x THE HUMAN SIDE OF PLANTS 
have even minds and souls, with which to think and 
to worship. 
We live to-day in an age of discoveries, of awak- 
enings. Things, seen for centuries, are suddenly 
dawning on our realisation as facts, as truths. In 
every branch of science, of philosophy, of religion, 
is this so. And as each truth is newly realised and 
is added to the store of understood things, we find 
in the new understanding some kinship, some rela- 
tionship to other truths. All truths point to a uni- 
versal truth; all the divisions of nature are closely 
akin to one another. 
In this day of discoveries there have been revela- 
tions in every branch of science and many inven- 
tions based on these revelations. But the greatest 
of revelations are those which pertain to the origin, 
purpose, and extent of life. Through all ages 
the quest of thinking men has been for an under- 
standing of the origin and purpose of life; in our 
present day, above all questions of national or civic 
action, the question of the whence and the whither 
of our living holds the greatest interest among all 
classes of thinking people. And it is in its fund of 
truths pertaining to life, that Nature offers its 
strongest invitation to the interest of mankind. 
In admitting the kinship between all the divisions 
of nature, we acknowledge a relationship between 
