HUMAN LIFE 



THE BIOLOGIST AND DEATH 



I HAVE had during the very writing 

 of this paper the distressing experience 

 of being brought, suddenly and dramat- 

 ically, to face that problem of human life, 

 that to most of us is the greatest of 

 all its problems, I mean the problem of 

 death. One evening, on a train from 

 Chicago to Washington, returning with a 

 companion from a week's association with 

 hundreds of other scientific men, I spent 

 the hours between dinner and bedtime 

 discussing with my companion the possi- 

 bilities of science in helping us to under- 

 stand Nature and Life. He was a man 

 who had given thirty years, with all the 

 advantage of great ability and highly- 

 perfected training, to scientific study. 

 He was withal a most attractive and 

 lovable personality. We parted at the 

 evening's end with smiles of friendship 

 and mutual encouragement to push on 

 106 



