THE LIVING ORGANISM 25 



matter as compared with the long array of eighty-odd 

 different kinds of chemical atoms existing in the world 

 as a whole. 



But an astonishing result is reached through the brief 

 analysis we have just made. It is this : we do not 

 find peculiar kinds of atoms which occur exclusively 

 in living matter ; the materials are exactly the same 

 as those of the outer world. In short, the elements 

 of both the organic and inorganic divisions of the 

 universe prove to be the same. Carbon is carbon, 

 whether it is part of the substance of a living brain cell, 

 or black inert coal, or the glistening diamond, or an 

 incandescent part of the fiery sun. Hydrogen is the 

 same, whether it be a constituent of the ocean, of the air, 

 or of the living muscle fiber. And so it is with all of 

 the other elements of the living mechanism. This starts 

 us upon a line of thought which leads to a significant 

 conclusion, namely, that a living thing which seems so 

 distinct and permanent is after all only a temporary ag- 

 gregate of elements which come to it from the not-living 

 world; existing for a time in peculiar combinations 

 which render life possible, they pass incessantly away 

 from the Hving thing and return to the inorganic world. 

 Every breath we draw sends out particles which were 

 at one time living portions of ourselves ; every move- 

 ment we make involves the destruction of living muscle 

 cells, whose protoplasm breaks down into the ash and 

 gas and fluid wastes which eventually return to the 

 world of dead things. A tree loses its living leaves with 

 each recurring season, and the antlers of the stag are 

 lost annually, to be replaced anew. Indeed the major 

 part of some organisms is itself actually dead. The 



