LIFE AND DEATH 19 



were formed. The species which flourished at 

 that time have changed, or have become extinct 

 as the penalty for not changing. Life or the 

 matter with which Life is associated turns and 

 eddies in a state of never-ending flux. 



Death appears to be the inevitable result of 

 stagnation of a condition in which the impulses 

 of Life can no longer keep the stream of Matter 

 in motion. We live in danger of being choked by 

 the wastage of our bodies : sleep enables secre- 

 tion to overtake the process of wastage, and to 

 rid us of accumulations that have collected during 

 our active hours. But not entirely. Gradually 

 the accumulations increase, clog our activities 

 and finally strangle them. Apart from the effect 

 of injury or disease, the duration of Life seems 

 to depend upon the strength of a propulsive force 

 which may be likened to the spin which keeps a 

 top rotating. It is extraordinary that this force 

 should be of such varying efficiency sufficing, 

 in some cases, to prolong life for a century, and 

 in other cases failing after a few days or even hours. 

 But, in the conceptions of science, time is of little 

 account ; and, if we can forget it, birth and death 

 will appear to resemble the vibrations which 

 constitute light or sound pulsations which main- 

 tain a stream of continuity. 







This brief survey of Life appears to have 

 disclosed six leading characteristics, which, in 

 greater or less degree, are manifested throughout 

 the animal and vegetable kingdoms: responsive 

 sensation, changefulness, and the two pairs 

 of opposites, instinct and consciousness, spon- 

 taneity and repetitiveness. Before proceeding 

 to consider these attributes in more detail, we 

 may pause for a moment to reflect again upon the 



