The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1921-09-14
WHY DO WE DIE?
o.. ASKED AND ANSWERED
complexity of Mans Makeup Cause
Of Mortality, According To
Scientist

Ouly DeCduSS we are 81 SoIApAS-
This is the latest answer of scienc
to this age-old question, according
an editorial writer in The Journal Q
the American Medical Associatio
(Chicago.) It has long been believe
by biologists that death is not due t
any natural property of the protc
,plasm that makes upour bodily cells
Primitive cellular organisms that'pro
pagate by division may thus live in
5 definitely. The higher organisms, "
are. told, die because their structur'
is a. complicated one. There is yer!
delicate state of balance, and it il
I. easy to disturb it 50 that the whole
: structure fails. This is the price tha'
we pay for the multiplicity of oul
functions. Would you rather be 8
protozoon and live forever; or mar
and. dies This is, in effect, the alter
native that nature holds out to U.s.
Most of US will probably be disposed
to be glad that we are what we are,
even if our enjoyment Of the multi
Z tude of aptitudes and abilities with
which nature has endowed US is to
be brief. Writes the editor:
Biologists have pointed out that
the longevity of man is in sense
determined not only by the innate
constitutional properties Of the pro-
toplasm Of his living tissues but also
by the possible appearance of adverse
environmental conditions. The latter
are to. considerable extent controll-
able; they can be averted or render
ed less. frequent by many precautions
such as form part of the dictates of
modern preventive medicine and per-
sonal hygiene. .,.. ]. a.. ....
".By improving the environment of
the individual and limiting the likeli-
hood of detrimental forces being
brought into play against him, it is
not unlikely that the average expec-
,tation of life may continue to be in
creased.
"This possibility rests on the as
sumption, however, that the inherent
capacity Of ;protoplasm to grow and
be restored is not self-limited. If SEN
escence and death are necessary at
tributes of living matter, even ideal
conditions of existence will sooner
or later be without avail. Weissmann
long ago concluded that originally
protoplasm' possest the property of
potential Immortality Exprest 9th
erwise, the living matter was assum-
ed to be capable of reproducing it.
self indefinitely, if accidents, disease,
etc., are barred.
y1Others have argued that some
sort, Of contribution from other pro-
toplasm, as in population or conjuga-
tipn, is indispensable to the contin-
uity of life The elaborate studies of
Woodruff have shown, however, that
this is not necessarily the case. He
has succeeded in maintaining a cul-
ture of Paramecium through repro
duction by mere division of its pro-
toplasm without conjugation for
more than thirteen and one-half
years, during which time more than |
s, 400 generations were thus attained.
Hence we may conclude with Wood
ruff that under a favorable environ
ment the protoplasm of single, cell
may be self-suficient to reproduce
itself indefinitely. The long-continued
growth Of the tissue cultures main
tanned by Carrel and his associates
at The Rockefeller Institute point to
a similar conclusion for certain types
of mammalian cells.
ut will then be asked why natural
death is so inevitable in the higher
ITO this question Pearl has found
an answer in the complexity of these
forms of, life-in the differentiation
of structure and function in the body
1t is, to quote Pearl, a complex ag-
gregate of cells and tissues, all mu-
tually dependent on one another and
in delicate state of adjustment and
balance. If one organ for any acci-
dental reason, whether internal or
external, fails to function normally
it upsets~this delicate balance, and