Life and death

by A. Dastre

Death, then, “the last enemy that shall be destroyed,” to use the expression of St. Paul, will yield to the power of science. Instead of being “the king of terrors,” it will become after a long and healthy life, after a life exempt from morbid accidents, a natural and longed for event, a satisfied need. Then will be realized the wish of the fabulist:—

“I should like to leave life at this age, just as one leaves a banquet, thanking the host, and departing.”

Has this physiological solution of the problem of death the virtue attributed to it by Metchnikoff? Is it as optimistic as he thinks it is? The instinct of death supervening at the end of a normal and well-filled cycle will no doubt facilitate to the aged their departure on the great voyage. The wrench will no longer exist for the dead. Will it not exist for those who are left behind? And since the instinct of death can only exist about the time at which death is expected, will the young man and the man of ripened years look with less horror than to-day at the law which cannot be escaped, when they are in full possession of the instinct of life, but warned of the inevitability of death?

INDEX OF AUTHORS.

• Altmann, [258]
• Anaxagoras, [34]
• Aquinas, St. Thomas, [3], [19], [248]
• Aristotle, [3], [15], [18], [143], [146], [307]
• Armstrong, [295]
• Atwater, [137]
• Bacon, vi., [35], [346]
• Baker, [233]
• Balbiani, [161], [165], [191], [206]-7, [257]
• Bang, d’Yvor, [179]
• Barthez, [3], [19], [24]
• Beclard, [121]
• Becquerel, [278]
• Beijerinck, [193]
• Benoit, [271]
• Bernard, Claude, vi., [17], [27], [29], [32], [48], [50]-4, [107], [109], [112], [119], [148], [150]-1, [171], [190]-2, [194], [197], [204], [210], [214]-218, [220] et seq., [310], [318]
• Bernoulli, John, [35], [73]
• Bert, Paul, [194]
• Berthelot, [91], [98], [128]-130, [152], [204], [296]
• Berthollet, [82]
• Berzelius, [117]
• Bichat, [3], [6], [20], [22], [27]-30, [35], [55], [158], [170], [198], [308]
• Blumenbach, [46]
• Boë, Sylvius Le, [35]-6
• Boerhaave, [35], [147], [245]
• Bohr, [29]-30
• Bokorny, [324]
• Boltzmann, [265]
• Bonnet, [23], [49]
• Bordeu, [3], [10], [19], [22], [24], [312]
• Borelli, [35]
• Boscovitch, [37], [248]
• Bose, [264]
• Bossuet, [11]
• Bouasse, [73], [264]-5
• Boullier, [12]
• Bourdeau, [237], [242]
• Boussingault, [149]
• Brandt, [257]
• Bravais, [282]
• Brillouin, [264], [273]
• Brown, [266] et seq.
• Brücke, [44]
• Büchner, [325]
• Buffon, [46], [254], [357]
• Bunge, von, [3], [14]
• Burdon, Sanderson, [176]
• Busquet, [175]
• Bütschli, [161]-2, [175]
• Cabanis, [245], [246]
• Cailletet, [272]
• Calkins, [327], [338]
• Calvert, [271]
• Candolle, [20]
• Cardan, [261]
• Carnot, [72]-3, [89], [92] et seq., [101], [114], [121]
• Charpy, [237], [271]
• Chauffard, [3], [10], [11], [294]
• Chauveau, [75], [103], [108], [123], [130], [145], [213]
• Chevreul, [32]
• Chossat, [152]
• Cicero, [347], [359]
• Clausius, [67], [88]
• Cohn, [191], [252]
• Cohnheim, [341]
• Colding, [58] [note], [90]
• Colin, [52]
• Comte, [189]-190, [310]
• Confucius, [309]
• Coulomb, [76], [264], [273]
• Crookes, [295], [302]
• Cuvier, [3], [6], [27]-8, [105], [120], [152], [190], [198], [308], [310], [319]
• D’Alembert, [20], [59] [note], [90], [92]
• Dantec, Le, [48], [52], [55] [note], [110], [148], [173], [198], [201], [203], [213], [216], [220], [223] et seq., [231], [246], [261], [285], [296], [340]
• D’Arsonval, [126]
• Darwin, [3], [46], [167], [258], [354]
• Dastre, A., [192], [198] [note]
• Davy, Sir Humphry, [61], [80]
• Delafosse, [282]
• Delage, [208]
• Demange, [349]
• Democritus, [34], [146]
• Descartes, [3], [9], [35], [37], [40], [73], [91], [98]
• Despretz, [126]
• Diderot, [245], [246]
• Drechsel, [183]
• Dressel, [20]
• Dubois-Reymond, [44], [58] [note], [253]
• Duclaux, [119], [137], [184], [324]
• Dufour, [297]
• Duguet, [264]
• Duhem, [62], [264], [265]
• Dulong, [126]
• Dumas, [115], [149], [151]-2
• Epicurus, [35], [146]
• Ehrlich, [176]
• Errera, [52], [193]-4, [237], [153], [295], [302] et seq.
• Euclid, v.
• Faye, [260]
• Feuchterslehen, [358]
• Flemming, [161]
• Flourens, [20]-1, [152], [208], [306], [358]
• Fouillée, [242]
• Fromann, [161]
• Fuerth, [183]
• Galen, [25], [55], [143]
• Galeotti, [180]
• Galileo, [73], [91], [98], [197], [241], [260]
• Gardair, [19], [248]
• Gautier, A., [3], [32], [36], [39], [176], [233], [324]
• Gernez, [237], [288], [295] et seq.
• Glisson, [27]
• Goethe, [170], [312]
• Gouy, [266], [268]
• Grimaud, [19]
• Gruber, [165], [206], [257]
• Guignard, [161]
• Guillaume, [237], [262], [264], [271], [277]
• Guillemin, [237]
• Guldberg, [83]
• Harbermann, [183]
• Haeckel, [3], [46], [164], [167], [246], [251]
• Hales, [43]
• Haller, [27]
• Hamilton, Sir W. Rowan, [67]
• Hammarsten, [180]
• Hartmann, [276], [346]
• Harvey, [43], [160]
• Haüy, [282]
• Hegel, [170], [331]
• Heidenhain, [3], [29], [30]-1
• Heitzmann, [161]
• Helmholtz, [44], [56], [58], [67], [90], [97], [99], [252]
• Helmont, van, [3], [21], [26], [33], [146], [250]
• Henninger, [302]
• Heraclitus, [34]
• Hertwig, [167]
• Hertz, [88]
• Hess, [91], [98]
• Hippocrates, [146]
• Hirn, [126]
• His, [46]
• Hlasitwetz, [183]
• Holbach, d’, [354]
• Hoogewerf, [303]
• Hopkinson, [271]
• Humboldt, W. von, [354]
• Ingenhousz, [115]
• Izolet, [247]
• Joule, [53] note, [90]-1, [93], [133] et seq., [143], [152]
• Kant, [312], [319]
• Kaup, [213]
• Kaufmann, [126]
• Kelvin, Lord, [63], [67], [90], [92], [251]-2, [264];
• and the idea of energy, [66]
• Kepler, [29], [241]
• Klemm, [323]
• Koelliker, [160]
• Kossel, [174], [179], [130]-1, [136] et seq.
• Kuhne, [45]
• Kuhm, [216]
• Kuliabko, [23], [311]
• Kunstler, [157], [161]-2, [175]
• Kuppfer, [161]
• Lammettrie, [147]
• Lamarck, [46]
• Lapparent, [284]
• Lapicque, [140], [145]
• Langley, [216]
• Laplace, [43], [63], [126], [260]
• Laulanié, [103]
• Laurie, [271]
• La Rochefoucauld, [356]
• Lavoisier, [3], [28], [30], [36], [43], [65], [117], [121], [126], [128], [143], [176], [296]
• Lea, [216]
• Le Châtelier, [85], [92]
• Lechatelier, H. and A., [271]
• Lecocq de Boisbaudran, [295]
• Leeuwenhoek, [232]
• Lefèvre, [126]
• Legallois, [21]
• Leydig, [161]-2
• Liebermeister, [136]
• Liebig, [26], [53] note, [117]
• Lilienfeld, [179], [247]
• Locke, [23]
• Lodge, [271]
• Loeb, [43], [167], [327], [341]
• Loew, [324]
• Loisel, [339], [341]
• Lorry, [21]
• Longet, [52]
• Lowitz, [297]
• Loye, [192]
• Ludwig, [44], [215]
• Mach, [41], [62]
• Magendie, [43], [143]
• Magy, [37]
• Malgaigne, [153]
• Mallard, [284]
• Marinesco, [231], [328]
• Markel, [349]
• Maspero, [3], [234]
• Matthiesson, [271]
• Maupas, [337]
• Maxwell, [88]
• Mayer, R., [56], [58], [89], [90], [97], [99], [101]
• Mering, von, [133], [136]
• Metchnikoff, [327] et seq.
• Miescher, [174], [179]
• Milne-Edwards, [152], [195]
• Minot, [341]
• Miura, [137]
• Mori, [145]
• Müller, [20], [27], [341]
• Murato, [45]
• Naegeli, [168]
• Needham, [46]
• Newton, [58] [note], [70], [90]-1, [93]
• Noorden, van, [129], [137], [140], [210]
• Nussbaum, [165], [206], [215], [217]
• Obermeyer, [271]
• Osmond, [237], [271]
• Ostwald, [41], [62], [67], [85], [104], [237], [258], [289], [295] et seq.
• Paracelsus, [26], [146], [312]
• Pascal, [74], [161]
• Pasteur, [53], [191], [222] et seq., [237], [250], [288], [346]
• Payen, [151]
• Persoz, [152]
• Petit, [180]
• Pettenkofer, [210]
• Pfeffer, [175], [193]
• Pflüger, [12], [56], [135], [144], [176], [210], [213]
• Philpotts, [46]
• Pictet, [233]
• Pitcairn, [35]
• Plato, [35], [307]
• Plosz, [180]
• Poincaré, [62]
• Poisson, [63]
• Preyer, [192], [252] et seq.
• Priestley, [115]
• Ptolemy, v.
• Pythagoras, [18]
• Rauber, [237], [288]
• Raulin, [191]
• Regnault, [117]
• Reinke, [3], [32]
• Renan, [240]
• Ribbert, [208]
• Ribot, [247]
• Riche, [271]
• Richet, [50], [126], [140]
• Richter, [252]
• Rindfleisch, [4]
• Roberts-Austen, [237], [271]-2
• Robin, [62], [177]
• Rosenthal, [126]
• Rouvier, [160]
• Roux, [46], [165]
• Rubner, [129], [130], [140] et seq., [210]
• Rumford, [80]
• Sabatier, [242]
• Sachs, [161], [194]
• Salles-Guyon, [252]
• Sanderson, Burdon, [176]
• Scaliger, [241]
• Schleiden, [159]
• Schopenhauer, [346]
• Schwartz, [162]
• Schultze, [160], [326]
• Schultzenberger, [174], [162] et seq.
• Secchi, [88]
• Seguin, [58] [note], [90]
• Senebier, [115]
• Siven, [145]
• Spallanzani, [43], [233]
• Spencer, Herbert, [46], [247], [354], [358]
• Spring, [272]
• Stahl, [3], [9], [12], [35], [146]
• Stammreich, [137]
• Stead, [237]
• Stohmann, [129], [130], [140]
• Strassburger, [161], [350]
• Swann, [159]
• Swift, [262]
• Tait, [53] note, [66]
• Tammann, [237], [253], [295] et seq.
• Thales, [34]
• Thomson, Sir J. J., [279]
• Tissot, [12]
• Tomlinson, [264]
• Trembley, [22], [206]
• Tsuboï, [145]
• Tylor, [8]
• Verworn, [206], [252], [257]
• Violette, [295]
• Virchow, [318], [326]
• Voit, [119], [133] et seq., [210]
• Vries, de, [46], [258], [355]
• Vulpian, [24]
• Waage, [83]
• Waller, [47], [206]
• Wallerant, [282]-3
• Warburg, [264]
• Watt, [76]
• Weismann, [46], [167], [336], [343]
• Wertheim, [264]
• Whitman, [46]
• Widersheim, [351]
• Wiedermann, [264]
• Wiesner, [167]
• Willis, [36], [147]
• Winternitz, [126]
• Yung, [233]
• Zuntz, [133], [136], [210]

INDEX OF SUBJECTS.

• Activity, functional and vital, [106] et seq., [217] et seq.
• Aerobia, [193]
• Age, old, Book v.
• Albumin, [178]
• Albuminoids, [178]
• Alcohol, [136]
• Alimentation, [116] et seq.
• Alloys, structure of, [273]
• Anærobia, [193]
• Animism, [6], [7], Chap. ii., passim
• Annealing, [275]
• Apposition, [291]
• Archeus, the, [25], [26], [33]
• Arginin, [187]
• Assimilation, law of functional, [110], [213]
• Atomicities, satisfied, [185]
• Atrophy, [326]
• Attraction, energy of position, [64]
• Balance, sheet, nutritive, [118]
• Beliefs, primitive, [239]
• Bioblasts, [253]
• Biophors, [167]
• Blas, the, [25], [33]
• Blood, lavage of, [192]
• Brain, and death, [315]
• Butylic ferments, [193]
• Butyric ferments, [193]
• Calorie, [125] [note]
• Calorimeter, ice, [126];
• bomb, [128]
• Caprice, of Nature, [45]
• Cause, final, [45]
• Cells, [48], [147];
• somatic and sexual, [343]
• Cellular theory, [158] et seq.
• Centrosome, [163]
• Chromosome, [165]
• Cicatrization, [287]
• Complex, homogeneity of the, [245]
• Conductibility, [26]
• Consciousness, in brute bodies, [244] et seq.
• Continuity, principle of, [242], [247]
• Contractility, [26]
• Contraction, energy of static and dynamic, [75]
• Conservation, of energy, [58];
• of force, [58]
• Crystals, [200] et seq., [237] et seq., [281] et seq.
• Cytoplasm, [161] et seq.
• Death, apparent, [232];
• senescence of, [305] et seq.;
• cellular, [321] et seq.
• Decentralization, [24]
• Degeneration, [326]
• Destruction, functional, [106];
• organic, [211];
• of living matter, [213]
• Determinism, [49]
• Digestion, of plants and animals, [152] et seq.
• Direction, idea of, [16]
• Dominants, [33], [39], [45]
• Dyne, the, [71]
• Effort, of force, [71]
• Electrolysis, [272]
• Energetics, [39], [56];
• laws of biological, [105] et seq., [229];
• alimentary, [116] et seq.
• Energy, [37], Book ii., passim;
• origin of idea of, [57];
• theory of, [62];
• the only objective reality, [64]-5;
• and kinetic conception, [67];
• mechanical, [69], [73];
• of contraction, [75];
• kinetic, [76], [83];
• potential, [76], [83];
• virtual, [77];
• of motion and position, [79];
• thermal, and its measurements, [80]-2;
• chemical, and its measurements, [81]-2;
• chemical and potential, [83];
• materialization of, [84];
• transformations of, [85] et seq.;
• luminous, [86] et seq.;
• conservation of, [90] et seq.;
• capacity of conversion of, [93];
• in biology, [97];
• in living beings, [99] et seq.;
• physical, [99] et seq.;
• vital, [99] et seq.
• Ether, [89]
• Equivalence, law of, [91]
• Excitability, [26]-7
• Fatigue, of metals, [264]
• Ferments, butylic and butyric, [193]
• Filiation, [250]
• Finalism, [43]
• Food, a source of energy, [118] et seq.;
• thermogenic and biothermogenic types of, [131] et seq.;
• dynamogenic type of, [143];
• nitrogenous, [143];
• of animals and plants, [153] et seq.
• Force, directive, [16] et seq., [32], [39], [48];
• vital, [45];
• an anthromorphic notion, [71];
• and work, [74];
• measurement of, [71];
• plastic, [143];
• plastic and morphoplastic forces, [208]
• Form, specific, [199] et seq., [281]
• Fruits, acids of, [136]
• Gemmules, [167], [258]
• Generation, spontaneous, [249] et seq., [294] et seq.
• Globulin, [178]
• Glycerine, crystals of, [302]
• Glycogen, [108], [153] et seq.
• Gramme, [71]
• Heat, a mode of motion, [61];
• rôle of animal heat, [122];
• mechanical equivalent of, [81];
• an excretum, [114];
• a degraded form of energy, [88];
• converted into work, [92]
• Heterogeneity, [38], [61]
• Histones, [179], [182] et seq.
• Horse-power, [75]
• Hyaloplasm, [161]
• Iatro-chemistry and mechanics, [34]-5
• Idioblasts, [167]
• Infusoria, death of, [337]
• Instability, [188] et seq.
• Instinct, of life and death, [345] et seq.
• Intussusception, [291]
• Invariant, mass the first, [63]
• Irreversibility, of vital energies, [104]
• Irritability, [27], [196] et seq.
• Isodynamism, [142]
• Isomorphism, [286]
• Ka, the, [8]
• Kilogrammetre, [72], [75];
• per second, [75]
• Kilowatt, [76]
• Kinetic theory, [39], [62]
• Knot, the vital, [21]
• Leucines, [183]
• Leucites, [163]
• Life, defined, [28];
• latent, [233];
• physico-chemical theory of, [36];
• elementary, [321]
• Linin, [163]
• Mass, and matter, [63]
• Materialism, [34]
• Matter, [37], [60], [62];
• and mass, [63];
• two kinds of, [63];
• life of, [236] et seq.;
• brute and living, [249] et seq.;
• organization and constitution of, [255] et seq.;
• defined as extension, [64];
• conservation of, [65]
• “Memory,” of metals, etc., [265]
• Merotomy, [47]
• Metabolism, [117]
• Metazoa, evolution and death of, [340] et seq.
• Meteoric cosmozoa, [252]
• Micellar theory, [166] et seq.
• Microcosms, [163]
• Micro-organisms, culture of, [297]
• Mitomes, [169]
• Mobility of stars, [260]
• Modality, twofold, of soul, [12]
• Molecules, organic, [254]
• Monism, [34], Chap. iv. passim, [63]
• Montpellier, the school of, [35]
• Motion, cause of, [71];
• kinetic conception of molecular, [263]
• Morphogenesis, idea of, [46]
• Movements, internal of bodies, [262];
• Brownian, [266] et seq.
• Mutability, [80], [188] et seq.;
• of living matter, [259] et seq.;
• of brute bodies, [259] et seq.
• Necrobiosis, [326]
• Neo-vitalism, [15], [29], [32]
• Neurility, [27]
• Nickel, steels, [277]
• Nisus formativus, [46]
• Nous, the, [18], [239]
• Nucleins, [179], [180] et seq.
• Nucleo-albuminoids, [178];
• -proteids, [177] et seq.
• Nucleus, [163] et seq.;
• hexonic, [186]
• Nutrition, directed, [205], [209] et seq., [227] et seq., [290] et seq.
• Organogenesis, [282]
• Organs, organization of, [314];
• death of, [315];
• perfect, [319]
• Pangenes, [167]
• Panspermia, [252]
• Parameter, mass the mechanical, [63]
• Phenomena, vital, [44], [51], [189];
• modes of motion, [61]
• Photography, colour, [277]
• Physiology, general, [56];
• cellular, [56]
• Plants, and immortality, [330]
• Plasomes, [167]
• Plurivitalism, [25]
• Power, [70], [75]
• Principle, vital, [15] et seq.
• Properties, vital, [25], [103]
• Proteids, [178]
• Protoplasm, [109] et seq., [175] et seq., [231] et seq.;
• life in crushed, [257] et seq.
• Protozoa, immortality of, [352] et seq.
• Psyche, [239]
• Pyrozoa, [253]
• Regeneration, normal, [205];
• accidental, [206]
• Reparation, mechanism of, [288]
• Repose, functional, [109], [217] et seq.
• Reserve stuff, [106] et seq., [212], [230] et seq.
• Rachidian, soul, [12]
• Senescence, [305] et seq.
• Sensibility, in brute bodies, [244]
• Solidarity, of anatomical elements, humoral and nervous, [317]
• Soul, the, [7] et seq.
• Space, [69]
• Specificity, vital, [48]
• Spireme, [165]
• Spongioplasm, [162]
• States, initial and final, [128]
• Swelling, [167]
• Synthesis, organizing, [109]
• Tagmata, [169], [175]
• Teleology, [43]
• Tetanus, bacteria of, [193]
• Thermogenesis, [140]
• Time, [69]
• Tonus, muscular, [119]
• Trees, and immortality, [330] et seq.
• Tripod, vital, [2], [314]
• Turgescence, [168]
• Universe, the, mechanical explanation of, [60];
• the end of the, [95]
• Unity, chemical, of living beings, [173] et seq., [321];
• morphological, [321]
• Vacuoles, [113]
• Vibrion, septic, [193]
• Vis viva, [73]
• Vital properties, theory of, [29] et seq.
• Vitalism, [6], [7], Chap. iii. passim;
• physico-chemical, [29]
• Vitality, phenomena of, [216]
• Vortex, vital, [105], [120], [229] et seq.
• Vulcans, [26]-7
• Weight, energy of position, [64];
• conservation of, [65];
• movement under action of, [271] et seq.
• Work, [70], [72];
• and force, [74], [77];
• converted into heat, [92];
• physiological, [103]
• Xanthic bases, [180]
• Zones, metastable and labile, [301]

THE WALTER SCOTT PUBLISHING COMPANY, LTD., FELLING-ON-TYNE.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] In a thesis presented in 1742 at Montpellier, Bordeu, then only twenty years of age, made game of the tasks imposed by animists on the Soul, “which has to moisten the lips when required;” or, “whose anger produces the symptoms of certain diseases;” or again, “which is prevented by the consequences of original sin from guiding and directing the body.”