Note 16 — IX BUDDHISM AND THE PROBLEM OF BIOLOGY

When a modern writer, like T. Loeb in his Dynamik der Lebenserscheinungen, declares living beings to be machines “which consist essentially of colloidal matter possessing the property of automatic alimentation and reproduction,” the statement has about as much value as if one should think to explain the arc-light as something that consists essentially of a stick of carbon possessing the property of automatically lighting itself every evening and burning throughout the night.