{"id":519,"date":"2011-06-10T15:51:43","date_gmt":"2011-06-10T15:51:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/romnat\/?p=519"},"modified":"2011-07-26T15:03:32","modified_gmt":"2011-07-26T15:03:32","slug":"the-venus-fly-trap-and-the-great-chain-of-being","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/romnat\/2011\/06\/10\/the-venus-fly-trap-and-the-great-chain-of-being\/","title":{"rendered":"The Venus Fly-trap and the Great Chain of Being"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Venus fly-trap caused serious problems for the traditional theory of the Great Chain of Being. The idea of the Great Chain suggested that all of creation was arranged in a rigidly hierarchical system, with God at the top and all living and nonliving things descending below (for example):<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>GOD
\nANGELS
\nSPIRITS
\nGHOSTS
\nHUMAN BEINGS
\nMAMMALS
\nBIRDS
\nREPTILES
\nAMPHIBIANS
\nFISH
\nINSECTS
\nPLANTS
\nMICROSCOPIC CREATURES
\nINANIMATE OBJECTS<\/div>\n
\n

 <\/p>\n

The fly-trap clearly broke the chain, since it was a plant that could attract, capture, kill and digest insects, which were supposed to be higher on the scale. Like various species of mimosa, the fly-trap also possessed a form of sensation, supposedly only a property of animals.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

“In the Dionaea muscipula there is a still more wonderful contrivance to prevent the depredations of insects; the leaves are armed with long teeth, like the antennae of insects, and lie spread upon the ground round the stem; and are so irritable, that when an insect creeps upon them, they fold up, and crush or pierce it to death” (Botanic Garden<\/a><\/em>, “Loves of the Plants,” I, 19, illustration, above)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“Of vegetable animation”: “The fibres of the vegetable world, as well as those of the animal, are excitable into a variety of motions by irritations of external objects. This appears . . . [in] the Dionaea muscipula, which was lately brought over from the marshes of America” (Zoonomia<\/a>,<\/em> I, 73).<\/p>\n

Comments on the mimosa and other “sensitive” plants<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Venus fly-trap caused serious problems for the traditional theory of the Great Chain of Being. The idea of the Great Chain suggested that all of creation was arranged in a rigidly hierarchical system, with God at the top and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":823,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33105],"tags":[2745,33150,2220,33149],"class_list":["post-519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-more-topics","tag-animals","tag-great-chain-of-being","tag-plants","tag-venus-fly-trap"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/romnat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/romnat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/romnat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/romnat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/823"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/romnat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/romnat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/romnat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/romnat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/romnat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}