1992 Saturn SC1 black box?

1992 Saturn SC1 4 cyl Two Wheel Drive Automatic

My car has a little black box, to the right of the engine. It has a crack in it, so when the car is running, it sends a spark from the box to a screw near my plugs. Now my car seems like it is trying to bog out, when I have it running. Also, it seems to be having a problem getting a start when leaving a stop or changing gears. Could this be caused by the spark draining power and do you know what the black box is called so I can get a new one and put it in? My uncle called it a distributor but the auto parts store said that this model car does not even have a distributor. Also, someone else told me that it was called a coil. Also, do you know of any sites that have diagrams of the components of my car so that I won't have this problem again? Thank you.