1 82 THE STORY OF THE LIVING MACHINE. 



It is useless to try to go further at pres- 

 ent. The origin of living matter is shrouded in 

 as great obscurity as ever. We must admit that 

 the disclosures of the modern microscope have 

 complicated rather than simplified this problem. 

 While a few years ago chemists and biologists 

 were eagerly expecting to discover a method of 

 manufacturing a bit of living matter by artificial 

 means, that hope has now been practically aban- 

 doned. The task is apparently hopeless. We can 

 manipulate chemical forces and produce an end- 

 less series of chemical compounds. But we can 

 not manipulate the minute bits of matter which 

 make up the living machine. Since living matter 

 is made of the adjustment of these microscopic 

 parts of matter, we can not hope to make a bit 

 of living matter until we find some way of making 

 these little parts and adjusting them together. 

 Most students of protoplasm have therefore 

 abandoned all expectation of making even the 

 simplest living thing. We are apparently as far 

 from the real goal of a natural explanation of life 

 as we were before the discovery of protoplasm. 



General Summary. It is now desirable to close 

 this discussion of seemingly somewhat uncon- 

 nected topics by bringing them together in a brief 

 summary. This will enable us to see more 

 clearly the position in which science stands to-day 

 upon this matter of the natural explanation of 

 living phenomena, and to picture to ourselves 

 more concisely our knowledge of the living 

 machine. 



The problem we have set before us is to find 

 out to what extent it is possible to account for 

 vital phenomena by the application of ordinary 

 natural laws and forces, and therefore to find out 



