108 WHAT IS LIFE ? 



Egg (fig. 17). An object, reader, from which you, and 

 every human being which ever existed, sprang. 1 



We might amplify the illustration of these funda- 

 mental cells to a great extent. We have only desired 

 to bring a few prominently before the reader, so that 

 he or she may thoroughly grasp what manner of 

 being he or she is. 



All is in motion, new cells born by cellr division, 

 cells in a state of growth, cells dying. Cells always 

 made up of molecules, molecules made up of specific 

 atoms. All is in so called death, all is regeneration, 

 i.e. new life. If black is the emblem of death, we must 

 all constantly wear black, for we are ever dying and 

 cannot live without dying. 



Life is a state of Change. 2 Cell life is the sum of 



1 " The opponents of the development theory, who regard this 

 gradual development of Man from lower animal forms, and his 

 original descent from a one-celled primitive animal as incredible, do 

 not reflect that the same marvel actually recurs before our eyes in the 

 short space of nine months during the embryonic development of each 

 human individual. The same series of multifariously diverse forms, 

 through which our brute ancestors passed in the course of many 

 millions of years, has been traversed by every Man during the first 

 40 weeks of his individual existence within the maternal body." 

 ("The Evolution of Man," Ernst Haeckel, 1883, vol. ii. p. 4.) 



2 "If, now, we inquire what it is that essentially distinguishes 

 Vital from eveiy kind of Physical Activity, we find this distinction 

 most characteristically expressed in the fact, that a germ endowed 

 with Life develops itself into an Organism of a type resembling that 

 of its parent ; that this organism is the subject of incessant changes, 

 which all tend in the first place to the evolution of its typical form, 

 and subsequently to its maintenance in that form, notwithstanding 

 the antagonism of Chemical and Physical agencies which are con- 

 tinually tending to produce its disintegration; but that, as its term 

 of existence is prolonged, its conservative power declines, so as to 

 become less and less able to resist these disintegrating forces, to 



