236 CELL INTELLIGENCE THE CAUSE OF EVOLUTION 



future use. One of the greatest chemical discoveries and 

 inventions of the age was the secret of extracting nitro- 

 gen from the air by electricity. Why does this act by 

 man prove him to be any more intelligent than the cell, 

 which lives in the clover-plant and performs this same 

 act? 



The most important power or knowledge that certain 

 kinds of cells possess, is the power of making starch and 

 different kinds of materials which we call carbohydrates 

 and fats from the raw material of soil, air and water. All 

 the cells which build plants have this power, but in order 

 to do this they must have sunlight. The cells who have 

 this power have also a speck which resembles an eye. 

 These cells nourish themselves by making starch with 

 sunlight, so if they are deprived of the sun's rays, they 

 can not make their food and thus starve to death. These 

 cells that understand how to make starch from the air, 

 earth and water, have a special organ for this purpose, 

 which the other cells do not have. This organ is called the 

 chlorophyl pigment or chromatophore. These cells carry 

 a tiny chemical laboratory with them, with which they 

 change a crude substance into a finished product like 

 starch which they use for food. It is a singular thing that 

 they should use the same substance for food that we do. 

 These cells that carry a starch factory with them have 

 also an eye. In regard to this, one observer states : 



"If flagellates possessing chromatophores, that is organs 

 generating starch, have ocular spots at the same time, it 

 is because these rudimentary eyes enable them to find 

 their way towards the light, which is the necessary agent 

 of chlorophyl action. Accordingly all micro-organisms 

 having eyes nourish themselves as plants do. In their 

 case, the object of the eye is to direct the performance ot 

 a vegetable function. 



