4 THE STORY OF THE LIVING MACHINE. 



In other branches of natural phenomena the 

 same history followed. The forces and laws of 

 chemical affinity were formulated and studied, and 

 physical laws and forces were comprehended. As 

 these natural forces were grasped it became, little 

 by little, evident that the various phenomena of 

 nature were simply the result of nature's forces 

 acting in accordance with nature's laws. Phe- 

 nomena hitherto mysterious were one after an- 

 other brought within the realm of law, and as 

 this occurred a smaller and smaller portion of 

 them were left within the realm of the so-called 

 supernatural. By the middle of this century this 

 advance had reached a point where scientists, at 

 least, were ready to believe that nature's forces 

 were all-powerful to account for nature's phe- 

 nomena. Science had passed from the reign of 

 mysticism to the reign of law. 



But after chemistry and physics, with all the 

 forces that they could muster, had exhausted 

 their powers in explaining natural phenomena, 

 there apparently remained one class of facts which 

 was still left in the realm of the supernatural and 

 the unexplained. The phenomena associated with 

 living things remained nearly as mysterious as 

 ever. Life appeared to be the most inexplicable 

 phenomena of nature, and none of the forces and 

 laws which had been found sufficient to account 

 for other departments of nature appeared to have 

 much influence in rendering intelligible the phe- 

 nomena of life. Living organisms appeared to 

 be actuated by an entirely unique force. Their 

 shapes and structure showed so many marvellous 

 adaptations to their surroundings as to render it 

 apparently certain that their adjustment must 

 have been the result of some intelligent planning, 



