But not only does organic matter consist of the same elements that are to be found in inorganic nature, but the organism as a whole is nothing but a bodily mechanism not differing from other machines except in its more complicated construction. Water, says Büchner, which must be considered as the foremost and most important part in all organic beings, and without which all animal and plant life were impossible, water penetrates, flows and sinks according to the laws of gravity, not differing by the breadth of a hair in its action within and without the organism. The circulation of the blood is as mechanical as we could wish, and the anatomic contrivance that causes it bears a surprising likeness to mechanical apparatus made by man’s hand. The heart is provided with valves just as a steam engine; the valve movements produce audible sounds. The rise of the blood from the lower parts of the body to the heart against gravity can only be made possible by a mechanical arrangement. The bowels convey their content mechanically; mechanically the muscle movements take place, and mechanical motility characterizes men and animals. The human eye obeys the same laws as a camera obscura and the ear catches the sound waves in same way as does any other vault, and so on. Science, therefore, entertains no doubt that the living organism is a machine as well as the steam engine, i. e., a system where chemical affinity produces heat, electricity and muscular energy. Now, are these facts, pointed out by Büchner, true and correct? Undoubtedly they are in all essential respects eternal truths, and we may add that they are just as important foundations for idealism as the materialists have claimed them to be for their opinion. But before we take up this subject let us see how the materialists derive their philosophy from the facts mentioned. There are many other objects in this world, of which we might almost verbally repeat what Büchner says about organic matter; for instance, windows, doors, locks, bricks, houses, etc. In these objects also there is not one atom to be found which was not present in the raw material of which they were made. But does the raw material itself produce these things? So Büchner reasons. He says: “_Because all organic matter consists of inorganic raw material, therefore the raw material, itself, has made the organic matter. Because the organism is essentially like a steam engine, the building material itself has made the organism._” This headlong way of reasoning and concluding is not characteristic of Büchner alone, but applies equally to the whole materialistic school during the past century.