THE CELL 73 



the water whenever he wants to go there for food or air. 

 Whenever he gets through with his work at the surface 

 of the water he allows the gas to escape and goes back to 

 the bottom. I wish to call the reader's attention to these 

 very complicated acts, showing that the cells which still 

 live and lead a separate life possess a mind and intellect 

 of a high order. You will notice that in the past some 

 writers and scientists have made the remark that the 

 cell appears to have a mind and a free will. Whether 

 they have or not will be a question for the reader to 

 determine for himself after having read this book. It has 

 taken man a long time with a mind and free will to rise 

 from the savage state to civilized life. Intelligence and 

 free will have placed man where he is today and I believe 

 that the same forces have been back of the progress and 

 development of cell life which is back of man. 



One writer makes the following statement about the 

 single cells living in the sea : "A great number of classi- 

 fications for the methodical distribution of these beings 

 has been proposed but not one of them is altogether 

 satisfactory. Some inhabit fresh and salt waters, serving 

 as food for a great many other organisms or contributing 

 by means of their calcareous or silicious skeletons to the 

 formation of continents. Others live as parasites in the 

 organs of animals and plants and induce more or less 

 serious disorders in the constitutions of the organisms 

 they have penetrated. Others again, acting like ferments 

 produce important chemical modifications in organic 

 matter in the course of decomposition." 



You will notice from this statement that the cell is 

 able to effect chemical modifications and changes in 

 organic matter. This would seem to clearly indicate that 

 the cell is familiar with the laws of chemistry. Mr. 

 Ernest Haeckel makes the following statement about the 



