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

1ab0ve and below 1t was laden With
boughs full of foliage. If mind be moi
concerned in the production of such
phenomena as these, / find it difficult
to conjecture any other raison d'etre.
In fact, if we divest our minds of pref
udiee, discard those anthropomorphic
conceptions of the Supreme Being which
the Christian world has inherited from
Judaism, and study the diversified
phenomena of vegetation with perfect
freedom of inquiry, we shall find in
them innumerable evidences of an
animistic principle, force of energy,
governing physical acts and processes,
Isubject to the inspiration of an infal-
'lible Intelligence; and hence the fault.
lessness of what we vaguely call In
stinct. The presence and potency of this
divinely instructed animistic faculty in
plants is revealed by their power of i'm
provisation, that is to say, of adapting
themselves to unforeseen circumstances
and of exercising Discrimination when
a choice of one or two or more methods
of procedure is offered to them. An
illustration of this is supplied by the
action of plant when it experiences
the necessity of clinging to the trunk
of tree, pillar, paling or a wall
for support, whereupon it will adroitly
transform one of its leaves into
tendril, "a sort of small hand,' as
French botanist terms it, which is so
tenacious in it's grasp that it will only
yield to violence, and will undergo
fracture rather than relax it's hold upon
the object it has seized upon.
The Virginia Creeper, so familiar to
most of us, displays great ingenuity in
the continuance it has recourse to for
the purpose of securing the adhesion of
its foliage to the walls of our houses,
for no sooner have it's sensitive tendril
tips attached themselves to the masonry
than it puts forth myriads of suckers,
which exude sort of natural cement,
and these eventually sustain the entire
weight of it's abundant leaves and of
the elaborate network of branches from
which they spring. Similar discs, with
similar properties, it is stated by DR..
Taylor, F. L. S., in his "Sagacity
and Morality of Plants, are developed
by the Bignonia capreOlata, and by a
variety of the cucumber family. To
speak of acts like these as "instinc-
tive' may be convenient, but in no
wise elucidates their cause.
Although nature has denied to plants
those facilities for locomotione whicR
have been bestowed upon the animal
creation, yet they show themselves
capable, in stress of circumstances, of
stretching their limbs, so to speak,
to a quite remarkable extent, and of
objects at considerable
distance. Probably the most remark
IS L; =,
that which is related by Professor
Sehwaegriehen of Leipsic, who, visiting
a deep mine at Mansfield, in Germany,
found a plant of the Scaly Lathraea,
which, having terminated in the dark,
had propelled its stem to the prodigious
height of 120 feet in order to reach the
light of day, although, as a general rule,
it rises only five or six inches from the
ground. What prompted this marvellous
feat of climbing? A craving for the
sunshine undoubtedly. But what was
t that experienced this cravings Not
lnsentient matter surely, but a mental
energy, which instigated and sustained
his prolonged and successful move
ment.
Here is another remarkable instance
IF somewhat similar character.
Among the ruins of New Abbey, in
he county of Galloway, Scotland, the
wind borne seed of a maple tree had
found Judgment in a crevice several
feet above the ground, and was Ian
gushing for want of nutriment. BY a
vigorous effort it determined to procure
t. 1t was a case of do or die, and it
resolved to live; so it sent down long
md slender rootlet to the earth, in
which it bored hole, and deposited a
lind of ganglion, with fine radieles
from it in all directions. Up
IN this new root it concentrated all its
7ital energies, withdrawing them from
he infant tree above, which died for
want of sap The delicate messenger
which it had sent down to explore for
food was transformed into the trunk of
a maple. which was eventually crowned
With foliage. As Professor BOscovich,
he famous pupil of Newton, has said.
'for the plant to live IS TO grow, and
o grow is to act" this action implying
mental impulse derived, as he himself