Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1880-02-14
THE ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE KINGDOMS.
Remarkable Analogy Between
Them.

Them.
At the last meeting of the District Horticultu-
| raj Society Mr. John T. c. Clark made an inter
esting address upon the Analogy of the vegetable
Kingdom with the Animal He said that &C
quiescing in the declared purposes Of this socie-
ty ''to promote, foster, and encourage herticul-
tural taste and knowledge" and being convinced
that many persons are deferred from perusing
the numerous scientific works on horticulture,
by the technical language employed, he should
endeayor to present the seeming analogy exist
Ing between the oegea6e t ana the animal 6ing
induce some to pursue this subject further, feel
Ing assured that should they make the attempt,
step they advance WIN them that
refresh the mind, and should they reduce to
practice the lessons which the volume of nature
Imparts, they will realize countless en1oyments
The vegetable kingdom is an immense volume,
of which plants form the thoughts and leaves
the letters. Its pages are accessible to all, and
he who reads them will learn that they are
written in the only language which has gone
forth to the ends OF the world unconfounded by
the confusion OF Babel"
How far analogy may be depended upon for
aid and guidance in our researches into the
hidden or unknown of the vast field of Nature Is
point requiring to be settled. How far it Is
allowable TO go, and where to stop, with this
mode OF reasoning needs to be defined 1t will
not hold, or but remotely, between amin lite
ana 1nan1mate nature. Ii we examine how
portion and magnitude OF the vegetable king
DOM we find that there is as much harmony In
the aggregations OF their parts as In that OF
animals. 1t is impossible to consider them as
mere mechanical productions of heat and cold,
Of dryness and humidity. spirit OF life, indie
pendent OF all other ATTITUDES, governs plants,
preserves them, and reproduceS them. In many
cases they repair injuries which they may have
sustained, and heal over their wounds with
new rind. They are organized bodies endowed
with life, with the property of irritability. and
In all probability with more or less of sensbility
or the power OF feeling.
DIGESTIVE PROCESS
The functions of animals and plants are In
degree analogous. Animals take in their food
by the agency of the mouth, and prepare its
digestion either by various degrees of mastica-
ton or by attrition, as in the gtzzard of birds.
a sufficient compensation, inasmuch as they
tmbibe their food in fluid form, liquid or aeri-
form, and consequently in state already of the
are their common food, and salts OF various
kinds their condiments and stimulants. Plants
have this advantage over animals, as they alb
sorb only the soluble and finer parts of their
nutrfment, and their absorbing organs have the
siyemthey have no offensive matter to
food undergoes an extensive change, being
reduced to pulp of greater specific
gravity, and being altered entirely in both taste
may be considered truly as their primary Or
gans of digestion, their food, or sap. undergoes
change precisely similar. Its color and flavor
In the animal stomach, after being subjected to
the action OF the gastric juice, or nutritious
portions separated, the chyle is absorbed by the
these mingled liquids are propelled by the heart
into the lungs to be there exposed to the action
of the air. The vital liquid now changes its
purple hue to flor1d red, loses portion of its
bining with the oxygen of the atmospheric air
in the lungs, and being breathed forth in the
food no gross unneeded ingredients, it is obvious
that no process like the hillary operations Is re-
quired In their course Of digestion. But In
them, the food or sap, proceeding at once along
the branches, is poured into the leaves, which
are the very lun IS of the vegetable kingdom.
Here, as in the blood, its color Is changed, and
oxygen emitted from it during the light hours
OF the tWenty-fou but carbonic acid is breathed
forth during the night, and at all periods con-
siderable amount OF watery vapor is emitted.
CIRCULAToRY PROCESS.
From the lungs, by the agency Of the heart,
the blood is propelled through the arteries over
the whole animal frame, supplying nourlsh-
ment and warmth to all parts, and where by
those being distracted, it is again converted
into purple or venous blood, and is returned by
the veins to undergo repetition of those
changes already noticed as being effected in the
action OF the air In their leaves, is returned BY
another set of vessels situated under the bark,
ministerfng to the growth and support OF the
stances is heat evolved during the process OF
vegetation; but the circulation OF the sap in
plants, beyond all doubt, enables them to resist
1rostS. During the most intense and prolonged
frosts, the interior OF trees remain unfrozen,
and under the meridian OF the tropics. it Is as
serted that the sap of the Palm and other trees
retain temperate GOODNESS. The power to re-
SiSt extremely elevated and depressed tenpera-
lures is characteristic OF all animated nature.
Such Is the close similarity in the digestive
Of III ahe
lied nature, a resemblance which occurs in all
the other functions enjoyed by them in COM
mon.
RESPIRATORY PROCESS
During respiration, the air inhaled by animals
through the mouth and nostrils procee Is In
mediately to the lungs and acts upon the blood
operates instantaneously upon their sap. AS
oxygen Is the vital air Of animals. so Is caroonic
acid gas equally essential to plants. II animals
De placed IN situation where they inhale pure
oxygen, their functions are highly excited and
increased In rapidity. but it is an eXhileration
speedily terminating in exhaustion and death Ii
the Inhalation be continued for protracted
period. SO plants will flourish with an increased
vigor In an atmosphere containing one-twelfUh
OF carbOnic acid but even this brings on prema-
ture decay; and if it exceeds that proportion,
destruction is more rapidly increased During
sleep animals fnhale less oxygen than during
their waking hours, and plants emit much
diminished amount OF carbon during the night.
DISEASES OF PLANTS.
The diseases OF plants, like those OF animals,
are occasionally epidemic, and prevail over
large districts, and like those OF animals, are
produced from contagion. The cryptOganic dis
eases of plants must be regarded as contagious,
since they are produced by the contact or one
portion OF organized matter with another The
diseased cells OF plant are capable OF CON-
muntcating their diseased action to healthy
cells, just as the cells from an animal effected
with smallpox are capable Of giving that dis
ease to another. II healthy plant OF cactus
be inocculated with some fungoid matter dis
eaSed action will follow, and extend more or
less rapidly according TO the condition of the
plant thus 1nocculated. This Is the case with
some other forms of vegetable disease.
The Kind OF action thus established Is
analogous to that which occurs when a
small quantity of ferment is introduced into
a sacchartne fluid, the consequence being the
importation OF new character to the particles
OF the fluid, and an entire change In the rela-
lions of its chemical constituents. In order that
diseases may be thus produced 1t is not neceS-
Sary that the contagious matter be conveyed
from one plant to another in a tangible FORM
but the diseased matter may be conveyed
through the medium Of the air, In the same way
as sporules OF fungi, which produce blights
Appropos to the diseases OF plants, a note
worthy suggestion has recently been made by
the well known astronomer and scientific writer
Mr.. Richard A. Proctor.
He says: at Is possible that the diseases
which attack cultivated plants, as distinguished
from wild plants, may arise from the forced
and artificial conditions to which the former
are subjected, just as many Of the diseases of
mankind and the domestic animals are induced