318 NATURE AND LIFE. 
existence, to remove the appendage from him, and trans- 
plant it to a young animal, which in his turn would be de- 
prived of the ornament in the same way in his old age in 
favor of some specimen of a new generation, and so on in 
succession. This tail, transplanted in regular course to 
young animals, and imbibing at each transference blood 
full of vitality, perpetually renewed, yet ever remaining 
the same, would thus escape death. The experiment, deli- 
cate and difficult, as we well see, was yet undertaken by 
Bert, but circumstances did not allow it to be prolonged 
for any considerable time, and the fact of the perpetuity of 
an organ, periodically rejuvenated, remains to be demon- 
strated. 
Tit. 
Real death, then, is characterized by the positive ceas- 
ing of vital properties and functions both in the organic or 
vegetative life, and in the animal life, properly so termed. 
When animal life disappears without any interruption oc- 
curring in organic life, the system is in a.state of seeming 
death. In this state the body is possessed by profound 
sleep quite similar to that of hibernating animals; all the 
usual expressions and all signs of internal activity have 
disappeared, and give place to invincible torpor. The most 
powerful chemical stimulants exert no control over the or- 
gans, the walls of the chest are motionless; in short, see- 
ing the body presenting this appearance, it is impossible 
not to think of it as dead. There are quite numerous 
states of the organism which may thus imitate death more 
or less closely ; the commonest one is that of fainting. In 
this case neither sensation nor movements of circulation or 
respiration are any longer perceptible; the warmth is 
lowered, the skin pallid and colorless. Instances of hys- 
teria are cited in which the attack has been prolonged for 
several days, attended with fainting. Jn this strange con- 
