Page 19 - Engineering in Nature

hen you want information about medici-
nes, you go to a pharmacist who has been
trained in that field. He will have consider-
able professional experience, know all
about what various medicines contain, their purposes and side
effects. Yet not even an expert on chemical compounds can tell
what beneficial substances a plant may contain, by simply look-
ing at it. How, for example, can anyone look at a foxglove and
say "There is a substance in this, digitalis, that can be used as an
antidote to the heart problems"? One must either ask others

who possess the requisite knowledge and experience, or else
one must carry out research and experiments by oneself.
Mere guessing could be exceedingly dangerous. For exam-
ple, anyone bitten by a poisonous snake needs to be treated at
once. In such serious situations, when a moment's delay may
result in death, one clearly, cannot resort to guesswork or trial
and error.
Humans cannot carry out this difficult procedure without
conducting experiments, but a great many living things have
been doing this "naturally" for millions of years. For example,
the Bezoar goats—which we'll examine in greater detail later
on—can neutralize snake venom. For a creature devoid of rea-
son to know instantly what substance a plant contains, to cor-
rectly decide what purpose it serves, to know under what

Adnan Oktar
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