Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-02-07
HOW PLANES MOURN
FRENCH PRoFFssoK ADVANCES A
NOVEL THEORY.
Sensitiveness Of Flowers an Aura of
Sadness-Kinship Between Ami
NAL and Vegetable Kingdoms.

.O'NN OhS VI tuSii hitlU Is the newest QIScON-
cry OF French savans who has made
study OF the psychology of plant life. Pro-
fessor B. LIE Fevre. head of school at
sunny, in the province of Kharkoff, in Rus
STA, has made the report of his investiga-
tons to Partisan scientific periodical.
The professor is a botanist and gardener
for the pleasure of the work. One morning
he was watering some lobelias clustered in
corner Oh conservatory, when all at
once feeling of sadness swept over him.
There was no reason for it that he could
denne, yet an acute melancholy seized him.
and not until he had left that portion of
the room did the feeling gradually depart
Inc next morning while watering these
plants the old sensation came over him. 1t
was not associated with the odors of the
pants, Tor these We're familiar to him and
always pleasant to his senses The next
morning and the next this feeling of acute
sadness came over him in the lobeia win
dow, and finally he spoke to his wife of the
phenomenon. Suddenly she remembered
that three days before a friend had called
and been so pleased with the flowers that
she had given pot of them to the friend
who had taken them away ~
The time of the gift and of the resulting
sadness in the gardener were IDENTICAL and
the professor set himself to watch He re-
arranged the potted flowers. leaving no gap
in them that WOULD be noticeable to the
OSC 10y dltSi udy ItT IflUI6 tiidN d WocA
he felt the traces of sadHess in less degree,
until finally he could attend the flowers
without a. sense of nfeia holYss 15s-..fe &
Grief for Exiled Blossoms. !,
The result of the professors observations
are summed up in the belief that these
flowers, were in mourning for the plants
that had been given away This gift
caused the emanatfon Of an aura of sad
ness such as has been recognized as posi-
bile to the human body under similar con-
ditions. The professor has always, been
extremely sensitive to psychic conditions,
and 1t Is his conclusion that the aurae of
sadness emanating from the flowers We're
sufficient to touch the psychic something in
his own person that responded in kind to
the influence of sadness.
Professor LIE Fevres discovery is not at
all out of line with some of the PHILOSOPHERS
advanced from time to time in the effort to
establish kinship between the animal and
vegetable kingdoms. The herbivorois ami
NAL and the carnivorOus plant have been
puzzles in their relationships in all times.
The sponge, occupying position seemingly
half way between the animal and vegetable
worlds is not wholly accounted for. The
prOtoplasmic bases for both animal and
plant life. virtually are, the same. The
makeshifts and cunning and strategy of the
individuals in the vegetable world are not
approached by the individuals in the animal
world. And always the close relationship
pheric necessities of the two have made
studies for the zoologist and botarlist alike.
FoodJbf F1Swers. =
Nothing IN nature is ansre wonderful than
the balance that exists between the animal
and the vegetable kingdoms in the matter
of that essential, air. Carbonic acid thrown
into the air is the Result of breathing in ami
mails. Oxygen, fretd of the poisonous car
bonic acid. results from the breathing of
plants. 1t has been estimated that 100000
tons of carbOnic acid are thrown upon the
world every. twegty-fout shogrs by the
breathing animal life of The globe, while an
average Of q, 00lsapIssquare miles of leaf
surface is at all times taking up this animal
poisoned air and purifying it for animal
O sThts feeding of Max Hfe.pn these poisons
,ds one OF TIE ssutafs plansHo Of nature. The
plant cannot go to the food, so the wind
brings the food to the plant Just as the
currents of the stream bring food to the
mouth of the bashing taout. In fertilfza ton
the bird, insect and the wind are agents.
In all the processes Of the vegetable world,
under all conditions, 1t has been said that
tn. vicissitudes of the animal world by COM
parison approach ,a1state of absolute rest
and security The competitive conditions in
which the strong crowd for place and the
weak crowd and cling for mere existence is
something to provoke new authenticity to
vegetables society and make clay eaters of
sor LIE Fevre is to be proved.
* Carnivorous Plants.
vegetat ton is said to- have existed upon
the earth before the animal kingdom de-
yeloped from the original rrotoplasm. Di-
rectly or indirectly All sinimal life find
sustenance in the vegetable kingdom.
Where the carnivor6us~ animals feeds upon
animal kind it is for the the most part the
flesh of herbivOrous animals. Thus by
proxy he is rlouPishedeby vegetable life In
like manner the pitcher plants that con-
sumo flies and insects take from the bodies
of these insects the norfshment that
short time before was in the sugars of
plant life.
Considering the carnivorous plants in
their relation to those animals feeding upon
the fruits of the vegetable world, some one
has remarked that one of the family of
pitcher plants may be fed so many flies
that it will die of acute indigestion. One
of these plants under observation had been
fed two flies day and thrived upon them.
Three flies fed to it on one occasion caused
it to show signs of distress, and when 1t
had recovered from this Indigestion five
Yet in tie opinion of botanists of the new
school all these jnsect-devouring plants ac-
quired the habit out of the eXigencies of
their condition. Considering the ingenuity
of all plant life. in their struggles for ex-
istence the botanists sees nothing strange
in this departure from. the original scheme
of nature. The parasite plant feeding upon
the plant that otherwise would have crowd
ed it out of existence IS just as strange to
him as lis the other adaptation to circum-
stances
That the plant does show it's -tempers and
moodssto the animal world is distinctly pat
ent to the botanst in those flowers that
close their petals at certain hours of the
day,-or that open only at certain times
Most of these phenomena are in connection
with the processes of fertilization. For
"a f,,co
are useless, and it is found that many
flowers that depend upon the bee for carry
ing pollen open ,their~petals early in tile
morning, closing them tight again before
the dew has cleared enough for the ants to
get abroad. Strutrhrafly many flowers are
such that one moth may carry pollen bet
ter than another, therefore these larger
flowers open at night. when some of the
larger moths fly frseset. 8 se
Are Blondes to III isappearp 70
From Success II 1iN 81 ,es-a
he baf - ctartlrfcS ctof