The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1890-04-25
GENESIS OF DEATH.
Completely of Organization Fatal to the
PerpetuatiOn of the Organism.

PerpetuatiOn of the Organism.
From the dawn of life the structures
best adapted to surrounding conditions
have been victors; whatever features
have proved useful have been seized up-
on by natural selection and secured
dominance. The enormous mass of the
lower forms have persisted to this day,
because the balance established between
them and their surroundings has re-
manned unaltered. But wherever the
balance between living things and their
surroundings has been disturbed new
demands have been made upon them, to
which they responded or, failing that re-
Spouse, persisted. Hence it is in the
first complexity of structure, the first
departure from simplicity, that the seeds
of death were sown. For that death be-
comes necessity. Sc far as it's occur
renee by natural causes is concerned,
we know that as organisms get older
although this applies more to animals
than to plants, in which the cells, as
they become liquified or converted into
wood, are overlaid with new cells) their
power of work and of renewal is lessened
l. III
tissues are worn by continual use; the
waste exceeds the repair, and death ulti-
mately ensues, because WORKOUT It's
sue can not forever renew itself, and be-
cause capacity for increase by means
of cell division is not everlasting, but
finite" Why there should be this limit
to cell division we can not say, but it is
clear that with the notifications of or
gans according to the work which they
discharge there results subtler struc-
ture which is less easy to repair and is
shorter of duration. The one-celled or
ganisms have found salvation in sim
plicity. We are, therefore, driven to
the conclusion that since there is, prima
facie, no reason why growth should be
limited or why function should come to
an end, death must have been brought
about by natural selection, which deter
mines survival or extinction from the
standpoint of utility alone. There
needs no showing that it is to the ad-
vantage OF the species that individuals
should die. Their Immortality would be
harmful all around; nay, impossible,
unless vigor remained unimpaired, and
the multiplication of offspring does not
overtake the means of subsistence. For
it is evident as Mr.. Russell Wallace
remarks in note which he has con-
tributed to DR.. Weismann's essay, "that
when one or more individuals have pro-
vided sufficient number of successors,
they themselves, as consumers of
nOurishment in a constantly increasing
degree, are an injury to those successors.
Natural selection, therefore, weeds them
out, and in many cases favors such races
as die almost Immediately after they
have left successors" as, e. g., among
the male bees, the drone perishing
while pairing, death being due to sud
den, nervous shock.-American An
alyst
Jupiter, Fla, can boast of the most
intelligent mule on record. The ami
NAL is twenty-one years old. Every
night he proceeds to the hfe-saving sta
ton. 1t is customary for the man on
watch to discharge his coston signal Ia
red IghT when vessels come too near
The beach. The mule has Caught on,
to what this signal means So everv
night at eight o'clock the sailors four
legged friend proceeds to walk the
beach, and if vessel comes too near
the shore the mule, instead of coston
signal. sends forth a neigh that makes
night hidsous. Port or starboard your
helm, is the order on the ship, and
away sail the Jolly tars in perfect safety
Ind with grateful heart to the four
legged patrolman.