Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1883-03-17
Life In Death.

paradoxical "a the assertion seems to the
ordinary MUD mi nforlced as to the lates,
revelations Of the microscope. there is no
s4ch thing as death in the sense Of ex,inc-
ton q lite. Quantita,iveiy, no. far from
tive per centum Of the human body consists
o. mater that &C ualiy lives ; for, according
Il Prof Beale though sue b tissues as cuti-
Gle, muscular hbr G the tiuger nails, the hair .
the bone, tendona, etc, cortain minute /
wing particles they are not living mater |
IN the proper acception Of the term but
matter that has once passed through the I
condition Of lite, aud is on its way to resolu-
ION in 10 such products as ammonia carbon |
c acid urea, and SO on. At dlffere mt ages
there is some variation ln the comparative
quantities Of living and non-llving matter
i, The human body. the former being rela-
lively larger in infancy and youth than IN
manhood, and constantly diminishing as
age advances but, on the average, fully
nilttJ five per centum OF a living man Is
.lready dead and the process of death
that Is, Of the transformation Of protoplasm
lnto formed material or tissue-is one that
'orms the primary basis OF human life; SO
that the very process Of living in interlnked
to and interviewer and correlated with the
process Of death Every thought, every act
Of ldealon, every contraction OF muscle,
every impression of the senses, has its ma
teria equivalent in the death Of q given
quantity of matter that previously lived
| rne Lying matter of the body is composed
| Of units Of protoplasm styled cels-minute
originally spherical elements, each Of which
independently considered, is microscope
| oeirg, possessing an individual life history
OF it, own From forty to sixty days rep
resent probably the average lifetime OF
cell aud SO, in the progress OF human
| life from infancy 10 age many generations
Of ctll-l fe are embraced that IS to say,
sls with the final mystery. 1t is by groups
OF these little bodies, acting in concert con-
curing together to produce single result,
4 at the complex x tissues Of organic life are
created ana maiUlalHeU eacu VI tueae
myraids, of independ ntlives being mi
crosccpc laboratory for the evolution of the
tUmed materials of muscle, bone, brain,
nerve and membrane, by means OF which
our higher functions are executed. Now
and then cell or a group of cells, rebels
against lis life long slavery to the higher
purpose; and then comes a morbid develops
ment, such as cancer or tubercle.
1t Is now a settled tact OF physiology that
when man dies-that is, when the func
tional life is arrested-these little bodies
resumc their action rs independent centers
Of living matter, SO that quanttatvely
speaking, there is no less lite in the body
! is it lies in its coffin Habited for the grave
than here was when the eye still softened
with tenderness, the busy brain laid plans
for the future, or the active hand guided the
pen or the pencil and the collective amount
, Of microscope life in the form Of minute
/ organs ms that will be generated by the
) dead body in the progress Of decomposition
is an exact equivalent for the amount oi
living matter i: originally contained In
other words, death, in the sense of extinc
4, t.sn of litp, is a tc,ion Of our human senses
no, a reality The myraids Of cells and Gel
groups have ceased to concur in the execu
tior OF the higher purpose OF organic l'e
bu; they have not ceased to live, and now
like Saturn IN the old myth devour the
tissues they have created
Bat il death is in reality fiction, and .
the body in its cot~n is no less living thar
. was i, that, now departed ONCE controlled
i ana subordinate d these millions OF cell lives
i TO III. higher purposes OF a human hie
Il Prot truokes would say tha, il til,
:, ethereal rsychical body. viii its specla
;. group Of enc gies ,ranstuslng and ideaiizi1,
i the srosser physical body and he wou!t
!. point TO the fac, that human life is com
1 pcs, q of two lives interw ven together bu
o fuudaul entally distinct. IN evidence Of hi
n hypothesis There is thus in the deepes
c facts OF science induoitable evidence of th
: existence OF higher spiritual and psychi
= cal beng inter~oyen with our phy slca
Il ives, aed II this be SO death is bu, rans
y iation into higher and more beautiful form
Is Ct ite But 1t mus, not De forso ten lAa
'e the same argument that appIes 70 man al
!, plies 10 the at, or fiy ;ha, buz, is lt,l
% day andperishes Why not, What IS
o man more than ay, excep, IN the mate
4 OF avoirdupois ?-Franeis Geuy Fairfield
= Ph H.
A Pretty Substantial Ghost.