The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-04-02
why Some People Think
Plants Are Intelligent

A Michigan man who has had a good
deal Of experience as q practical fruit
grower declares that plants are intelligent;
that they have mind and oonscIousnessi'
that they know their friends and appreciate
gentle treatment.
Il IL an everyday experience that plants
will grow eagerly for some persona and re-
luctantly or not at all for others, when
there IL no apparent difference In msthods
This has been explained on the ground
that the former love plants.
The suggestion that vegetable growths
have some degree Of feeling was strength
ened by the discovery that they have a
cirCulatory system and nutritive fluid
analogous to the blood; also by the re-
ssmblance OF tbs action Of sensitive plants
to the reflex action Of the nervous system.
It is asserted that when tall grass is blown
by the wind against a sensitive plant tho
latter Is unmoved; but when the human
hand pushes the grass with no greater
foroe the plant responds -in visible alarm,
which sometimes extends to others
The oldest Of the Adirondack guides
Cdr. Pbelps) has traced the root Of tree
more than one hundred feet straight to the
best place for moisture and food.
Scientists are inclined to be BOePtical
about the Intelligence even Of dogs, horses,
elephants and other quhdrupeds most
easily trained to unnatural feats, 30 they
are not likely to agree With the Michigan
man about plants. Prof Romanes, how
ever, does not see any difference in kind
between human intelligence and the instinct
Of thu dog.
The science Of psychology does not seem,
80 far, TO have made It easy to explain clearly
the difference between intelligence and
instinct. II has revealed that either the
brain is not the exclusive organ Of mind,
or else certain important attributes OF
the mind belong TO all nerve centres and
perhaps even to all the tissues Of the body
possibly, therefore, to plants.
Memory, for example, belongs in the view
Of some investigators 10 the spinal cord,
as every pianist and every person whose
hands have learned to work automatically
ought to know. In learning TO play on the
piano or to use the typewriter the mind has
TO direct the fingers; but afterward the in
PREVENTION Of the mind disturbs rather than
aids the work
Prof. Maudsley looks on a scar as a prod
uct Of memory, Long after a wound has
healed the food material carried 20 the
part continues TO be deposited or arranged
just as IL was deposited when it was repair
ing the breach. The habit continues after
the need has ceased. In time the memory
becomes DINNER and the scar begins to
fade.
The same authority goes 80 far "a TO say
that il a plant could be made TO live long
enough to acquire the habit il could be
taught to make bow at particular hour
every day. That il to say. II II should be
bent over at a particular hour every day for
q long, long time, Il would acquire the habit
and would do the act itself. This would not
mean intelligence, but it would mean men,
DRY, which ia that attribute Of the mind on
which all learning depends. This Is, in
effect. the statement Of a high authority
that plants have memory, and that there
fore something more is not impossible.
The thinking out Of plan Of action.under
entirely new conditions, or distinct choice
between two or more plans Of action, would
at one time have been accepted as a defini-
ton Of intelligence. Now 1t is not.
Here Il an instance Of a choice Of plans
by a plant. A few years ago a prominent
planter Of St. Mary. La, reported
that his daughter had a morning glory
In box on a window ledge. One morning
she observed that a tendril was growing
straight toward a nail In the side casing.
To test the matter Of design, she shifted
the nail to point more than an inch lower
marking the position OF the tendril with q
pencil The next morning the tendril bad
detected noticeably and was again max
ing directly toward the coveted support,
This shifting and marking we're repeated
Ave times. always with tho same result-the
tendri was bound 70 reach the nail, and ono
morning IL Was found cooled tightly around
IT, At the same time another branch Of
the vine had been growing toward hook
In the casing. When Il was about to seize
on the hook the young woman strung a