64 THE NATURE AND ORIGIN OF LIFE 



The embryo contained in a grain of wheat consumes 

 while germinating the starch reserve which was the result 

 of a destruction of the living tissues of albumen, and uses 

 it in fabricating the living protoplasm of the young wheat 

 plant. Thus the destructive reactions of Condition No. 2, 

 while they retard protoplasmic development, are not there- 

 fore lost for the individual ; their result serves directly as 

 food in future assimilations. 



The action of chlorophyl, which is often mistakenly 

 called assimilation, is a phenomenon of Condition No. 2 

 produced in green plants under light. A potato grows 

 much faster in a cellar than in sunlight ; but in the sun- 

 light its tissues are charged with reserves which it will 

 utilize later. 



