368 DESIGN IN NATURE 



really altering its constitution or finally departing from its primal type. In everything the plant does, traces of 

 intelligence and a First Cause may be detected. It is free in one sense, it is not free in another ; the controllmg, 

 governing power is always behind it. It has been said that plants wander indefinitely from their origmals if only 

 sufficient time (thousands or milUons of years) be allowed. There is no proof whatever of this statement, and the 

 extraordinary persistence of certain species of plants gives a distinct denial to it. It is also said that plants anti- 

 cipate their own wants and make their own arrangements as apart from a First Cause. This is assigning to the 

 plant a power not possessed by any Uving thing. Not even in the highest animals (and we have proof of this in 

 our own persons) can structural wants be satisfied and structural changes induced at will. A man may not add 

 a cubit to his stature. Still less can he cause a hair to grow, or to cease growing, in a particular spot. He has no 

 control over his so-called vegetative functions any more than the plant. All the organs m plants and animals are 

 original endowments : they are created, transmitted products, and neither plant nor animal can, of its own accord, 

 alter its constitution or form to any appreciable extent. As a matter of fact, plants and animals are under 

 supervision, and all their wants, present and prospective, provided for. 



Plants develop and grow in certain directions, not as automata, but as individuals and living entities, under 

 guidance and under law and order. The plant is never wholly at the mercy of environment or external stimula- 

 tion. It is actuated by inherent vital force, and capable (under guidance) of inaugurating independent action. It 

 does not normally act under the influence of irritabihty as an efficient cause. The movements of climbing plants 

 show this conclusively. It has been generally assumed that chmbing plants, whether they climb by rootlets, suckers, 

 hooks, bends, or spirals, must be touched by something before the chmbing apparatus can be developed and set 

 in motion. On the contrary the climbing apparatus is developed first. That the tendency and power to chmb 

 inheres in the plant, and not in anything outside of it, is shown in the circummutatory movements of certain 

 plants where the stem is spirally twisted and the free or apicial end of the stem makes wide movements of rotation 

 in the air in search of something round which to twine. The twining apparatus is complete before the support is 

 encountered. The latter, therefore, cannot be the cause of the twining and rotatory movements. These are, of 

 necessity, inherent and spontaneous. 



In the case of the passion flower (Passiflora alata), the vegetable marrow {Cucurbita Pepo), the melon {Gucumis 

 Melo), &c., the tendrils make elaborate preparations for seizing objects, but these preparations are carried through 

 with or without supports. Thus in the passion flower, the tendrils first appear as long, Ump, sensitive shoots, quite 

 straight or with a terminal curve. As the tendril grows older its free end becomes spiral either in the air or in con- 

 nection with something it touches. It not unfrequently curves and twists spirally first in one direction and then in 

 another and opposite direction. This it does in the air as apart from contact and stimulation, as well as when it 

 comes in contact with a support. The spiral and the reversing spiral movements are inherent, and in no sense due 

 to irritabihty and supposed external stimulation afforded by supports. 



Similar remarks are to be made of the tendrils of the vegetable marrow {Cucurbita Pepo). In this case the 

 spiral arrangements are more elaborate. The spirals of the tendrils first appear as small, close, flat spires. These 

 gradually unwind and straighten till they resemble those of the passion flower, which, as explained, first appear as 

 long, tapering, limp, sensitive processes, either straight or slightly curled at the free extremity. In this condition 

 they feel about in the air for something to lay hold of. If they succeed they twine round it and form single or 

 double spirals. These single and double spirals are, however, formed in the air when nothing is touched, so that 

 they are to be regarded as independent formations whose primary object is support. The marvellous thing is 

 that the elaborate spiral mechanism is developed in advance and in anticipation of finding a support. The plant 

 is guided to produce a structure and perform a function calculated to contribute to its well-being. The plant could 

 have no knowledge of the necessity for a support, and the structure and function are equally examples of design and 

 means to ends. 



The sensitive and insectivorous plants also display design of a high order. These are dealt with in other parts 

 of the work. 



One of the most remarkable features in plants is their mode of fertilisation. In a very large number of cases 

 they are hermaphrodite ; the male and female elements being found on the same plant. Under these circumstances 

 contiguity of position and the interposition of air currents, as a rule, secure the necessary contact, blending, and 

 mutual interpenetration of the sexual elements. In other cases, the male and female elements occur on difierent 

 plants separated occasionally by considerable distances. Under these circumstances a medium, or go-between, 

 becomes indispensable. The air in motion may perform the office of medium ; more frequently this important and 

 dehcate task is entrusted to the movements of insects and animals of various kinds. In order to attract the insects 

 and animals in question,'^plants display the most extraordinary lures in the way of colour, form, perfume, nectar, &c. 

 These lures are the immediate outcome of design, and cannot be referred to natural selection or modifications 



