168 WHAT 18 LIFE 



that is to say, will commence to undergo disintegra- 

 tion."^ Since physicochemical laws govern the body 

 both before and after death, the difference between the 

 behavior of a living and that of a dead body is 

 absolutely unaccountable except on the view of the 

 theory. 



Again: If as theory asserts, the organism is a 

 dual system, and life, or the Z-system, is an intra- 

 atomic quantity, then the final cessation of the 

 activities of the system (the death of the organism) 

 necessarily can be brought about only by the loss of the 

 quantity ''life." 



Obviously, this definition of death is diametrically 

 opposed to the present teaching of many biologists 

 and psychologists that "nothing leaves the body at 

 death." 



XIII. The peculiar conception of the organism 

 as a dual system that consists of an intraatomic sys- 

 tem, the Z-system (life, or the soul) and its matter 

 (the body) — an atomic-intraatomic system. 



I am well aware of the fact that in the remotest 

 past of which historians find records, there is found 

 present the belief of peoples that the organism, or 

 at least man, is a dual system, consisting of body 

 and soul. Indeed it would seem that "everybody" 

 "always" has believed it — the exceptions are so few. 



* The Organism as a Whole, 351. 



