50 THE STORY OF THE LIVING MACHINE. 



other than those which are at our command in 

 the scientific laboratory. 



The Living Machine Constructive as well as 

 Destructive. In one respect the living machine 

 differs from all others. The action of all other 

 machines results in the destruction of organized 

 material, and thus in a degradation of matter. For 

 example, a steam engine receives coal, a substance 

 of high chemical composition, and breaks it into 

 more simple compounds, in this way liberating its 

 stored energy. Now if we examine all forms of 

 artificial machines, we find in the same way that 

 there is always a destruction of compounds of 

 high chemical composition. In such machines it 

 is common to start with heat as a source of ener- 

 gy, and this heat is always produced by the break- 

 ing of chemical compounds to pieces. In all chemi- 

 cal processes going on in the chemist's laboratory 

 th'ere is similarly a destruction of organic com- 

 pounds. It is true that the chemist sometimes 

 makes complex compounds out of simpler ones; 

 but in order to do this he is obliged to use heat to 

 bring about the combination, and this heat is ob- 

 tained from the destruction of a much larger 

 quantity of high compounds than he manufactures. 

 The total result is therefore destruction rather than 

 manufacture 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 deg- 

 radation 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 



