262 THE MONADOLOGY 



I hold that if an animal never comes into being by natural 

 means [naturellemeni], no more does it come to an end by 

 natural means ; and that not only will there be no birth 

 [generation], but also no complete destruction or death in 

 the strict sense K0 . And these reasonings, made a posteriori 

 and drawn from experience are in perfect agreement with 

 my principles deduced a priori, as above 121 . (Tlieod. 90.) 



77. Thus it may be said that not only the soul (mirror 

 of an indestructible universe) is indestructible, but also 

 the animal itself 122 , though its mechanism [machine] may 

 often perish .in part and take off or put on an organic 

 slough [des depouilles organiques 1 - 5 ]. 



/78. These principles have given me a way of explaining 

 naturally 124 the union or rather the mutual agreement 

 [conformite] of the soul and the organic body. The soul 

 follows its own laws, and the body likewise follows its 

 own laws ; and they agree with each other in virtue of 



minds, images of the Deity, produced by God.' Epistola ad Hanschium 

 (1707) (E. 445 b). This last passage involves a misunderstanding 

 of Plato's Ideat, which are universals, not Monads. Democritus 

 calls his atoms TO 6v. 



120 ' There is always going on in the animal what goes on in it at 

 the present moment ; that is, its body is in a continual change, like 

 a river ; and what we call generation or death is only a greater and 

 more rapid change than usual, such as would be the leap or cataract 

 of a river. But these leaps are not absolute and such as I have 

 refused to admit, as would be that of a body which should go from 

 one place to another without going through intervening places 

 [saws passer par le milieu].' Lettre a Remond (1715) (E. 724 a ; G. iii. 635). 



121 Monadology, 3, 4, and 5. This endeavour to show the agree- 

 ment of a priori with a posteriori conclusions is specially characteristic 

 of Leibniz. It illustrates his belief in the harmony of the physical 

 with the metaphysical, the mechanical with the dynamical or 

 final. 



123 Because the soul must always have a body of some kind, whicli 

 itself ultimately consists of imperishable Monads. Animals, how- 

 ever, are not immortal. Immortality belongs only to rational souls 

 or self-conscious Monads. 



123 ' As a snake casts its old skin.' Lettre a laPrincesse Sophie (1696) 

 (G. vii. 544). 



124 That is, in contrast to the Occasionalist theory, which accord- 

 ing to Leibniz implies an endless series of miracles. 



