They sicken and dry up.
That shows they have perception of touch. Through sound of wind and fire
and thunder, their fruits and flowers drop down. Sound is perceived
through the ear. Trees have, therefore, ears and do hear. A creeper winds
round a tree and goes about all its sides. A blind thing cannot find its
way. For this reason it is evident that trees have vision. Then again
trees recover vigour and put forth flowers in consequence of odours, good
and bad, of the sacred perfume of diverse kinds of dhupas. It is plain
that trees have scent.[555] They drink water by their roots. They catch
diseases of diverse kinds. Those diseases again are cured by different
operations. From this it is evident that trees have perceptions of taste.
As one can suck up water through a bent lotus-stalk, trees also, with the
aid of the wind, drink through their roots. They are susceptible of
pleasure and pain, and grow when cut or lopped off. From these
circumstances I see that trees have life. They are not inanimate. Fire
and wind cause the water thus sucked up to be digested. According, again,
to the quantity of the water taken up, the tree advances in growth and
becomes humid. In the bodies of all mobile things the five elements
occur. In each the proportions are different. It is in consequence of
these five elements that mobile objects can move their bodies. Skin,
flesh, bones, marrow, and arteries and veins, that exist together in the
body are made of earth.
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