138 Literary and Philosophical Society, 



CHAPTER VIII. 



ESSAYS AND LIVES, VOLS. I.-IV. 



Sensation and Perception in Vegetables. 



Dr. Percival wrote a short essay on the perceptive 

 powers of vegetables, called by himself, partly in excuse for 

 thinking in such a manner, d^jeu d' esprit ; he seems to have 

 felt uncertain whether he would print it or not. Some parts 

 of this paper raise the author high as a general thinker on 

 nature, and show that he had talents for investigation, and 

 certainly for an observer, although his gentle nature and 

 want of bodily strength led him into calmness of thought, 

 which frequently produces diffuseness of style. Still he 

 who looks on nature with the eye of a poet and a moralist, 

 with much knowledge of natural law, and much acquaint- 

 ance with phenomena, is a man of a high class, and in some 

 respects of a much higher class than the man of genius, 

 who sees in one direction only, although he who sees far is 

 the rare man, and one to whom humanity owes most and 

 gives most honour, and to whom alone we are accustomed 

 to apply the title of Great. 



To the first class of men Dr. Percival certainly belonged, 

 seeing nature in its great width and watching the existence 

 of mind, descending even to the plants as life itself does. 



