Lessons From Common Things

Lessons From Common Things By Dr. Franklin S. Harris, President of the B. Y. U. 7. Chlorophyll AS a person looks out into the world the green color of vegeta- tion meets his eyes. In the tropics, great forests cover the landscape; in temperate lands, fields, trees, and grass cover the earth; even at the tops of mountains or in Arctic regions, plants, large and small, seem to occupy every particle of space, even to cracks in the rocks. So common is this green coloring of vegetation that we ordinarily take it as a matter of course, as we do water and air. Yet within each green plant is going on work so wonderful that it should hold the attention of all who love to know the won- ders of the world. Have you ever asked yourself just what this green substance is which is so universally distributed throughout plant life? If you should take a magnifying glass and examine the leaves of plants, you would find that they are made up of very tiny cells, so small that it requires several hundred of them to equal an inch in length. In each of these cells there are from a few to several dozen little particles of green material which the botanists call "leaf-green" or "chlor- ophyll". ' No matter what the green plant is, whether a tree or a blade of grass, its leaves have this same material. It is one of the most common of substances; so common that most people scarcely give it a thought, and if they do they seldom trouble themselves to find out just what it is or what its relation might be to our lives. This green material, commonplace as it may seem, is so tre- mendously important that no animal or plant could continue to live on earth for any length of time without it. It is the primary factor in the manufacture of plant and animal food. The sunlight, acting through the leaf-green on water and carbon dioxide from the air, builds complex food substances which serve as the foundation of all animal food. The chlorophyll cells may be regarded as the most practical chemical laboratory in all the world. All the manufacturing done in the United States requires only about forty million horespower of energy, whereas just the pastures on the farms of Utah use several times this much energy in a year. This trapping of sunshine to cre- ate food goes on so silently that we scarcely notice even the growth of the plants, let alone think of the many, many billions of tiny spheres of chlorophyll cells which are doing the manufacturing. This first material which the green cells manufacture is a simple

Sept.. 1929 LESSONS FROM COMMON THINGS 899 sugar or starch, as is found in potatoes and rice. In many instances the peculiar needs of the plant which does the manufactur- ing require that the food be changed to other forms, such as cane sugar, or oily foods, but no matter what the later changes, the work of the chlorophyll cells is invariably the same. Their great work is to keep the whole world supplied with the initial food for all plants and animals, and should their activities cease, all living things would perish. Man and animals, by utilizing stored fuel and food, might live for some time after chlorophyll were destroyed, but soon all such supplies would be exhausted, and all forms of life be stilled. Many of the common things which seem entirely independent of chlorophyll were really created under the activity of this one green substance. Gasoline, kerosene, coal, tar, and numerous other sub- stances all trace their origin back to the sunshine trapped by chlor- ophyll and used to weld the hydrogen of water with carbon dioxide to make plant food. The method of storing these fuels in the earth are responsible for their almost unrecognizable forms. Suppose the world had been made by mere chance, and this green substance had been left out. Our planet would always have remained a barren waste of rock. Does it seem reasonable that this wonderful green material organized itself so that it automatically be- gan to manufacture food, and that other forms of chance created living organisms to utilize this material, or was there a divine mind supervising the creation so that it would evolve into a world of beauty? Scoffers, whose minds have been warped through one- sided views of the wonders of life, may answer that chance could perform such miracles, but for those who study nature with an open mind, the Creator's hand is plainly visible. The Power of Faith A short time ago a boy up in the mountains of Colorado was bitten by a rattle snake. He knew that the bite of a rattler is deadly poison, and for a few minutes death stared him in the face. Then a happy thought came to him: "If I could only get to the hospital in Colorado Springs, I am sure the doctors would save my life." With this assurance he mounted his horse, and rode several miles, when he met an automobile. He explained his condition to the driver of the auto, who rushed him to the depot, where he caught a train for Colorado Springs. On arriving there he hastened to the hospital, where he received treatment at the hands of the doctors and his life was saved. This is a pretty good example of the power of faith. — -William A. Morton.