PROTOPLASM, LIFE AND DEATH 185 



organism ceases to live, that is to say, its protoplasm 

 undergoes step by step and bit by bit irrevocable 

 chemical change or breaking down. 



When a man enters upon that condition which we 

 call " death," the general muscular movements first cease, 

 then the movements of respiration (so that a mirror held 

 to the mouth was used to test the coming and going of 

 the breath, and the absence of a film of moisture on the 

 mirror's surface was held to be a proof of death), then 

 the movement of the heart, which is followed by the 

 awful pallor of the bloodless face and lips, and the 

 chilling of the whole body, no longer warmed by the 

 blood-stream. But for long after these changes have 

 occurred the protoplasm of the cells in many parts is 

 not injured. The beard of a corpse will grow after all 

 the great arrests of movement above noted have been 

 established for hours. In cold-blooded animals, such as 

 the frog, the protoplasm of the muscles is still uninjured 

 many hours after decapitation, and they can be stimu- 

 lated and made to contract. Death, in fact, only occurs 

 in the tissues of a multicellular animal, as their proto- 

 plasm becomes chemically destroyed by injurious tempera- 

 ture, poisonous accumulations, or active bacterial germs, 

 which become predominant owing to the stoppage of the 

 great mechanisms of breathing, circulation, and nerve 

 control. 



Is it, then, necessary to suppose that a something, 

 an essence, a spirit, an intangible existence called " life " 

 or " vitality," or the " anima animans," passes away, or, as 

 it were, evaporates from a thing which was living and is 

 now dead ? Assuredly no more than it is necessary to 

 suppose that an essence or thing called " death " takes 

 possession of it when it ceases to carry on the changes 

 which we call " living." It must not be supposed that 

 we regard the unique and truly awe-inspiring processes 



