VEGETABLES) ; those who duly advert to it will, we conceive, incline to the opi nion, that plants are not altogether desti tute of perception. But on a question that has perplexed and di'vided the most ingenious and inquisitive naturalists, it is very difficult to decide. If we extend to the vegetable kingdom that kind of vita lity with which sensation and enjoyment are connected, there will remain no dis cernible boundary between this and the animal kingdom ; and that which IA! been considered as the distinctive charac teristic of animals, and by which they are separated from vegetables, will be abolish ed. We shall now add, that the princi ple of self-preservation belongs to all ani. mall; and it has been argued, that this principle is the true characteristic of aui mal life, and that it is unquestionably a consequence of sensation. There is no animal, when apprehensive of danger, that does not put itself into a posture of defence. • A muscle, when it is touched. immediately shuts its shell ; and as this action puts it into a. state of defence, it is ascribed to a principle of self-preserva tion, Those who adopt this reasoning allege that vegetables do not manifest this principle. When the sensitive plant, for instance, contracts from a touch, it is no more in a state of defence than be fore, for whatever would have destroyed it in its expanded state, will also destroy it in its contracted state. They add, that the motion of the sensitive plant proceeds only from a certain property called irrita billty ; and which, though possessed by our bodies in eminent de,iree, isa racterisie neither of animal or vegetable life, but belongs to us in common with brute matter. The sensitive plant, after it has contracted, will suffer itself to be cut in pieces, without making. the least effort to escape. This is not the case with the meanest animal. An hedge hog, when alarmed, draws its body toge ther, and expands its prickles, thus put ting itself in a posture of defence : when thrown into the water, the same principle of self-preservation prompts it to expand its body and swim. A snail, when touch ed, withdraws itself into its shell ; but if a little quick-lime be sprinkled upon it so that its shell is no longer a place of safety, it is thrown into agonies, and en deavours to avail itself of its loco-niotive power, in order to escape that danger. Muscles and oysters, also, though they have not the power of progress' ve motion, constantly use the means which nature has given them for self-preservation.
We, cairselves, possess both the animal and vegetable life, and ought to know whether there be any connection betv,-een vegetation and sensation, or not. We are conscious that we exist, that we hear, see, &c. but of our vegetation we are abso lutely unconscious. We feel a pleasure in gratifying the demands of hunger and thirst ; but we are totally ignorant of the process by which our aliment is formed into chyle, the chyle mixed with the blood, the circulation of that fluid, and the se paration of all the humours from it. If we, then, who are more perfect than other vegetables, are utterly insensible of our own vegetable life, why should we ima gine that the less perfect vegetables are sensible of it ? We have within ourselves a demonstration, that vegetable life acts without knowing. what it does ; and if ve g-etables are ignorant of their most saga cious actions, why should we suppose that they have any sensation of their inferior ones ; such as contracting from a touch, turning. towards the sun, or advancing to a pole? As to that power ,of irritability which is observed in some plants, our so lids have it, when deprived both of animal and vegetable life ; for a niuscle, cut out of a living body, will continue to contract, if it be irritated by pricking, after it has neither sensation nor vegetation. En cycl. Brit. On the other hand, those who are of' opinion that plants possess powers of perception, allege that their hypothe sis recommends itself by its consonance to those higher analogies of nattire,avhich lead us to conclude that the g.reatest pos sible sum of' happiness exists in the uni. verse. The bottom of the ocean is over spread with plants of the most luxuriant magnitude ; and immense regions of the earth are overspread with perennial th rests. Nor tire the Alps or the Andes de stitute of' herbage, though buried in depths of snow ; and can it be imagined that such profusion of life stibsists with out the least sensation or enjoyntent ? Let us rather, with humble reverence, suppose that vegetables participate, in sonic- low degree, of the common allot ment of vi lathy ; and that one g-reat Crea tor 'lath appointed good to all living things, in number, weight, and measure.