plasm--is it not entitled to respect? The Yogi
Teachings inform vis that in Carbon we have that form of matter which
was evolved as the physical basis of life. If any of you doubt that
inorganic matter may be transformed into living forms, let us refer you
to the plant life, in which you may see the plants building up cells
every day from the inorganic, chemical or mineral substances, in the
earth, air, and water. Nature performs every day the miracle of
transforming chemicals and minerals into living plant cells. And when
animal or man eats these plant cells, so produced, they become
transformed into animal cells of which the body is built up. What it
took Nature ages to do in the beginning, is now performed in a few
hours, or minutes.

The Yogi Teachings, again on all-fours with modern Science, inform us
that living forms had their beginning in water. In the slimy bed of the
polar seas the simple cell-forms appeared, having their origin in the
transitional stages before mentioned. The first living forms were a
lowly form of plant life, consisting of a single cell. From these forms
were evolved forms composed of groups of cells, and so proceeded the
work of evolution, from the lower form to the higher, ever in an upward
path.

As we have said, the single cell is the physical centre, or parent, of
every living form. It contains what is known as the _nucleus_, or
kernel, which seems to be more highly organized than the rest of the
material of the cell--it may be considered as the "brain" of the cell,
if you wish to use your imagination a little. The single cell
reproduces itself by growth and division, or separation. Each cell
manifests the functions of life, whether it be a single-celled
creature, or a cell which with billions of others, goes to make up a
higher form. It feels, feeds, grows, and reproduces itself. In the
single-celled creature, the one cell performs all of the functions, of
course. But as the forms become more complex, the many cells composing
a form perform certain functions which are allotted to it, the division
of labor resulting in a higher manifestation. This is true not only in
the case of animal forms, but also in the case of plant forms. The
cells in the bone, muscle, nerve-tissue and blood of the animal differ
according to their offices; and the same is true in the cells in the
sap, stem, root, leaf, seed and flower of the plant.

As we have said, the cells multiply by division, after a peri