Page:The Philosophy of Creation.djvu/289

 substances coördinate with the degree of their life, the philosophy of their existence is as explicable as that of man.

Though plants are distinctly lower than animals, still it is evident that matter has neither the ability to arrange itself in plant structure, nor to employ the intelligence therein displayed, nor to originate the force known as plant life. What is it that determines the shape of a leaf, the kind of tree, the character of the fruit; or that one animal shall have claws and canine teeth, and another hoofs and a cutting plate; or that this member shall be a hand and another a foot? In giving the principles that control these phenomena, let us trace the development of a seed from which a plant is derived.

The general principles of growth and life are alike in both plants and animals. The plant-soul, a prototype of the plant, being formed from the lower substances of the spiritual world, receives activity therefrom according to the plant-form, which activity becomes plant life. This activity is communicated to the sap of the material tree, and thence to the sedimentary and solid parts. Thereby life flows into the