70 MODERN IDEAS OF EVOLUTION 



these, that of decomposing carbon dioxide at a low 

 temperature and with only the help of solar radiation, 

 is thus far impossible to the chemist, and so is also 

 the union of the nascent carbon with other substances 

 to form the mucilage and protoplasm of the sap and 

 the red colouring matter which adorns it. Here is a 

 miracle in the true sense a mighty work transcending 

 our power and comprehension, and performed by 

 means of an organism the most feeble and apparently 

 inefficient. 



If we ask what is the use of this plant, the answer 

 must be the same with that of the grass of the field. 

 To the few minute animals which can live on melting 

 snow it may serve as food, and washed down into the 

 streams and the sea it helps to sustain the swarming 

 hosts of minute animals of the waters which must 

 have their food provided by the bountiful hand of 

 ^Nature. But Nature in this sense is only another 

 name for God, whose power and divinity arc mani 

 fested in every cell of the red snow-plant. 



Something, however, may be learnt from the 

 reproduction of this plant. It belongs to a humble 

 group of organisms which must have existed since the 

 dawn of life on our planet, and have continued to 

 propagate themselves throughout the geological ages. 

 Their germs abound in all natural waters and in the 

 air, and are ready to develop themselves whenever the 

 proper conditions can be found. Each set of conditions 

 has also its own special kinds of protophytes fitted 



