The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-10-04
Action of Mind in Plants
y q 8 g q . 3 8 q 3 . 8 g So 3 81
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Melbourne Age.

If instinct be, as have assumed, on,
of the manifestations of an Intelligence
which is guided and instructed by the
omniseient and omnipresent Mind from
which this intelligence emanated, 6
special interest naturally attaches to the
study of its manifold methods of re
vealing its nature and activity; such
for example, as those displayed in the
are usually referred to as instructive,
and are not infrequently spoken of as
automatic. Carefully investigated, they
will be found to be, think, so many
evidences that each individual form of
vegetable life upon. the globe is animat-
ed by a mind, which we may be permit
ted to consider as portion of that " in
corruptible spirit, - which the wisest of
the Hebrews, who is likewise reported
to have been deeply versed IN natural
history, declared to be inherent in all
things. And this mind or vital prin-
eiple, it may be remembered, in passing,
possesses such a persistent vitality that
grains of wheat, entombed with an
Egyptian mummy 1000 years ago, and
planted in the earth, under proper con-
ditions, in our own epoch, have been
known to terminate and fructify, I'M
Influenced by its long sleep of forty
centuries.
As a familiar illustration of the pres
ence and power of intelligence disclosed
by plant, in the course of its life
history, let us glance at that of an oak
tree. You deposit an acorn in soil
suitable to its growth, and what fol-
lowss The gland itself, the material
envelope dies, but the mental energy or
spiritual force enclosed within it begins
to display its activity by projecting
downwards number of delicate fbers
or radieles, which, in obedience to
divine law, Immediately proceed to
search for those mineral elements, and
that moisture which are essential to the
nourishment of the future tree. But
light and air are equally necessary to
its health and well being. Therefore,
it sends up a slender shoot, which
penetrates the superintendent earth,
and presently puts forth some green
leaves, for the plant must breathe, as
we do; and this function is performed
bv the leaves. the under surface OF
which is found to be punctured with
innumberable cells, which contain the
lungs of the plant. These, as is we'll
known, inhale the earbonic acid floating
in the air. and with the aid of the sun
light, eliminate the carbon, with which
il proceeds to build up its tissues, while
at the same time liberating and ex-
haling the oxygen, indispensable to the
innumerable cells, which contain the
globe. Indeed, were it not for the truly
wonderful part played by the lungs OF
the plant in purifying the atmosphere,
existence would be rendered impossible
for men and brutes; inasmuch as care
full estimate has shown that the human
species alone consumes annually l6O,-
100000 cubic yards of oxygen, and that
the Inswer animals quadruple this con-
sumption. linus, then, it is the function
of the plant, of which there are up
wards of 100000 well defined species,
to distil from the poison known as ear
bonie acid gas, through the operation
of its own respiratory processes, the
oxygen which is essential to the vitality
and continuance of the human race; and
hence the magnitude and grandeur of
tn, duty fulfilled by foliage in the
economy or nature. ana II was Jne
study of this and of other phenomena,
which led such distinguished phsiolo-
gists as De Martins and Professor
Feehner to attribute their origin to
what they did not hesitate to designate
as s'the soul of the plant. :"
Nav we not likewise assign to the
same motive power the remarkable
phenomenon which resulted from some
experiments performed by Duhamel, the
French naturalist, who inverted some
willows. placing their roots in the open
air and their boughs in the earth. lin
a short time" he tells us, "the roots
were covered with leaves, and the
stems, transformed into an underground
structure, had put forth spongioles.
He then tried a second experiment. He
the stem of a willow with
a cask filed with earth, which he raised |
from the ground to higher level than
the first branches of the tree. Ad- |
ventitious roots soon shot out from TINS
the covered part of she trunk, whlie