Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[walkingirl]

My dear forum friends, do you ever think of that the plants around us have feelings?
The paragraphs in which letters are capital is what I excerpt .
BECAUSE PLANTS CAN'T MOVE OR TALK, MOST PEOPLE BELIEVE THAT THEY HAVE NO FEELINGS AND THAT THEY CAN'T RECEIVE SIGNALS FROM OUTSIDE. HOWEVER, THIS MAY NOT BE COMPLETELY TRUE.
PEOPLE WHO STUDIED PLANTS HAVE FOUND OUT THAT PLANTS CARRY A SMALL ELECTRICAL CHARGE. IT IS POSSIBLE TO MEASURE THIS CHARGE WITH A SMALL PIECE OF EQUIPMENT CALLED " GALVANOMETER" THE GALVANOMETER IS PLACED ON A LEAF OF THE PLANT, AND IT RECORDS ANY CHANGES IN THE ELECTRICAL FIELD OF THE LEAF. HUMANS HAVE A SIMILAR FIELD WHICH CAN CHANGE WHEN WE ARE SHOCKED OR FRIGHTENED.
A MAN CALLED BACKSTER USED A GALVANOMETER FOR HIS STUDIES OF PLANTS AND WAS VERY SURPRISED AT HIS RESULTS. HE FOUND THAT IF HE HAD TWO OR MORE PLANTS IN A ROOM AND HE BEGAN TO DESTROY ONE OF THEM -- PERHAPS BY PULLING OFF ITS LEAVES OR BY PULLING IT OUT OF ITS POT-------- THEN THE GALVANOMETER ON THE LEAVES OF THE OTHER PLANTS SHOWED A CHANGE IN THE ELECTRICAL FIELD.IT SEEMED AS IF THE PLANTS WERE SIGNALING A FEELING OF SHOCK. THIS HAPPENED NOT ONLY WHEN BACKSTER STARTED TO DESTROY PLANTS, BUT ALSO HE DESTROYED OTHER LIVING THINGS SUCH AS INSECTS.
BASTER SAID THAT THE PLANTS ALSO KNEW IF SOMEONE HAD DESTROYED A LIVING THING SOME DISTANCE AWAY, BECAUSE THEY SIGNALED WHEN A MAN WHO HAD JUST CUT DOWN A TREE ENTERED THE ROOM.
ANOTHER SCIENTIST , NAMED SAUVIN, ACHIEVED SIMILAR RESULTS TO BACKSTER'S . HE KEPT GALVANOMETERS FIXED TO HIS PLANTS ALL THE TIME AND CHECKED REGULARLY TO SEE WHAT THE PLANTS WERE DOING. IF HE WAS OUT OF THE OFFICE, HE TELEPHONED TO FIND OUT ABOUT THE SIGNALS THE PLANTS WERE SENDING. IN THIS WAY, HE FOUND THAT THE PLANTS WERE SENDING OUT SIGNALS AT THE EXACT TIME WHEN HE FELT STRONG PLEASURE OR PAIN . IN FACT, SAUVIN COULD CAUSE A CHANGE IN THE ELECTRICAL FIELD OF HIS PLANTS OVER A DISTANCE OF A FEW MILES SIMPLY BY THINKING ABOUT THEM.
I don't know about you, I believe that plants have feelings, just like the dogs and cats we raise as pets, I mean , I treat plants as my pets.But they are different from pets, because plants should not be kept at home.They grow much better,to be exactly ,much happily in the wild.And you know, there is a little tree outside my house, sometimes I think I can tell that when she is happy and when she isn't .Well ,my feeling about plants has nothing to do with science,and some of my friends have the same feeling to plants.It must be our love to nature that results in it.
Yours warmly Nature

[river1974]

According to the above study, it seems that plants really have feelings. If so, I really have to take good care of my potted plants since I usually forget to water them after a busy day. Especially in the hot summer time without water, they must be thirsty to death! Thanks for your message. From now on, I really have to re-know plants with a new viewpoint.