4 CELL INTELLIGENCE THE CAUSE OF EVOLUTION 



enty years previously by Copernicus. The astronomers 

 were able to bring forward so many facts to support this 

 theory that its truth was finally forced upon every think- 

 ing person. 



The main fact I propose to prove by this book is that 

 the cell is an intelligent being like ourselves. I have 

 stated my proposition and it is now up to me to prove it. 

 The proposition that the being we call cell is an intelli- 

 gent being, includes also that he is so in every sense of 

 the term, that he is conscious, has a memory, will and 

 judgment, just as we have. He reasons and profits by 

 experience, just as we do. By virtue of his power of 

 memory and experience had in our bodies and thousands 

 before ours, he knows how to build others like them. 



Before I go any further I must quote a few pages from 

 a physiology now used in the high schools and which 

 most of you have studied, so as to fully remind you of 

 what is known of this important individual we call 

 cell; that is, that he is an independent living being; that 

 he also lives a separate life, just as we do; that he has 

 the power of growth, self-repair and increase in numbers ; 

 and that he requires food, air, water, and shelter, just 

 as we do. Here is what our physiology has to say about 

 the life of the cell : "There are certain great differences 

 between this unit of living matter and an unliving thing. 

 Three distinguishing qualities belong to the living cell. 

 (1) growth; (2) self repair; (3) increase in numbers 

 through self division. These powers are possessed by 

 no other material in the world save protoplasm. 



"The growth of a cell is in all cases brought about by 

 material taken in from the outside. In the human body 

 this material is food, which after digestion passes into 

 the blood, and is then taken in by the cells. This pro- 

 cess will be described more fully later. In some of the 



