The New Orleans crescent. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1866-1869, 1869-04-18
Ehe S1ew Orleans Crescent.
SUNDAY MORNING. APRIL Is, 1869.
Is THERE A SOUL IN PLANTss
Translated from TIE oous, a.. Flats Uni. for the Evsnn


botany, she mentions, among the number Of new
works upon that science which have attracted
her attention, The Soul OF Plant" by N. Bos-
cowitz.
The human soul IL go often questioned, nova.
days, that il Is not, without some surprise, that
we hear mention made of soul IN plant. We
are quite ready TO suppose that 1t Is fgurative
expression. That by this word soul is under
stood the color, grace, charm and attraction OF
the plants its sprightly, majestic or languishing
EXPIRE ion-' word, ell which forms its radiant
exterior. But, no, the question in point is really
Of vegetable psychology.
Mr.. Boscovitz puts this question /" Is the plant
an animated beng, capable Of voluntary acts "
And in answer, he exhibits the most interesting
facts Of vege.lble life. Studied with penetration
and rsgecity. grouped with art aud POLITICALLY in
tepreted. those facts appear new, although they
occur under our ewes daily.
The opinion that the scts OF the plant are not
simply mechanical and physical, that is, produced
by blind force, but that they are determined by
Q clear-sighted instinct, Of the nature Of that
which governs eDinsls, has already been pro-
fessed by many Swans, among others, In the
eighteenth century, by d.. Erasmus Darwin. the
grandfather OF the celebrated modern an'hro-
biologist. The two feIvent psrtissns Of the doc
rine at the present day are two foreign scientist
DeMortius and Theodore Fechner. In ancient
times Anaxagorus, Pythogoras. Plato. etc., ad-
mitted belief in the souls of plants. The laws
of Msnou sanction it, for they state:
I" Plants and animals have internally con-
sciousness Of their existence, aud they also have
their soIrows and their happiness"
Admitting this doctrine for q few moments, II
we suppose that the variety of Sc 71,lons in
plants is as manifold "a is their diversity Of spe-
cies, what q charming movement Of life will eni-
mate the vegetable world, which embraces all
from the modest howerets of our fields to ne
splendid, majestic, brilliant flowers Of our gar
dens the strange or mas8ifcent products of the
tropical fora, TO those mysterious plants whose
sensitIveness and power OF transformation ap.
prosch the miraculous.
Let Us say lew words about those excep. ional
plants directly from which the doctor hes gained
en- idea OF the energetic vitality Of the vegetable
world. nj. Boscowitz particularly mentions three.
TIE 6rst is the Mimoss, or sensitive plant, which,
at the least shock or the slightest jar of the soil
which bears it, folds its leaves droops its branches
and seems 10 wither In its fright The oher IL the
Anas'ics or Judean rose, or Mary's flower, as the
Arabs call IL. This, when IL has been fertilized n
a soil which is not suitable to receive its seeds,
detaches the root which holds it fixed, and hs1gJ
only by thin fbril. then abandons itself TO the
wind, which lifts and carries IL to some damp,
nourishing soil, where 1t does not fear to drop is
seeds. Dropping and fading since it unrooted
itself, 1t now grows erect and green again during
this new and brief phase Of its existence II even
happens that 1t will several times resume its
freshness, but yet the exhaustion which preceded
lie erial voyage renders II thenceforth sterile.
The resurrection flower Is still more wonder. u.
Only two individuals born Of the same plant are
known. This plant was given to DR.. Deck, nat.
uralist, by an Arab whose life he had saved.
Later, the doctor LETT one of these precious flowers
to Alexander Won Humboldt. The Arabs gift
did not present very attractive appearance, with
its fral stalk supporting two LILLE dried and
scorched balls. But the son Of the desert, who
pretended that this treasure had been found in q
tomb, upon the bosom of an Egyptian priestess,
boosted of the powerful charm Of his wonderful
gift. Indeed, hardly had he moistened the flower
but we leave M. Boscowitz to describe the met
amorphosis which DR.. Deck witnessed (: "rhe-1 Arab
was right. This plant exercises an neff4be Charm
upon the man who contempates it. II is scarcaLS
watered when IT begins to move, the stalk STRAIT IN
ems and the flower slowly opens. and the ffaiI
petals unfold one by one and dispose of them
selves in rays around central point. At this mo-
ment the flower has the appearance of little
daisy. but, after instant's hesitation, 1t abrupt
y overturns its corolla and discovers its bres t,
upon which the seeds repose.n In this last phase
ii vaguely resembles the passion flower; although
smaller, II has its form and aspect. If the per-
fume and brillancy Of the passion flower ere
OF extreme seiiaaav and diaphAnans patais, which
make it flower comparable TO no other. After
some moments Of active life, the plant begins to
the petals fold softly over each other, aud sudden
Iy the plant withers, as II struck with stupor.
Thousands and thousands Of times DR.. Deck,
and, after him, NJ. Eames, the disciple to whom
he bequeathed the treasure. have seen this plant
resuscitste, then decay, then revive again 10 the
brilliancy of its imperishable beauty.
II is not in these quite exceptional phenomena
in the vegetable world that we must, pe-hsps,
seek proof that the plant possesses an instinLs
which ncites it TO this or that act because the ex
ception never proves ANYTHING conclusive, nor In.
vnlidstes rule. But II Is by following the history
OF ell the phases Of the plants existence, that
arises the demonstration OF the instructive discern.
ment which seems to direct it in it, internal aud
external work.
The first point OF relation which exists between
the plant and animated beings Is the phenomenon
OF respiration. eve recognize life by its breath.
fhsiplant respires after the manner Of man and
animals, absorbing oxygen and setting free car
bonic acid. Yet under the influence of solar rays
the plant absorbs feat quantity Of csrbonic acid
at the same time that 1t discharges oxygen. but
II is the effect Of another operation of life, nutri
ton. The plant then decomposes carbonic acid in
order to be nouIished with the carbon. The work
OF nutrition does not prevent respiration these
two acts are accomplished simultaneously Most
naturalists have COMPOUNDED them, wrongly sup
posing that the plant has two respirations, one
diurnal and the other nocturnal.
The analogy between the circulation of the sap
and the circulation Of the blood is not yet posi-.
lively demonstrated. But the phenomenon of
Transportation offers evident relations between the
vegetable and animal kingdoms. Transportation
of the plant, like that of snimsls, varies accord
ing 10 the hour and the season, and the degree of
elevation or depression of the atmosphere. We
may allow that the Transportation Of an ordinary
tree is fourteen kilogrammes nearly per day."
doms in the successive periods of the growth aud
decay OF individuals; in the laws which preside
over formulation and reproduction, since plants
present, In their pistis and stamens the organs.
which vary the sexes. Now, life exhibiting the
same phenomena In all animate beings, must also
awaken the same faculties In them very I'M equally
developed undoubtedly, but at least With power
Of existing.
"Ihe faculty Of feeling" says NJ. Boscowitz,
being In the animal kingdom, quite as intimately
bound up with life as the faculty of growing, self.
'nourishment and self.propagation, do we not com
nit strange inconsistency in refusing that sensi
tive faculty TO the plant, which bresthes, which
grows, which propsgates itself, which lives as do
animalsw
The faculty Of feeling never leaves being com.
peteiy passive. 1t is in the growth Of the plant
that this initiative is manifested with the most evil
dence and energy, aud NJ. Boscowitz has estsb-
lished the true nature of that phenomenon when
he describes it not only the development OF the
plant, but as its special movement toward trans.
lation.
" To grow, for the plant, is to sct.u It an.
pears, indeed, from numerous very precise obser-
vatl0ns, that the plant varies its growth according
TO its disposition, its needs its position and its re-
lations with external agents. Now IL accelerstes
u, now IL retards IL. but above ell IL directs H.
here 10 ind a support, there To reach tha lioht.