74 The Morality of Nature 



of individual life is one which, however it may be reduced 

 in degree, cannot be eliminated altogether, without ending 

 the scheme of adaptation. In other words, a full guarantee 

 to the individual, of life of full term, is consistent only with 

 a system no longer needing progressive selection but crystal- 

 lized into inactive perfection; a Nirvana of repose in perfect 

 virtue without change, such as is imagined in idealized unity 

 by certain philosophical argument. But this speculative 

 conception is metaphysical in its extent. It is mentioned here 

 only to show how inconceivable is such an alternative, as 

 compared with a continuance of the prevailing natural law 

 of conduct; when the universal prevalence of continuity, as 

 against terminality, is brought to mind. It may be imagined 

 that death will always be, as now, for the mortal body the 

 simple withdrawal of a privilege granted temporarily and 

 never guaranteed. It is the end of a life, which, for the 

 single individual, whether it lasted a century, or a moment, 

 has been a loan, a gift, to be held and relinquished as 

 circumstances may require; and always as a terminable 

 trust and not as a guaranteed possession. Such a conception 

 of the nature of death is induced by the life history of those 

 species low in the scale of evolution, in which life is so 

 lavish that premature death is inevitable for the great 

 majority. When this primitive aspect is comprehended, it 

 can be applied to the more complex relations of life and 

 conduct in higher grades, and it will be found not only con- 

 sistent but explanatory of many obscurities. But after 

 eliminating the notion that death is always a process of 

 penal retribution we are still lacking an understanding of its 

 necessity. 



