THOUGHTS ON VEGETABLE INSTINCT. 191 



says, " It is the necessity of its nature.'' True, but the 

 sceptic does not see God in Nature. 



There is a curious adaptation in plants to overcome 

 certain obstacles that obstruct their progress in growth, 

 and that enables them to put forth certain energies 

 which under other circumstances are not exerted. 



This is seen in the case of the ivy and many other 

 climbing plants. In its infant stage the ivy appears as 

 a tender light green plant, with sharply pointed leaves. 

 For a time it creeps over the ground ; then when more 

 advanced, the leaves take a lobed form and become of a 

 ■dark green, the stem woody and branching. The slender 

 foranchlets seeking support, it raises itself to any eleva- 

 tion from the ground, by means of some bush or the 

 trunk of a tree. It puts forth tiny flat feet, armed 

 with imperceptible rootlets, by which it attaches itself 

 to the rough surface of a wall or the bark of a tree. It 

 may be for shelter or support, it cannot be for nourish- 

 ment. It is not improbable that climbing is inherent in 

 its nature, and so it strives to overcome every obstacle 

 that interferes with its upward progress — who shall 

 say ? — and to this end it exerts, to accomplish its desire, 

 a power that it had no need to make use of in its former 

 condition. 



The sower who casts his seed in the furrows of his 

 field never pauses to think how it will fall — whether or 

 not it shall lie in the best position for the germination 

 of the grain. 



