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

recognizing sensibility and contractil
ity as among its properties. Both ar
proved by the fact that vegetable It's
sues shrivel when brought into con
tact with stimulant. Narcotics vii
paralyze, or throw them into deel
sleep; electricity will destroy them
and prussic acid will poison them will
as much rapidity as it does animals
In a tropical forest where the temper
allure is liable to fall many degrees
after sunset, it has been observed that
! the trees exhibit their sensitiveness by
bringing their boughs nearer to the
trunk and by the opposition of the
| leaves, as mutual protection against
i the cold. Who teaches them to do So
and what is it which receives and
profits by the instruction thus i'm
parteds
Of course, the most striking example
Of sensibihty to be met with in the
vegetable world is that furnished by
the sensitive plant, which inspired
Shelley to write one of his most beau
tiful poems. AS Dr. Pouchet has OBJ
served in his delightful book, entitled
"The Universe, ''fthis charming plant
possesses a delicacy of sensation which
it is impossible to explain by the in
tervention of any chemieo- physical
forces, and must be looked upon as
vital manifestation - eff we preserve
a sensitive plant from being shaken, -
he writes, "and place upon one of its
leaves drop of acid, the contact of
an irritant suffices to make the whole
plant shrink up; and if we merely heat
one of its little leaflets, by placing it
in the focus of burning glass, the
injury seems to be felt through every
part of the fragile Mimosa; its boughs
and LEAKAGE sink as though it were
struck by stuper'' sensitive plant
was being conveyed in carriage
through the streets of Paris. Directly
it felt the jolting motion, its leaves
closed up as if in a paroxysm of fear;
but shortly afterwards, finding that it
sustained no injury from the move
ment, it opened them again in tranquil
acceptance of the novel disturbance
When Won Martius was traversing
the savannahs of tropical America,
where this plant abounds, he observed
that the sound of the horse Is hoofs at
a distance made all the sensitive plants
contract, as if they had been frighten-
ed. A ray of sunlight, or the shadow
of cloud even, is enough to produce
a manifest change in the midst of
them.
In an instance of this kind, the sensi-
tive plant seems to be influenced by
a succession OF mental emotions. There
is, in the first place, the apprehension
of danger. This is followed by the
adoption of precautions for avoiding it,
in the contraction of its
leaves; and then we have the simulta
neous surrender of great number of
plants to the control of panic, such
as Is so often displayed by crowd
of human beings.
Some plants indulge habitually in !
rythmical movements, and perhaps the |
most extraordinary of these, the Der
medium gyrans, or telegraph plant, |
which is a native of India, is thus de- |
scribed: "The leaves consist of two |
small lateral leaflets and a terminal |
one. The latter works up and down
according to the intensity of the light,
while the side leaflets work day and |
night. like the old semaphore signals. -
Another plant observed by NJ. Lecoq,
named the Colocasia esculenta, exhibits
rythmical tremors, and these are so
violent that, on one occasion, the pot
in which the plant was grown was so
shaken that it could with difficulty be
steadied.
Among the vegetable phenomena
which point to the exercise of will pow
er on the part of plants may be men
toned the action of the rain marigold,
which so soon as the dark clouds be-
rim to gather. closes its corolla with
the greatest care, to preserve it from
the storm that of the Nepenthe, or
pitcher plant, with its cylindrical cup
and hinged lid. which it Theoretically
closes during the night and spontane-
,uslv opens during the day; while
,ther plants during darkness project
nexplicable glaams of light, the monks
hood. as first observed by Mile. Lin
naeus, being one of these. But the
list of mental processes which appear
10 be engaged in by plants might be
extended ad ininitum; and no one can
study this fascinating subject without
,oncurring in the eloquent burst OF
feeling which it awakened in the soul
IF Schiller when he exclaimed. "Peace'
ful plant-worfd. in thy well ordered
stiffness T perceive the hand of the
Deity. Thy unearned excellence bears
nv inquiring spirit up to the Highest
From thy placid mirror I
His divine form beams upon me-