DOOK I. 



EVIDENCE OF VEGETABLE VITALITY. 



187 



In order to form an idea of the manner in which these act upon vegetation ; imagine that 

 every year an enormous quantity of seeds, produced by the existing vegetables, are spread 

 over the surface of the globe, by the winds and other causes already mentioned, all of 

 these seeds which fall in places suitable for their vegetation, and are not destroyed by ani- 

 mals, germinate and produce plants ; then among these plants, the strongest, and largest, 

 and those to wliich the soil is best suited, develope themselves in number and magnitude 

 so as to choke the others. Such is the general progress of nature, and among plants, as 

 among animals, the strong flourish at the expense of the weak. These causes have oper- 

 ated for such a length of time, that the greater number of species are now fixed and con- 

 sidered as belonging to certain soils, situations, and climates, beyond which they seldom 

 propagate themselves otherwise than by the hands of man. 



Sect. XI. Evidence and Character of Vegetable Vitality. 

 844. The jiou'er of coiuiteracting the laws of chemical affinity is reckoned the best and 

 most satisfactory evidence of the presence and agency of a vital principle as inherent in 

 any subject. Tliis principle, which seems first to have been instituted by Humboldt, is 

 ob\-iously applicable to die case of animals, as is proved by the process of die digestion of 

 the food, and its conversion into chyle and blood ; as well as from the various secretions 

 and excretions effected by the several organs, and effecting the growth and developement 

 of the indi\-idual, in direct opposition to the acknowledged laws of chemical afhnity, 

 which, as soon as the \ita\ principle is extinct, begin immediately to give indication of 

 their action in the incipient symptoms of the putrefaction of the dead body. But the rule 

 is also applicable to the case of vegetables, as is proved by the intro-susception, digestion, 

 and assimilation of the food necessary to their developement ; all indicating the agency 

 of a principle capable of counteracting the laws of chemical affinity ; which, at tlie period 

 of Avhat is usually called the death of the plant, begin also immediately to act, and to give 

 evidence of their action in the incipient spnptoms of the putrefaction of the vegetable. 

 Vegetables are therefore obviously endowed with a species of -vitality. But admitting the 

 presence and agency of a \ital principle inherent in the vegetable subject, what ai-e the 

 peculiar properties by which this piinciple is characterised ? 



S4o. Excitability. One of the most distinguishable properties of the vital principle of vegetables is 

 that of its excitability, or capacity of being acted upon by the application of natural stimuli, impelling 

 it to the exertion of its vegetative powers ; the natural stimuli thus impelling it being light and heat. 



846. The stimulating iiiflueiice of light upon the vital principle of the plant is discoverable, whether 

 in the stem, leaf, or flower The direction of the stem is influenced by the action of light, as well as 

 the color of its leaves. Distance from direct rays of light or weak light produces etiolation, and its 

 absence blanching. The luxuriance of branches depends on the presence and action of light, as is par- 

 ticularly observable in the case of hot-house plants, the branches of which are not so conspicuously di- 

 rected, either to the flue in quest of heat, or to the door or open sash in quest of air, as to the sun 

 »in quest of Kght. Hence also the branches of plants are often more luxuriant on the south than on 

 the north side; or at least on the side that is best exposed to light. The position of the leaf is also 

 strongly affected by the action of light to vvhich it uniformly turns its upper surface. This may be readily 

 perceived in the case of trees trained to a wall, from which the upper surface of the leaf is by con- 

 sequence always turned; being on a south wall turned to the south, and on a north wall turned "to the 

 north. And if the upper surface of the leaf is forcibly turned towards the wall and confined in that 

 position for a length of time, it will soon resume its primitive position upon regaining its liberty, but 

 particularly if the atmosphere is clear. The leaves of the mallow are said to exhibit but slight indi- 

 cations of this susceptibility, as also sword-shaped leaves; and also those of the mistletoe, are equally 

 susceptible on both sides. It had been conjectured that these effects are partly attributable to the 

 agency of heat ; and to try the value of the conjecture. Bonnet placed some plants of the atriplcx in a 

 stove heated to 25*^ of Reaumur. Yet the stems were not inclined to the side from which the greatest 

 degree of heat came ; but to a small opening in the stoves. Heat then does not seem to exert any 

 perceptible influence in the production of the above effects. Does moisture ? Bonnet found that the 

 leaves of the vine exhibited the same phenomenon when immersed in water, as when left in the open 

 air. Whence it seems probable that light is the sole agent in the production of the effects in question. 

 But as light produces such effects upon the leaves, so darkness or the absence of light produces an effect 

 quite the contrary; for it is known that the leaves of many plants assume a very different position in the 

 night from what they have in the day. This is particularly the case with winged leaves, which, though 

 fully expanded during the day, begin to droop and bend down about sunset and during the fall of the 

 evening dew, till they meet together on the inferior side of the leaf-stalk, the terminal lobe, if the leaf 

 is furnished with one,' folding itself back till it reaches the first pair ; or the two side lobes, if tlie leaf is 

 trifoliatC; as in the case of common clover. So also the leaflets of the false acacia and liquorice hang 

 down during the night, and those of mimosa pudica fold themselves up along the common foot-stalk 

 so as to overlap one another. LinucEUs has designated the above phenomenon by the appellation of 

 Hie Sleep of Plants. The expansion of the flower is also effected by the action of light. Many plants 

 do not fully expand their petals except when the sunshines; and hence alternately open them during 

 the day and shut them up during the night. This may be exemphfied in the case of papilionaceous 

 flowers in general, which spread out their wings in fine weather to admit the rays of the sun, and again 

 fold them up as the night approaches. It may be exemplified also in the case of compound flowers, as in 

 that of the dandehon and hawkweed. But the most singular case of this kind is perhaps that of the 

 lotus of the Euphrates, as described by Theophrastus, which he represents as rearing and expanding it* 

 blossoms by day, closing and sinking down beneath the surface of the water by night so as to be beyond 

 the grasp of the hand, and again rising up in the morning to present its expa'nded blossom to the sun. 

 The same phenomenon is related also by Pliny. But although many plants open their flowers in the 

 moming and shut them again in the evening, yet all flowers do not open and shut at the same time. 

 Plants of (he same species are tolerably regular as to time, ether circumstances being the same; and 

 . hence the daily opening and shutting of the flower has been denominated by botanists The Horologiiim 

 FtorcB. Flowers requiring but a slight application of stimulus open early in the morning, while others 

 requiring more open somewhat later. Some do not open till noon, and some, whose extreme delicacy 

 cannot l>ear the action of light at all, open only at night, such as the cactus grandiflora, or night-blowing 



