40 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS 



inspired writer to convey the idea of a living 

 principle. 



The body does not consist merely of matter, 

 of which it may be composed at any given moment, 

 and which is constantly changing, but of that 

 immortal vital energy which can no more die than 

 the immaterial substance known as gravitation, co- 

 hesion, or affinity. 



We have no evidence on which to affirm that ex- 

 istence once imparted ever has been, or ever will 

 be, absolutely annihilated. It may undergo pro- 

 digious changes; its combinations may be dis- 

 solved, its elements scattered; it may be released 

 from the obligations of one set of laws, and be sub- 

 ject to another totally different ; organization may 

 be destroyed, and its component parts broken into 

 a thousand fragments ; life may be extinguished ; 

 the body may utterly perish ; and yet there is no 

 annihilation of the life potency or soul. 



Certainly, to reduce any substance into nothing 

 requires just the same power as to convert nothing 

 into something. The Creator, who called all ex- 

 istence into being, could annihilate it all, or any 

 portion of it, just as easily as He gave it birth. 

 Man and lower animals are not immortal from 



