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271
The Folk-lore of Plants
·
T. F. Thiselton-Dyer
15
Who
can
wonder,
on
gazing
at
one
of
these
wonderful
plants,
that
primitive
and
uncultured
tribes
should
have
regarded
such
mysterious
and
inexplicable
movements
as
indications
of
a
distinct
personal
life.
Hence,
as
Darwin
in
his
"Movements
of
Plants"
remarks:
"why
a
touch,
slight
pressure,
or
any
other
irritant,
such
as
electricity,
heat,
or
the
absorption
of
animal
matter,
should
modify
the
turgescence
of
the
affected
cells
in
such
a
manner
as
to
cause
movement,
we
do
not
know.
But
a
touch
acts
in
this
manner
so
often,
and
on
such
widely
distinct
plants,
that
the
tendency
seems
to
be
a
very
general
one;
and,
if
beneficial,
it
might
be
increased
to
any
extent."
If,
therefore,
one
of
the
most
eminent
of
recent
scientific
botanists
confessed
his
inability
to
explain
this
strange
peculiarity,
we
may
excuse
the
savage
if
he
regard
it
as
another
proof
of
a
distinct
personality
in
plant
life.
Thus,
some
years
ago,
a
correspondent
of
the
Botanical
Register,
describing
the
toad
orchis
(Megaclinium
bufo),
amusingly
spoke
as
follows
of
its
eccentric
movements:
"Let
the
reader
imagine
a
green
snake
to
be
pressed
flat
like
a
dried
flower,
and
then
to
have
a
road
of
toads,
or
some
such
speckled
reptiles,
drawn
up
along
the
middle
in
single
file,
their
backs
set
up,
their
forelegs
sprawling
right
and
left,
and
their
mouths
wide
open,
with
a
large
purple
tongue
wagging
about
convulsively,
and
a
pretty
considerable
approach
will
be
gained
to
an
idea
of
this
plant,
which,
if
Pythagoras
had
but
known
of
it,
would
have
rendered
all
arguments
about
the
transmigration
of
souls
superfluous."
But,
apart
from
the
vein
of
jocularity
running
through
these
remarks,
such
striking
vegetable
phenomena
are
scientifically
as
great
a
puzzle
to
the
botanist
as
their
movements
are
to
the
savage,
the
latter
regarding
them
as
the
outward
visible
expression
of
a
real
inward
personal
existence.
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