THE RIGHT TO LIVE 205 



without the necessity of providing for the in- 

 terpolation of inhibiting periods of winter 

 cold or summer dryness, the larger part of 

 productive activity would doubtless disap- 

 pear, and with it much of the fierce strife for 

 place. 



If added to other favorable conditions for 

 existence an adequate supph^ of food were 

 available, we can well believe that organisms 

 might become potentially immortal, that is, 

 they might live indefinitely unless killed by 

 pure accident. Such a happy environment 

 would be a true vale of Avalon: 



"Where falls not hail, orrain, or auy snow, 

 Nor ever wind blows loudly ; but it lies 

 Deep-meadow'd; happy, fair with orchard lawns 

 And bowerj' hollows crown'd with summer sea." 



It would, however, be a land of continuous 

 youth, a Ponce de Leon realization, rather 

 than a haven for effete King Arthurs. 



Weismann finds an argument leading to the 

 like conclusion in the fission reproduction of 

 many unicellular animals, b\^ which no part of 

 the organism dies during the process of mul- 

 tiplication, but each part expands into the 

 perfection of an individual. A not materially 

 dissimilar process among higher members in 

 the vegetable kingdom is the read3^ propaga- 

 tion by successive branching of such rhizo- 

 matous plants as certain ferns, iris and 

 grasses. As the burrowing plant body pushes 



