2l8 LIFE AND DEATH. 



is a store of substance ; there, the formation of 

 an envelope or a nucleus ; there, a division or 

 multiplication, a renewal." This type of phenomena 

 is the only type which has no direct analogues : 

 it is peculiar, special to the living being : what 

 is really vital is this evolutive synthesis. Life is 

 creation. 



Criticism of Claude Bernard. — All this is perfectly 

 true. Thirty years of the most intensive scientific 

 development have run by since these lines were 

 written, and have not essentially changed the ideas 

 therein expressed. His work in its broad lines 

 remains intact. Does that imply, however, that 

 everything is perfect in detail and expression, and 

 that there is no reason for making it more precise or 

 for giving it fresh form ? No doubt this is not so. 

 Although Claude Bernard contributed to establish 

 the essential distinction between the real living 

 protoplasm and the materials of reserve-stuff which 

 it contains, he has not drawn a sufficiently clear 

 distinction between what belongs to each of the 

 categories. He has not specified, in relation to 

 organic destruction, what bearing it has on the 

 organic materials of reserve-stuff Sometimes he uses 

 the term " organic destruction," which is correct, and 

 sometimes " vital destruction," which is of doubtful 

 import. Further, he employs an obscure and 

 paradoxical formula to characterize the obvious but 

 nevertheless not specific phenomena of organic 

 destruction, and he says : " life is death." 



Current Vieivs. — Nowadays, if I may express a 

 personal opinion on this important distinction be- 

 tween functional activity and functional repose, I 

 should say that after having distinguished between 



