The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-12-21

has shown, by most interesting series
Of studies, that in a normal human
life there is a gradual succession OF
instincts. One of the most important
of these is what may be called the
instinct of life. the sense of the value
of life. This is almost absent in the
young, and grows slowly as maturity
is reached. Persons who die, or who
become aged in early middle life may
never acquire it. Pessimism, the ex-
preston of the absence of the sense
of life, is a phase of youth Many
Of the best known pessimists, such as
Schopenhauer. have lived to survive
their pessimism; and perhaps a ma
jority OF great men-Goethe for in
stance-pass through pessimism to a
convinced optimism. In Metchnfkoff' 3
opinion. it is of the utmost Importance
that this truth should be realized, and
that those who are in the phase of
pessimism should understand its terra
poraTy nature,
THE INSTINCT Of DEATH.
Still more interesting is the relation
of ''orthobfosis' to death. At the pres
ent time. death comes in the vast
majority of cases by some accident Of
disease or degeneration. and cannot be
regarded as in any way natural. We
have as yet almost no information as
to what would be the natural limit Of
human life. but it may be set down
as, at the least, considerably more
than century AS 1t nearly always
comes too soon, and as the result of
morbid processes. we are ignorant as
to what natural death would be.
Metchnikoff has collected information
from few rare cases which leads him
to suppose that If 1t came in its proper
season. death would be as welcome as
any other normal phase of the cycle
of life. In a tremendously developed
life. the sexual instinct would appear
al sexual maturity. and not before that
time. AS life went on, the sense OF
life, or instinct of life. would grow
stronger and stronger. but in the end
would be replaced by what Metchni-
koff calls the instinct of death. This
would come not as the wish to be
free from pain, but as a gentle ac-
quiescence Of the mind and the emo
tons in the natural processes of the
body
Tt is doubtful if truly natural death
ever does occur among human beings.
and there is no direct evidence as to
it's cause. It is practically certain
that it is not the result, as has been
supposed, of a failure in the power
of the constituent cells of the body TO
grow and reproduce. The most prob
able theory is that 1t is the result OF
a gradual accumulation within the
body of narcotic by-products of cell
activity, and that it Is directly COM
parable with sleep. and that the last
sleep would be received as gratefully
by the permanently tired body as tenn
porary sleep is received by the tenn
porarily. tired body. For such a con-
dition to be attained it is necessary
that life should be stretched out to It's
due limit, and not shortened by ''acci-
dents Of disease or habit.
The reproach has been brought
against the philosophy Of Metchnikofn
that it is purely selfish, considering the
individual rather than the race. 1t
seems obvious, however. that the race.
apart from the individuals of which 1t
is composed, is mere abstraction. and
that that race is most likely to survive
and develop further which contains
py, and active individuals. Moreover
Metchnikoff shows that as the scale OF
animal life is considered in ascending
series, the importance OF the individual
increases. Among single-celied ami
mails, when a colony is formed, the
components are absolutely merged in
the whole. In various kinds of polyp
colonies, the constituent individuals be-
come specialized organs of the whole,
losing their own integrity. Among
colonial insects, although no physical
link binds the units into the whole, the
different individuals are incomplete;
some like the drones and queen bees.
are useless except for reproduction;
others, like worker bees. being. sterile
Among vertebrates. no such loss of II
ENz