"
"In future," said Jack, "I shall take care not to tread upon a weed,
lost, being hurt, it should scream."
"On the other hand, they have not been found to possess any other sign
of this supposed sensibility. All their other functions seem perfectly
mechanical."
"Ah then, father," exclaimed Jack, "you are a believer in my system!"
"We make them grow and destroy them, without observing anything
analogous to the sensation we feel in rearing, wounding, or killing an
animal."
"But the fly-trap, father, what of that?"
"It is no exception. The fly-trap seizes any small body that touches
it, as well as an insect, and with the same tenacity; hence, we may
readily conclude that these actions, so apparently spontaneous, are in
reality nothing more than remarkable developments of the laws of
irritability peculiar to plants."
"It does not, then, spring from a family feud, as Jack supposed?"
remarked Willis.
"Besides," continued Becker, "if plants really existed, possessing
what is understood by the term sensation, they would be animals."
"For a like reason, animals without sensation would be plants."
"Evidently. Moreover, the transition from vegetable to animal life is
almost imperceptible, so much so, that polypi, such as corals and
sponges, were for a long time supposed to be marine plants.
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