The Lake Charles echo. [volume] (Lake Charles, Parish of Calcasieu, La.) 1876-1898, 1876-06-01

impossible b determine WnetheE khey
have consciousness OF not.
DR. Lander Lindsay goes further, and
regards mind and al its essential or con-
coniitant phenomena as common il vari-
GUS senses to plants, the lower animals
and man; and be backs his belief with q
copent array Of evidence, which, while it
fails to demonstrate absolutely bis posi-
ton, shows very clearly the drift Of scien-
ti6c opinion.
DR.. Asa Gray, after speaking Of the
transmission Of the excitability Of sensi-
tive plants from one part Of the plant to
another, the renewal Of excitability By
repose, and the power which tho organs
Of plants have to surmount obstacles to
positions favorable to the proper exercise
Of their functions, goes on to say that,
when we consider in this connection the
| still more striking cases Of spontaneous
motion which the lower alge exhibit,
and that all these motions are arrested
BY narcotic or other poiaons the narcotic
and acid poisons producing effects upon
vegetables respectively analogous to their
effects upon the animal economy we
cannot avoid attributing to plants q
vitality and power Of making move
ments toward a determinate end, not
differing in nature, perhaps, from those
of the lower animals. Probably, he adds
with characteristic cautiousness, life is
essentially the same in the two king
doms; and to vegetable life faculties are
superadded in the lower animals, some
of which are here and there indistinctly
foreshadowed in plants.
Darwin has observed in the aroserG
rotunditolia1a faculty for selecting its
food, which in animals would certainly
be attributed to voIition. Mrs. Treat
has described the same trait in the plant.
On being deceived by means Of piece of
chalk, the dFosera curved its stalk glands
toward it, but Immediately discovering
it's mistake, withdrew then. The plant
would bend toward fly held within
reach, enfold it, and suck its juices but
weuld disregard the bait if out Of reach,
showing not only purposive movement
Cor a refusal to move, as the case might
warranty, but also certain power Of es-
timating distance.
Again, Darwin has shown that the
more perfect tendril bearers among
climbing plants bend toward or from the
light, or disregard it, asmay bemostadvan-
tageous. Also, that the tendrils Of va
rious climbers frequently attached them
selves to objects presented to them ex-
perimentally, but soon withdrew on find
ing the support unsuitable. He says Of
the byiaonia cqpreolafG that its tendrils
"soon recoiled, with what / can only
call disgust" from a glass tube or zinc
plate and Strengthened themselves. OIL
another bignonia, he says that the termi.
nal part of the tendril exhibits an odd
habit, which in an animal would be
called an instinct, for it continually |
searches for any little dark hole in which
to insert itself The same tendril would |
withdraw from one hole and
insert it's point in another. In like man
ner, spirally twining plants seem to
search for proper supports, rejecting
those not suitable.
Speaking Of phenomena Of this sort,
DR.. Lindsay makes this strong remark:
carniyorous and climbing plants,
there is q choice or alternative between
action Or inaction, acceptance Or refusal
and the choice made is not always judi
cious. There may be an error, and the
error may be corrected but in order to
such correction, there must surely be
some kind Of consciousness or perception
that q mistake has been committed an
exercise 81 will in making further efforts
at success, and a knowledge of means to
an end, with their proper adaptation Or
According to Prof Laycook, organic
is common to both animals and
plants, and certain lianas seem to exhib-
It In II q marked degree IN their antipa-
thy to certain trees. The botanist
Brown has remarked That the trees
which the lianas refuse to crawl around
are physically incapable Of supporting
the climbers.