WHAT IS LIFE? 47 



city is occupied by the builders thereof, it is being main- 

 tained or growing, so to speak, but as soon as the people 

 are destroyed, the structures gradually return to the 

 ordinary matter of the earth. 



We find the fossil remains of the structures of man, like 

 old ruins of cities, just as we find fossil remains of the 

 structures of the cell, like the bones of animals. Matter 

 and force and chemical action act just the same in one 

 place as in the other. They are the same and will act the 

 same in your stomach as in the sun or any other place in 

 the universe. We know that nourishment is transformed 

 into the body tissues and through different channels it 

 leaves the body in precisely the same quantity as it en- 

 tered, partly unmodified and in other form. No atom of 

 matter has been lost. Digestion is a chemical and me- 

 chanical process. The cells are compelled to comply with 

 and take advantage of chemical forces, matter and energy, 

 in precisely the same manner that man does. The cells 

 must keep up a continual chemical laboratory and mix 

 and decompose substances according to the general laws 

 of chemical affinity. They must be expert in their work 

 and so it is with man, he can do nothing unless he is in- 

 telligent and understands his work. The elements that 

 make up the plant or animal are the same as those of a 

 house or battleship. The cells of our body will handle 

 the food furnished them in exactly the same manner as 

 the raw material furnished to a factory. The coal, iron 

 and other raw material are changed into the product in- 

 tended or required. 



The plant building cells have produced the material 

 for the cells of our body in the same manner that the 

 miners have produced the raw material for our factories. 

 In the factory as in the body, the laws of matter and force 

 must be complied with. Water will penetrate, flow and 



