GERM-CELL HAS NO POWER, ETC. 63 



the germ-cell has the semblance of a will in any sense 

 of the term. 



To construct the embryo body a sufficient number 

 of atoms of the necessary chemical elements, such as 

 carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, etc., must be se- 

 lected, assembled at the proper places and there com- 

 bined, in certain proportions, to form the required 

 chemical combinations; next these combinations must 

 be grouped and mechanically arranged in such a 

 manner as to form the embryo body, with all its or- 

 gans and parts in their proper places. 



Can the germ-cell, and the millions of daughter- 

 cells arising from it, do this miraculous work, automat- 

 ically, without the aid and guidance of the Creator ? 



Let us imagine that Edison or some other scien- 

 tific man should build a tank large enough to hold 

 a brick house with six rooms; that he put into the 

 tank a "magic brick," composed of silica, aluminum, 

 iron, lime, magnesia, manganese, soda and potash com- 

 bined in the proper proportions, (Encyc. Brit. 4, p. 

 280) ; that he turned a stream of water, charged with 

 these elements, upon the brick; that it absorbed these 

 substances from the water and assimilated them into 

 its own body ; that it afterward split into two * ' daugh- 

 ter-bricks, ' these two into four, these into eight, six- 

 teen, thirty-two, sixty-four, one hundred and twenty- 

 eight, and so on to infinity ; that these brick, automatic- 

 ally, assumed such positions on top of each other as 

 to build up the four walls of the house, without the 

 aid of man or any other psychic force ; that the bricks 

 left spaces for doors, windows, etc; that they also 

 built up the chimneys, fire places, etc ; that some of 



