THE VALUE OF LIFE 



and confidence. We need only glance Ijack half a 

 century, and compare life to-day with what it was then, 

 in order to realize the progress made. If we regard the 

 modern state as an elaborate organism (a "social individ- 

 ual of the first order"), and compare its citizens to tlie 

 cells of a higher tissue-animal, the difference between 

 the state of to-day and the crudest family groups of 

 savages is not less than that between a higher metazoon 

 (such as a vertebrate) and a cocnobium of protozoa. The 

 progressive division of labor, on the one hand, and the 

 centralization of society, on the other, prepare the social 

 body for higher functions than in isolation, and pro- 

 portionately increase the worth of its life. To see this 

 more clearly, let us compare the personal and the social 

 value of life in the five chief fields of vital activity — 

 nutrition, reproduction, movement, sensation, and men- 

 tal life. 



The first need of the individual organism, self-main- 

 tenance, is met in a much more perfect manner in the 

 modern state than it was formerly. The savage is 

 satisfied with the raw products of nature — with hunting, 

 fishing, and the gathering of roots and fruits. Agri- 

 culture and pasturage come later. ^Lany stages of 

 barbarism and lower civilization must be passed before 

 the conditions of feeding, housing, and clothing provide 

 a secure and comfortable existence for man, and permit 

 the addition of aesthetic and intellectual interests to the 

 indispensable search for food. 



The feeding and condition of the social body as a 

 whole have been improved by modem civilization, just 

 as in the case of the individual. The progress of chem- 

 istry and agriculture has enabled us to produce food 

 in larger quantities. The ease and rapidity of transfer 

 allow it to be distributed over the whole earth. Scientific 

 medicine and hygiene have discovered many means of 

 diminishing the dangers of disease and preventing its 

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