i6 



ZOOLOGY 



Continuity 

 of life 



Reproduc- 

 tion 



life ; whereas in our modern world this is impossible, 

 owing to the destructive attacks of minute organisms. 

 The suggestion is that life, having once evolved, will 

 tolerate no repetition of the process. However this 

 may be, it is everywhere recognized as a matter of 

 experience that every new cell, and therefore every new 

 life, arises from other life already existing. The theory 

 of evolution is merely an extension of this conception, 

 postulating that all life has thus arisen, and might be 

 traced back, had we all the data, to some common an- 

 cestor in a very remote past. The sameness and unity 

 of life phenomena lend support to this doctrine. 



4. If it is true that all life arises from other life, it 

 necessarily follows that the stream of life is continuous, 

 there is no break between generations. At no point, 

 from the beginning many millions of years ago, if 

 we may postulate such a beginning, to the present 

 moment, has the sacred flame of life which burns in 

 us ever gone out. In a sense we are many millions of 

 years old, and have witnessed the story of evolution 

 from the beginning. Yet we must die. What is 

 death, that great contradiction of life's fundamentals ? 

 Are we to add death to the phenomena of the cell, to 

 complete its list of vital functions by this final negation 

 of all of them ? 



5. The answer to this question is not to be left to 

 speculative philosophers or to theologians. It is de- 

 termined by observation. The continuity of life from 

 generation to generation is an observed fact, and it is 

 only possible because certain cells, at least, do not die. 

 The problem takes on a new aspect, however, when we 

 note that the animals which consist of one cell, the 

 Protozoa, reproduce by dividing, and both parts live. 

 There is no dead body. Woodruff, after raising 



