1882.] 
Death not Universal. 
401 
V. DEATH NOT UNIVERSAL. 
Ch£. 
S T may seem at first glance remarkable that a phenome- 
non so superabundantly dealt with as Death has been, 
by orators, novelists, poets, and divines, should yet be 
so much misunderstood. A friend of ours, indeed, suggests 
that this misunderstanding is the natural consequence of the 
treatment the subject has received from the classes above 
mentioned. If the British public would condescend to take 
its notions of death from the sober teachings of physicians 
and naturalists it would both learn and unlearn no little. 
The first error which we must point out is the popular 
antithesis between death and life. Such antitheses, as it has 
been from time to time shown in the “Journal of Science,” 
are at best of doubtful value, being as a rule founded in 
men’s conceptions or misconceptions, rather than in the 
nature of the things compared. Life may, indeed, be logic- 
ally contrasted with a state prior to its own commencement 
or — on the monistic hypothesis — subsequent to its conclu- 
sion. But how it can be profitably and logically compared 
with its own termination is not easily seen. Draw a finite 
straight line : what contrast exists between such line 
and the point where it ends ? No ; if we want something 
fairly antithetical to death — i.e ., to the conclusion of life — 
we must find it in the beginning of life, that is in birth. 
Where there is no birth there can be no death. This consi- 
deration we shall presently find is not unimportant. 
Another notion deeply rooted in the popular mind, and in 
ordinary literature, is that death is common and necessary to 
all organic beings. Whatever lives, we hear it said, whether 
plant or animal, must sooner or later die. It will therefore 
greatly shock many persons to learn that this is not strictly 
the case. We wish here to give room for no misunder- 
standing, and, if possible, for no intentional misinterpretation. 
All animals may die, but death is not in all departments of 
the animal kingdom an inherent absolute necessity. On the 
contrary, in one of the two primary divisons of the animal 
world, the Protozoa, it is, though common enough, merely 
casual, the result of some accident. A Protozoon may be 
swallowed up by some larger animal ; it may be crushed 
out of existence, burnt, or poisoned by “ disinfectants ” in- 
troduced into the water or other fluid which it inhabits. 
But it has no natural term of life, and, as we shall presently 
see, cannot be spoken of as young or old. 
