THE 
JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. 
MAY, 1885. 
I. THE LESSON OF THE UNNUCLEATED CELL. 
By the Author of “ Scientific Materialism.” 
“Death not Universal " “ Is Death Universal?" “ Death and Individuality." 
<! In Nature everything is distinct, yet nothing defined into absolute 
independent singleness. — Muir. 
<z± 
S N the July number of the “Journal of Science,” 1882 
(p. 401), appeared an article headed “ Death not Uni- 
versal,” wherein the writer says “ If we want some- 
thing 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.” Also, “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 divisions of the animal 
kingdom, the Protozoa, it is, though common enough, merely 
casual, the result of some accident : it may be crushed out 
of existence, burnt, or poisoned by ‘disinfectants’ introduced 
into water, or other fluid which it inhabits. But it has no 
natural term of life, and . . . cannot be spoken of as old or 
young.” Then follows a comparison between the forms of 
life of the Metazoa and “ the Protozoa.” Then is described 
the fission of the Protozoa, whereby is produced two exactly 
similar creatures, and “we cannot say that either of them 
is more mature or more rudimentary than the other, and 
that there is no analogy between this and other forms of 
perpetuation. “ The process of reproduction must, as far 
VOL. vii. (third series). t 
