South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1916-12-11
Pnnciples of Tree
Life Battle Al
Worlds Scientist.
BY Garrett Il. Serviss.


What force is it of nature which
makes water rise in the stem of a
plant 10 the leaves from the roots ?
This is contrary to gravitation. is il
not?-L. f. 5. Chicago"
You have hit upon one of the
questions at which science shakes
it's head and says: II am trying to
find out" II trees had hearts the
circulation Of the sap. which is as
blood TO them. could be easily eX-
planned: but nobody. except the
poets. has discovered a heart in a
tree.
The tree stands before US in its
summer garments and its winter
nakedness. challenging us, like the
Sphinx, to guess its secret. We know
that it gets practically all of the wa
ter upon which its existence de-
ponds from the ground. It's whole
life is a defiance of gTavitation.
and a continuing victory over that
abasing force.
What makes the tree rise straight
up from its buried seed, growing
always contrary 10 the direction Of
gravity? II seems to be the joy of
life for a tree TO keep its trunk
vertical If it happens 10 spring in
TO being on the slope of a steep
hill. what does it do but struggle
upward into perpendicularity 1t
simply will not lie down. The plumb
line is its ideal
a shrub growing out of the side
of a precipice turns its tiny stem
sturdily upward away from the
center of the earth and toward the
center of the sky. A tree is never
PROSTATE until it is dead. There is
an invincible opposition between
gravitation and tree-growth. They
resemble the forces of the opposite
poles of "A magnet: you cannot
make them agree.
In this polarity may 0bscurely
lie the explanation of the circula-
ton of water in a tree-but / can
not clear up. or fiji out. that expla-
nation 1t may depend upon the CO.
operation Of many things. as say
the botanists who now and then
invent "a new theory on the subject.
but always add 20 it, as aUxiliaries.
some of the old explanations There
is none of these theories that is
able 10 stand alone. on its own bot
tom
You viii have TO study consid-
cradle number OF more or less puz-
cling subjects such as capillarity.
surface tension osmosis. root-pres-
sure. Transportation. the tendency of
columns of water of extremely
small diameter To- resist tensile
strain. so that they can be lifted
bodily. and so on. if Won wish TO
learn what botanistS have guessed
and specuIated concerning this
mystery. and after YOU have finish
ed YOU will be forced u conclude
that nobody knows much about it,.
That. of course does not make
the speculatious and theories any
less important. because it is only
i'm this way that we can get any of
natures secrets. Difficulty and
mystery should be To the mind
what graVitatiou is TO the tree-a
stimulus 90 growth.
And what "a wonderful thing n
tree lst How near it stands 20 an
animal, What DO YOU think of the
f0llowing. from DISTINGUISHED
5otanist. The body of a vascular
plant lany plant that has a circula-
tory SYSTEM is developed. i'm the
first place by repeated division ~
the fertilized egg and the growth OF
she products of division"
Fortified egg" That is said OF
the germ OF a plant You have. per-
haps. supposed that eggs are ex-
-lusively animal affairs But here
is "a scientist who does not hesitate.
u the plainest language. 20 rec
oguize the fact that an egu-that re-
20 say reproductive cells es-
senually the same thing whether
il hands -on freta generation TO gem
Grafton an animal or a plant
And another botanist of rank
writes of 1.-The nervous system OF
plants Not long ago We had a
learned visitor from india who talk
ed. I'M scientific phrase. and 90
scientific men. OF the feelings of
plants
Everybody knows there are SEN
sitive plants" such as mimosa.