The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-10-04

declared, from "the soul of the plant.
If we investigate the phenomena con
nected with the reproduction of flower
we can scarcely fail to discover man,
proofs of mental emotion actuatins
their conduct in the spring, when theil
=" faneies, - like those of the young MAI
in Tennyson s poem, "ightly turn tt
thoughts of love. - Take, for example
the proceedings attending the nuptialI
of the Vallisneria, inhabiting the rivers
of southern France The female flowers
as P0uchet tells us, being attached to
peduncles twisted spirally, expand upon
the surface of the water, lenthening like
a spring when this rises, and shortening
when it falls But the male flowers, be-
ing unprovided with this elastic APP
pdratus, remain near the bottom of the
stream Wren the period for the union
of the two sexes arrives, a sudden
fracture of the peduncles of the male
flower takes place; long elastic spiral
springs forth anf rises to the surface of
the water, where the wedding takes
place, after which the spirals of both
flowers retreat, and they sink to the
bottom of the stream, where the fruit
of their union >ripens.
1t has been observed with respect to
water lilies that when they grow at the
edge of pond their peduncles are only
an inch or two long, but planted in deep
water they stretch out three or four
feet, in order that their flowers may
expand upon its surface. The water
Tanunculus, on the other hand, when
placed in deep water, and thus disabled
from bringing its flowers into contact
with the atmosphere, has recourse to
most ingenious expedient for obviating
this disability. 1t is thus described
each eorolla secrets large bubble of
air, which entirely envelopes it in such
a manner that, though beneath the
water, formulation is accomplished just
as if the floral apparatus had not been
submerged at all.
The more closely we examine phe-
nomena like these, the more clearly as it
appears to me, are we enabled to per-
cieve that the vital functions of plants
are not only impressive evidences of the
Supreme Wisdom which presided over
their creation, but we may find in the
regularity, order, consistency, beauty
and consummate perfection of their
performance of these functions a con-
vincing testimony to the underwriting
exercise of the same unerring Wisdom
in the government and direction of the
mental and physical activities of the
plant itself.
The practice of climbing INDUCED in
by certain creepers and parasites is said
to be entirely an acquired habit, for the
the hop and other twining
plants originally grew erect; and the
asclepiads are reported to be only, just
adopting this method The wild hop
and several varieties of the cobaeas put
forth horny hooks, the more firmly to
grip the objects to which they attach |
themselves, a mechanical continuance |
which is stated to have been recently |
acquired. A want arose, and the mind |
Of the plant, guided, it may be assumed, !
by Infinite Wisdom, hit upon a simple /
and eticacious plan of supplying it. |
Some species Irvine with, and others /
against, the course of the sun; but if |
YOU endeavor to reverse the habituaI /
direction of the spiral the plant will |
almost Immediately proceed to unwind |
Itself and resume its natural movement, |
volition on its part, and is
not this clearly a mental function2
NJ. EdOuard Grimard, distinguished |
French bOtanist, TO whom | am indebt-
I'd for many of the facts set forth
above, after speaking of the "incom-
sagacity" exhibited by the
plant, goes on to say:-s'It breathes
and eats, moves, suffers, prospers, labors,
individualizes itself by
special phenomena, is susceptible of
passion, is capable of exaItation, Ian
guishes and dies. Who tells US this?
rhe most learned and the highest au-
thorities among the philosophers and
of modern times-Goethe,
De Candolle, Vrolik, Hedwig, Bonnet,
ludwig, Vaueher, Unger, Agardh, Pou-
'het and twenty others. -
In the opinion of two naturalists no
less illustrious than Oxen and Goethe,
the more highly developed plants pos
sess a nervous system, and Dutrochet
believed its structure to be represented
by the granulations interposed between
the cells; but if the vegetable fiber
does conceal within its organism any
thing resembling the nerves which play
so important a part in human and ami.
nal life. no microscope has hitherto
in detecting their existence.
We have, however, abundant evidence
that many plants are endowed with
in a greater or less degree;
and we find so famousa Psychologist as
Bichat in his Researches Into Life
and Death, - in which he speaks of the