1 86 THE STORY OF THE LIVING MACHINE. 



while the destructive metabolism is also seated in 

 the cell substance outside the nucleus. Whether 

 these statements are strictly accurate in detail 

 does not particularly affect the general conclu- 

 sion. It is clearly enough demonstrated that the 

 activities of the protoplasmic body are dependent 

 upon the relation of its different parts. Although 

 we have got rid of the complicated machinery 

 of the organism in general, we are still confronted 

 with the machinery of the cell. 



But our analysis can not, at present, go further. 

 Our knowledge of this machine has not as yet 

 enabled us to gain any insight as to its method 

 of action. We can not yet conceive how this ma- 

 chine controls the chemical and physical forces 

 at its disposal in such a way as to produce the 

 orderly result of life. The strict correlation be- 

 tween the forces of the physical universe and 

 those manifested by this protoplasm tells us that 

 a transformation of energy occurs within it, but 

 of the method of that transformation we as yet 

 know nothing. Irritability, movement, metabo- 

 lism, and reproduction appear to be not chemical 

 properties of a compound, but mechanical prop- 

 erties of a machine. Our mechanical analysis of 

 the living machine stops short before it reaches 

 any foundation in the chemical forces of nature. 



It is thus clearly apparent that the phenomena 

 of life are dependent upon the machinery of liv- 

 ing things, and we have therefore the second 

 question of the origin of this machinery to 

 answer. Chemical forces and mechanical forces 

 have been laboriously investigated, but neither 

 appear adequate to the manufacture of machines. 

 They produce only chemical compounds and 

 worlds with their mountains and seas. The con- 



