CHAPTER XIV 



CONCLUSION 



IT has been the aim of this essay to set forth a mode 

 of thought regarding some of the problems of human 

 life. It assumes that the human organism, like all 

 others living on the surface of the earth planet, is 

 a machine ; and it assumes that there is no evidence 

 that this machine is not a machine in all respects, 

 like any engine which is the creation of man. The fail- 

 ure of known physical and mechanical laws to explain 

 growth and the cell dynamics of reproduction cannot 

 be construed as proof that these phenomena are extra- 

 physical and extrachemical. Forces are at work in 

 living beings which the mind of man has not com- 

 passed ; but this is true also of the forces that are 

 bound up with what we call inanimate matter. 

 Energy is a feature of all matter, living or dead, and 

 one of the most scrutinizing views of modern science 

 identifies energy and matter in a manner which makes 

 a powerful appeal to reason, though lacking in actual 

 demonstrability. Certain it is that energy possesses 

 the attribute of direction and persistence, and it is 

 reasonable to think of combinations of different forms 

 of energy in possession of direction inclusive of what 

 we call matter, which we cannot now analyze into 

 c 337 



