. In the green 

 chlorophyllian tissue of the plant can be 

 recognised the wonderful protoplasm, no 

 less than in the specialised nervous 

 system of the animal. This being so, 

 it is a matter of great interest to 

 consider the response of the living 

 matter in the vegetable to external stimuli, 

 and thus find further evidence of the 



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