me cause.

In some forms of vegetation the selection of food of certain kinds and
the aversion to other certain kinds, would indicate that the organism is
capable of design and purpose in a degree perhaps much higher than some
of the lowest forms of the animal kingdom. The reaching out of roots in
search of food in the earth, the opening and closing of leaf and bloom,
seeking the moisture and carbon from the atmosphere, suggest a feeble
expression of desire. The choice of food is so well defined in some
plants as to indicate a power of selection far greater than some
protozoans exercise. It is a known fact that a change of food and
conditions often modify a plant in such degree as to make it difficult
to recognise except by the technical laws of classification, and yet its
identity is not lost. Such changes do not effect all plants in the same
degree, as some of them will undergo a change of diet or conditions
without material effect. In many instances a marked dislike to certain
kinds of food has been observed, and the sensitiveness of some plants is
shown in the foliage, bloom, and even in the roots.

[Sidenote: LANGUAGE OF THE MINERAL KINGDOM]

In passing from the vegetable to the mineral kingdom, we find a like
diffusion of types overlapping and blending into each other. Some forms
of vegetation are so low in the scale of organism as to make it
difficult to say whether they are vegetable or mineral compounds. Of
course we find no trace of speech, but there is that hint of expression
or suggestion of desire as found in the vegetable kingdom. In the
chemical world one element will select another with which it will
combine, while to other elements it shows a great aversion. When one
chemical element selects another and combines with it we call this
chemical affinity. The ultimate force which causes this affinity is one
of the unknown facts concerning matter; but it is possible that such
affinities and aversions constitute the basis upon which rests the
selections and aversions of plants and animals. But as we rise in the
scale the combinations of matter become more complex and the functions
of each part more specific. It is possible, when we become more familiar
with the forces of Nature, that we shall find that affinity and
repulsion are but the positive and negative poles of the forces which
act on matter; that chemical, vegetable and animal activity are based
upon the same fundamental causes, and that speech, whic