64 THE STORY OF LIFE'S MECHANISM. 



obliged to use heat to bring about the com- 

 bination, and this heat is obtained from the 

 destruction of a much larger quantity of high 

 compounds than he manufactures. The total 

 result is therefore destruction rather than manu- 

 facture of high compounds. Thus it is a fact, 

 that in all artificial machines and in all artificial 

 chemical processes there is, as a total result, a 

 degradation of matter toward the simpler from 

 the more complex compounds. 



As a result of the action of the living machine, 

 however, we have the opposite process of construc- 

 tion going on. All high chemical compounds 'are 

 to be traced to living beings as their source. When 

 green plants grow in sunlight they take simple 

 compounds and combine them together to form 

 more complex ones in such a way that the total 

 result is an increase of chemical compounds of 

 high complexity. In doing this they use the 

 energy of sunlight, which they then store away 

 in the compounds formed. They thus produce 

 starches, oils, proteids, woods, etc., and these 

 stores of energy now may be used by artificial 

 machines. The living machine builds up, other 

 machines pull down. The living machine stores 

 sunlight in complex compounds, other machines 

 take it out and use it. The living organism is 

 therefore to be compared to a sun engine, which 

 obtains its energy directly from the sun, rather 

 than to the ordinary engine. While this does 

 not in the slightest militate against the idea of 

 the living body as a machine, it does indicate 

 that it is a machine of quite a different charac- 

 ter from any other, and has powers possessed 



