The plant then grows by an
extension and multiplication of its parts, and this extension is
accompanied by an increasing induration of the fibres. The same
phenomena are observed as regards animals."
"Curious!" said Willis.
"Animals, however, are sometimes oviparous."
"Oviparous?" inquired Willis.
"Yes, that is, they lay eggs; others are viviparous, producing their
young alive. A few are multiplied like plants by cuttings, as in the
case of the polypi."
"Bother the polypi," said Willis, laughing, "since we have to thank
them for destroying some of his Majesty's ships."
"Then again," continued Becker, "both plants and animals are subject
to disease, decay, and death."
"But, father, if the analogies are remarkable, the differences are not
less marked."
"Well, Ernest, I shall leave you to point them out."
"Without reckoning the faculty of feeling, that cannot be denied to
the one nor granted to the other, the most striking of these
distinctions consists in the circumstance that animals can change
place, whilst this faculty is absolutely refused to plants."
"If we except those," remarked Jack, "that insist upon travelling to
the succulent parts of the earth, and are as indefatigable in digging
tunnels as the renowned Brunel."
"Then plants are obliged to accept the nourishment that their fixed
position furnishes to them; whilst animals, on the contrary, by means
of their external organs, can range far and near in search of the
aliments most congenial to their appetites.
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