LIFE AND THE CELL 63 



did some of the infinitesimal cells go on living for a while on their own 

 initiative? If a cell could be removed from a dead person, could it be made 

 to go on "living" after the rest of the body was dead and buried? Was there 

 eternal life in any part of the human anatomy, and, if there was, would 

 it give us the key to eternal life for the human being as a whole? 



The average life of a chicken is only about five years. Dr. Carrel* has 

 in his laboratory, still alive and hearty, some cells taken from the heart of 

 a chicken embryo more than twenty years ago. He has also kept tissue 

 cells from rats, mice, guinea pigs and human bodies growing in his labora- 

 tory in favorable culture conditions for many years. Cells taken from 

 brains live only a short time at best, but most of the other cells do very 

 well — as well as the chick's heart. 



Dr. Carrel concludes from these results that the human cells are poten- 

 tially immortal; detached, they might, under the right conditions, go on 

 living and having descendants forever! Combined by nature into bodies, 

 into a system so marvelous and intricate as to produce our brains, they 

 produce also decay and death. The explanation? The best theory that Dr. 

 Carrel can offer is that a single cell in a semi-liquid state is able to discharge 

 its poisons — necessary by-products of life — directly and entirely into this 

 liquid outside itself, while in the body these poisons cannot escape and 

 therefore pile up an inevitable burden of decay and death. 



The discovery of biologists that living cells are exempt from oblivion 

 has led many noted scientists to speculate about immortality. Evolutionary 

 biology does not preclude the belief of an endless soul in Nature, in the 

 opinion of some scientists, including Dr. Arthur H. Compton, Nobel 

 Prize winner in physics, who holds: "Biologically speaking, life is essen- 

 tially immortal. The apple may decay, but the seed grows into a new tree 

 which flowers and begets new seeds. It is because we concentrate our 

 attention upon the tree that we say the end of life is death. Life, whether 

 it be of an apple seed or the germ cells of man, is essentially continuous 

 and eternal. 



"The reply is heard, however, 'Though my body may be merely the 

 hull that surrounds the living germ, I want to know what will happen 

 to me when the hull decays.' To this question science has no straightfor- 

 ward answer to give. For when you ask. What will happen to me? you are 

 concerned not with your body, but with your consciousness, mind or 

 soul, which is not material, and regarding which science does not directly 

 concern itself." 



* Dr. Carrel is now dead. — Ed. 



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