Chapter XII: Summary and Conclusions (1)

Disharmonies in the human constitution as the chief source of our
sorrows—Scientific data as to the origin and destiny of man—The goal
of human existence—Difficulties in the way of scientific investigation
of the problem—What is progress?—Difficulty of including the whole
human race in a scheme of progress and morality—The instincts of life
and of natural death—Application to real life of the doctrines set
forth in this book

Man, who is a descendant of some anthropoid ape, has inherited a constitution adapted to an environment very different from that which now surrounds him. Man is possessed of a brain very much more highly developed than that of his ancestors, and has entered on a new path in the evolution of the higher organisms. The sudden change in his natural conditions has brought about a large series of organic disharmonies which become more and more acutely felt as he becomes more intelligent and more sensitive. And thus there has arisen a number of sorrows which poor humanity has tried to relieve by all the means in its power. The disharmonies in the sexual functions have brought into existence attempted remedies of the strangest kind. The greatest disharmony of the constitution is that of the morbid nature of old age and the impossibility of reaching the instinct of natural death; this has produced childish and erroneous conceptions of the immortality of the soul and of the resurrection of the body, and many other strange doctrines that have been imposed upon us as revealed truth.

Human intelligence, in the course of its progressive evolution, has rebelled against these naïve palliatives. Finding the restoration of the much-desired harmony beyond its power, humanity became resigned to a passive fatalism, and believed even that the existence of man was a kind of bad joke, a _faux pas_ in the evolution of sentient organisms. Exact science, developing slowly, but surely, has at last tried to master the situation. Moving step by step, passing from the simple to the complex and from the particular to the general, science has established a set of truths which all the world must accept.

Humanity in its misery has put question after question to science, and has lost patience at the slowness of the advance of knowledge. It has declared that the answers already found by science are futile and of little interest. From time to time it has preferred to turn back, and to delude itself with the beautiful mirages offered by religions and systems of philosophy.

But science, confident of its methods, has quietly continued to work. Little by little, the answers to some of the questions that have been set have begun to appear. Whence do we come? science has been asked unceasingly. Is not man a being unlike other beings, made in the image of God, animated with the divine breath, and immortal? No, science answers. Man is a kind of miscarriage of an ape, endowed with profound intelligence and capable of great progress. His brain is the seat of processes that are very complex, and much higher than those of other animals, but these functions are incompatible with the existence of an immortal soul.

Whither are we going? That question above all other things has absorbed the attention of man, and naturally so, for it is less important to know our origin than to know our destiny. Does death mean absolute extinction, or is it a gateway leading to a new and everlasting life? And if the latter alternative be untrue, how are we to face inevitable death?

Science cannot admit the immortality of the conscious soul, for consciousness is a function of special elements in the body that certainly cannot live for ever. Immortality exists only for very low organisms that renew their lives by repeated divisions with complete regeneration, and that have no highly developed consciousness.

Death brings absolute extinction, and it seems unbearable because of the condition in which it surprises us. It comes before man has finished his physiological development, and when the instinct of life is still strong.

Ever since man has begun to look a little beyond his daily and immediate wants, he has asked if there be a goal for his life, and what that goal may be. As he has generally failed to find such a goal, he has gone the length of believing life to be a mere accident, and of thinking it idle to seek a goal. He has formed depressing and pessimistic conclusions. Humanity may be compared to a boy that has not yet acquired the sexual instinct, but has asked the meaning of the reproductive organs. As these organs play no part in the functions of his life, he might easily think their existence not only absolutely useless but absurd.

Man, because of the fundamental disharmonies in his constitution, does not develop normally. The earlier phases of his development are passed through with little trouble; but, after maturity, greater or lesser abnormality begins, and ends in old age and death that are premature and pathological. Is not the goal of existence the accomplishment of a complete and physiological cycle, in which occurs a normal old age ending in the loss of the instinct of life and the appearance of the instinct of death.

The pessimistic school has often spoken of death as the true goal of human life. Schopenhauer,[339] for instance, said: “Death must really be regarded as the true goal of life; when it comes it at once adjusts all that has been preparing in the course of life.” Baudelaire[340] has exactly the same idea in his verse:

“C’est la mort qui console, hélas! et qui fait vivre;
_C’est le but de la vie_, et c’est le seul espoir
Qui, comme un élixir, nous monte et nous enivre
Et nous donne le cœur de marcher jusqu’au soir.”

“Alas! it is death that comforts and gives us life; it is the goal of our days, it is our only hope that like a wine goes to our head and makes us drunk, and puts heart into us to journey on till the night.”

The normal end, coming after the appearance of the instinct of death, may truly be regarded as the ultimate goal of human existence. But before attaining it, a normal life must be lived: a life filled all through with the feeling that comes from the accomplishment of function. Knowledge of the true goal of life clears up the problem and shows us the right conduct of life. In my first chapter, I tried to lay before the reader a summary of the views that have been held as to right conduct. Ever since the attempt has been made to discover a rational basis of morality, human nature, regarded essentially as good, has been taken as that basis. Religions and systems of philosophy, on the other hand, which have tried to find another foundation for morality, have regarded human nature as vicious at the roots. Science has been able to tell us that man, the descendant of animals, has good and evil qualities in his nature, and that his life is made unhappy by the evil qualities. But the constitution of man is not immutable, and perhaps it may be changed for the better.

Morality should be based not on human nature in its existing vitiated condition, but on human nature, ideal, as it may be in the future. Before all things, it is necessary to try to amend the evolution of the human life, that is to say, to transform its disharmonies into harmonies (_Orthobiosis_). This task can be undertaken only by science, and to science the opportunity of accomplishing it must be given. However, even in the most civilised countries, science is far from being in this ideal condition. Obstacles lie in its way and retard its advance.

To make the human constitution better, it would be necessary to know it thoroughly. How can we try to transform to a normal and physiological condition old age, at present utterly pathological, unless we first understand the most intimate details of its mechanism? Deeply rooted prejudices make it very difficult to examine the organs of the aged dead. The difficulties surrounding post-mortem investigations are almost insurmountable. According to the regulations enforced in France, autopsies cannot be made until twenty-four hours after death. An autopsy cannot be made except when the corpse has not been claimed by any relatives in the direct line, husband or wife, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces. If kinsmen put in no claim, co-operative societies may take possession of the corpse and oppose the holding of an examination. Even when an examination has been permitted, it must extend only to “the ascertaining of exact facts, and this must be taken as excluding the mutilation of the corpse by the removal of any organ or portion of the anatomy, however interesting scientifically such material might be.” (Circular of the Director of “Assistance publique,” January 20, 1900.[341]) It is easy to see that such regulations make extremely difficult the investigation of senile degeneration, and the search for means of preventing it, especially by the use of serums obtained after injecting emulsions of human organs. These difficulties in reality arise from the prejudice in favour of the existence of a life beyond the grave and a resurrection of the body.

Almost similar difficulties stand in the way of obtaining the bodies of old animals. Their owners prefer to keep animals, after they are useless, until they die, and to bury the bodies instead of devoting them to the scientific investigation that is so important to humanity.

As soon as we come to believe that the solution of the problems of human happiness will come not from religions nor from systems of metaphysical philosophy, but from exact science alone, the obstacles to progress will be removed. That scientific methods will redress the disharmonies of the human constitution is the more probable inasmuch as the old age of human beings was more physiological, and their death more natural, in earlier times than they are to-day.

The study of the human constitution not only denotes the real goal of our existence, but indicates to us what is meant by true culture and real progress.

In earlier chapters, I have shown that philosophers have recognised the existence in man of a tendency to culture and progress. But what do they mean by these two words? Attempts have been made to define them as clearly as possible, and Herbert Spencer, the greatest of living philosophers, has devoted a special essay to the subject. He examined those phenomena that he regarded as progressive, first in the inorganic world, next, in the world of living things, and, finally, in humanity. He regards as progressive only the changes that tend to increase human happiness, and it is precisely on account of that tendency that he regards them as progressive. In order to define progressive phenomena Spencer thinks it necessary to make parallel studies of them in man and the animal world. He finds that progress is marked always by a transformation from the simple and uniform to the complex; and that it produces constant differentiation, in the evolution of the planetary world, in the embryonic development of the individual, and in the societies of men and animals. But differentiation is not a complete account of progress, for in the latter must be included the change of the indefinite into the definite. Spencer identifies progress with evolution, and his well-known definition of evolution is, that it is “an integration of matter and concomitant dissipation of motion; during which the matter passes from an indefinite, incoherent homogeneity to a definite, coherent heterogeneity; and during which the retained motion undergoes a parallel transformation.” Such a formula embraces too much, so that he is rather vague, especially when he applies it to human affairs. Differentiation in itself is not the whole of progress. It is necessary in each concrete case to inquire into its limits and modifications.

The application of his theory of progress and evolution led Spencer, in his investigation of the basis of morality, to define human progress as the tendency towards a life as full and as long as possible. By fulness he means complexity, if I interpret his argument correctly. Civilised life as compared with savage life, is a realisation of progress. Civilised man, according to Spencer, uses food in a better regulated fashion, in accordance with the call and degree of his appetite; the food is of better quality, it is freed from contamination, is much more varied and is better prepared. The same differentiation distinguishes the clothing, the homes and so forth of civilised man. According to Spencer, all such progress helps real happiness, that is to say the fulness and the prolongation of life.

It is easy to see, however, that such an interpretation of progress is inexact, like the conception of the goal of life associated with it. If the complication of the mode of life, which is so marked in modern civilisation, is really the best way of reaching happiness, there are no reasons to arrest the tendency in that direction. If, on the other hand, my view be correct, that true progress consists in the elimination of the disharmonies of human nature and in the cultivation of physiological old age followed by natural death, the conditions for realising progress would be different and very clear. The great complexity of life in modern civilisation is a sign of progress according to Spencer, but I do not agree with him. Spencer speaks of the variety and preparation of food. It is certain that this complexity militates against physiological old age, and that the simpler food of uncivilised races is better. I do not wish to write an essay on domestic hygiene, and I shall be content with saying that most of the delicate dishes provided in the homes, hotels, and restaurants of the rich, stimulate the organs of digestion and secretion in a harmful way. It would be true progress to abandon modern cuisine and to go back to the simple dishes of our ancestors. One of the conditions that enabled the Jews of the earlier Biblical times to live longer than civilised people, was, beyond all doubt, the greater simplicity of their diet. True hygiene, which is in open disagreement with the elaborated art of cookery, is also opposed to the differentiation of modern dress and dwellings. Progress thus would consist in simplifying many sides of the lives of civilised people.

The luxury which has done so much harm to mankind, and which would be included in the formula, “passage from indefinite homogeneity to definite heterogeneity,” is founded not on a general law of evolution of the whole universe, but on a particular conception of life, quite different from mine according to which the rectifying of the abnormal human cycle to a normal cycle is the true goal of life.

Perhaps one of the oldest conceptions of life that has tended to luxury is to be found in the book of Ecclesiastes. Having reached the conclusion: “For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow” (i. 18), and having said: “Then I beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun: because though a man labour to seek it out, yet he shall not find it, yea farther; though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it.”[342] Solomon laid down the rules of life as follows: “Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart: for God now accepteth thy works.”

“Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no ointment.”

“Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity; for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labour which thou takest under the sun.”

“Whatsoever thy hand findest to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.”[343]

The wisdom of Solomon was to enjoy this life as much as possible, since man is unable to solve the problem of the goal of life. His precepts have been taken as a guide, and have led to an organisation of life that could only become more and more epicurean.

As soon as the goal of life has been seen clearly, luxury ceases to be true happiness as it hinders the making perfect of the normal cycle of human life. Young people, instead of abandoning themselves to all the pleasures because they have nothing before them but a sad prospect of morbid old age and death, ought to make ready for physiological old age and natural death. The apprenticeship certainly will be long. In our time the years of study already last much longer than occurred even a century ago. As the body of knowledge grows greater, the time to acquire it will become prolonged, but this period of preparation will serve as the prelude to ripe maturity and ideal old age.

Old age is repulsive at present, because it is an old age devoid of its true meaning, full of egoism, narrowness of view, incapacity and malignancy. The physiological old age of the future assuredly will be very different. In the societies of animals, especially as they occur among insects, the members show a high degree of differentiation. Some individuals are adapted to the reproductive functions, while others are sterile and are fitted for the care of the young and to supply the wants of the community. This differentiation, which is of social value, has arisen independently in different groups. Thus, in the societies of bees and ants the workers are sterile females, while in the case of termites, individuals of both sexes may be sterile. In the human race, evolution is following another path. There is no sign of the appearance of a sterile class; but, as the life of man is longer than that of insects, it is divided into two periods, a reproductive period and a sterile period. Old age, at present practically a useless burden on the community, will become a period of work valuable to the community. As the old man will no longer be subject to loss of memory or to intellectual weakness, he will be able to apply his great experience to the most complicated and the most delicate parts of the social life.

Young men are usually very bad politicians, and in countries where they take a large share in public affairs they do much harm because they are without the necessary practical knowledge. Their incapacity is clearly shown by the great changes in their political views as they advance in years and gain experience. In the future, old men will have charge of all complex and difficult social functions. Thus, vast improvements will be made in politics and in justice, which at present are defective because of their insufficient foundations.

As soon as every one has recognised the true goal of human life, and has assumed, as the ideal, the realisation of the normal cycle of life, a real guide to life will have been found. We shall know at least whither we are going, and as yet we are ignorant of that. We have wished to make life better, but we have not known how or for whom to make the attempt. Formerly it was assumed that, in the future, love would spread and become generalised. Family love had spread to the tribe and then had been transformed to patriotism; it was held that no obstacle stood in the way of its embracing all humanity. Such an idea was prevalent in the eighteenth century, and became a common ground of all systems of philosophy, morality and politics. But, since means of communication have been improved so vastly and since the most distant voyages are within the power of almost every one, the vague notion of “humanity” has been replaced by exact knowledge of the native savages in many parts of the earth. We have come to disbelieve in “humanity” in the old sense of the word, so great is the difference between savage and civilised peoples. And many modern theories have rejected the inclusion of the lower races in the sentiment of humanity. In the fifth chapter, I quoted the view of the moralist, Sutherland, on the advantages that have come about from the English seizure of the forests that belonged to the natives of Australia. Moreover, it is well known that a profound hatred exists between white men and black men in several parts of the earth, notably in America and the Antilles. Such instances could be multiplied.

How then are we to emerge from this difficulty? At what point is the love of the future to be stayed, if it cannot spread to all humanity?

In a recently published treatise on natural philosophy, Ostwald,[344] a very distinguished German physical chemist, has discussed this question. He calls good “the actions that made easier the existence of other men.” But to what other men are we to apply this rule? “What is the size of the circle of altruistic love,” asked Ostwald. “The general feeling,” he said, “is that it should cover the family and the nation. The feeling that it should cover all humanity appears to most of us as a theoretical demand rather than something practical. And thus have not most of us the tendency to limit our altruistic actions much more in the case of men beneath us than in the case of our social comrades (Stadesgenossen)?” According to this formula, moral action would not stretch beyond our compatriots, and humanity as a whole would be excluded from it.

Here we have entered on a problem relating to the principles of normal life. In former times, religion was the chief bond among men. Later on, religion gave way to patriotism, which in default of anything better still holds its place. Community of language unites the individuals of a nation, but the advance of civilisation has undermined the foundation of that source of differentiation. Naturally, when a number of men spoke only one and the same language, great solidarity was the result, as ideas spread only by language. But such a monoglottism is not the end of human progress. As means of communication have improved, the nations have been brought in contact with each other. The knowledge of foreign languages is an elementary necessity of modern life. And so the bonds of nationality certainly will become looser, in this respect following the bonds of family. The dislike that we have to people whose language we do not understand, becomes changed into a feeling of unity with them as soon as we can understand them. In that respect an active development is in progress, and we shall have to seek out some new principle on which to base international solidarity. A good deal has been made of the possession by different nations of the same culture, but the vagueness of the phrase has not been realised. Recognition of the true goal of life and of science as the only means by which that goal may be attained would form an ideal on which men might unite; they would group themselves around that, as in former days men were held together by religion.

I think it extremely probable that the scientific study of old age and of death, two branches of science that may be called _gerontology_ and _thanatology_, will bring about great modifications in the course of the last period of life. All that we know on these subjects confirms my view. But will it lead to the development of an instinct of death? That instinct lies deep in the roots of the human constitution? Will the means be found to bring it to the surface? Has not the enormous period during which it has remained latent led to its atrophy? The science of the future alone can answer that question. But the persistence of organs and structures that are extremely ancient, as for instance, the survival of the mammary glands in males and of the vermiform appendage in anthropoid apes and man, gives us the hope that the instinct of natural death may emerge from its latent condition when old age has become a normal process.

The mammary glands of males are functionless rudiments. They must be interpreted as vestiges of organs that were more highly developed in remote ancestors among which both sexes gave milk to nourish the young. This function exists in a latent condition in the males of living mammals. Extremely rare cases have existed in which males possessed large glands secreting enough milk to feed the young. These males, it is true, had the genital organs either very badly developed or in a condition approaching hermaphroditism.[345] But in other authentic cases (perfectly developed) he-goats and rams have been known to provide milk in considerable quantities, whilst married men have suckled children with milk secreted by unusually developed glands. It is stated that the secretion of milk can be excited by stimulation of the nipples.[346] Such examples of the reappearance of a latent property that has been lost for untold ages are extremely important.

Probably actual cases of the instinct of natural death in man are as rare as instances of the secretion of milk by males. But favouring circumstances and some education of the instinct of death would probably reawaken it and develop it fully. There is much work to be done before so great an object can be achieved. But it is the peculiar feature of science to be eager for much labour, while religions and systems of metaphysical philosophy are content with passive fatalism and silent resignation. The mere hope of being able to solve the great problems of humanity in the more or less distant future brings much satisfaction. When Tolstoi, agonised by the impossibility of solving the great problems, and haunted by the fear of death, asked if the love of our children is not able to sooth our souls, he found that such a hope was vain. “What is the good,” he said, “of rearing children who will soon find themselves in the same difficult position as their parents?” “Why should they live? why should I love them and protect them and foster them? Is it that they may come to the same despair as I am in myself or else grow imbecile? As I love them, I do not wish to hide the truth from them, for each step in knowledge will lead them nearer to it. But the truth is—death.” I can understand that many persons would abstain from having children if they had come to these pessimistic conclusions.

The point of view that I have exposed in this book will make life more possible. Our generation has no chance of attaining physiological old age and normal death; but it may take real consolation from the thought that those who are now young may advance several steps in that direction. It may reflect that each succeeding generation will get closer and closer to the solution and that true happiness one day will be reached by mankind.

The slow advance to happiness will demand many sacrifices. Already, men of science sacrifice their health and sometimes their life to reach the solution of some important problem, as for instance, to clear up a medical question, and so be ready to heal or to save the lives of their fellows.

Before it is possible to reach the goal, mankind must be persuaded that science is all-powerful and that the deeply rooted existing superstitions are pernicious. It will be necessary to reform many customs and many institutions that now seem to rest on enduring foundations. The abandonment of much that is habitual and a revolution in the mode of education will require long and painful effort.

Definition of the goal of human existence will bring great precision to the principles of morality. True policy will have to be reared on new foundations. The politics of to-day are in the condition in which medicine still remained in days long past. In the old days any one was allowed to practise medicine, because there was no medical science and nothing was exact. Even at the present time, among less civilised people, any old woman is allowed to be a midwife. In some cases the mother attends the labour of her daughter, or (as for instance in a caste of natives in Malabar), it may be the mother-in-law who does the duty. Very often friends act as midwives. Among more civilised races, differentiation has taken place, and childbirths are attended by women of special training, who are midwives by diploma. In the case of nations still more civilised, the trained midwives are directed by obstetric physicians who have specialised in the conducting of labour. This high degree of differentiation has arisen with, and has itself aided, the progress of obstetric knowledge.

Politics, as they exist to-day, correspond to the early stages of obstetric practice. Every adult male is thought fit for exercising functions so difficult as those of an elector or a juryman. The only excuse for this condition is that political science is in its infancy. When sociology is more advanced, there will come about a differentiation like that in medicine. When that has taken place, old persons who have acquired great experience, and who because of their physiological constitutions have preserved all their faculties, will give most valuable services to the society of the future.

In the progress towards the real goal of life, men will lose much of their liberty, but will receive in exchange a new feeling of solidarity. As knowledge becomes more and more extensive and exact, freedom to neglect it will be more and more limited. Formerly any one was at liberty to teach that whales were fish; but now that it has been proved that whales are mammals, the mistake is not to be pardoned. Since medicine has become more of an exact science, the liberty of doctors has been restrained. Practitioners have already been sentenced for neglecting antisepsis and asepsis. Other forms of freedom, such as the freedom to neglect vaccination against smallpox, to spit on the floor, or to let dogs run loose without being muzzled, are worthy of savage days and will cease as civilisation advances.

On the other hand, the knowledge that the goal of human life can be attained only by the development of a high degree of solidarity amongst men will restrain actual egotism. The mere fact that the enjoyment of life according to the precepts of Solomon is opposed to the goal of human life will lessen luxury and the evil that comes from luxury. Conviction that science alone is able to redress the disharmonies of the human constitution will lead directly to the improvement of education and to the solidarity of mankind.

In progress towards the goal, nature will have to be consulted continuously. Already, in the case of the ephemerids, nature has produced a complete cycle of normal life ending in natural death. In the problem of his own fate, man must not be content with the gifts of nature; he must direct them by his own efforts. Just as he has been able to modify the nature of animals and plants, man must attempt to modify his own constitution, so as to readjust its disharmonies.

Breeders form a conception of the ideal result when they are about to attempt the production of some new variety which shall be pleasing esthetically and of service to man. Next, they study the existing individual variations in animals and plants on which they wish to work, and from which they will select with the minutest care. The ideal result must have some relation to the constitution of the organisms selected.

To modify the human constitution, it will be necessary first, to frame the ideal, and thereafter to set to work with all the resources of science.

If there can be formed an ideal able to unite men in a kind of religion of the future, this ideal must be founded on scientific principles. And if it be true, as has been asserted so often, that man can live by faith alone, the faith must be in the power of science.

INDEX

Abortion, artificial, 102, 103, 104, 105
as a religious ceremony, 164

Abstinence, Hartmann on sexual, 186

Aged, fear of death by, 131
murder of, by low races, 129, 130
treatment of, by modern society, 130

Albius, and artificial fertilisation, 20

Alcohol, and length of life, 259
as producer of sclerosis, 247

Altruism, limitations of, 296

Anæsthetics, influence of, compared with death, 159

Ancestor-worship, in China, 144
by Confucius, 145, 146
by Kaffirs, 150
quotations from Tylor on, 150

Animism, Tylor on, 138, 139, 140

_Anisoplia_ and light, 36

Annelids, vegetative reproduction of, 264

Annihilation, Büchner on, 220
Mailaender on, 188

Anthropoid apes, relationship to man, 55
social instincts of, 105

Ants, sexual disharmonies in, 34

Apes, compared with man, 42, 43

Appendage, vermiform, of man and apes, 44

Appendicitis, 66, 67
curable by modern science, 211
frequency of, 68

Apoplexy, phagocytes in, 239

Aristotle, on future life, 169
on pleasure, 6

Art, as affected by Christianity, 13
of the Greeks, 5

Arterial sclerosis, 247

Arteries, in old age, 237

Asceticism, 11

Atrophy, in old age, 238

Aurelius, Marcus, on death, 172,174, 262
on immortality, 172
Renan on, 174

Bacon, on failure of philosophy, 203
on lengthening life, 257

Bacteria of the intestines, 248, 249

Baobab-tree, age of, 266

Baudelaire, on death, 288

Baumann, on microbes in intestines, 251

Beetles, as food of wasp larvæ, 28, 29

Behring, von, on diphtheria, 211

Benares, Buddha’s sermon at, 154

Bert, Paul, on treatment of the aged, 130

Bible, old age in, 280

Bienstock, on harmful microbes, 256
on intestinal putrefaction, 255

Birds, absence of large intestine in, 252
age of, 232

Bischoff, on reproductive organs of apes, 81

Blindness, of infants, how prevented, 211

Blood, experiments on serum of, 52, 53

Blood corpuscles, specific sensibility of, 160

Boas, on cancer, 215

Bones, in old age, 237, 243

Bordet, on cytotoxic serums, 245

Botulism (“sausage-disease”), microbe of, 257

Brain, invasion of macrophags (figure), 241

Brunetière, on failure of science, 218

Buddha, contempt of women, 9
death of, 158
on disease, 154
on fear of death, 153
on immortality, 147

Buddha, on Nirvâna, 158
on old age, 154
on renunciation, 154
sermon at Benares, 154
on sorrows of existence, 205

Buddhism, and celibacy, 163
and fear of death, 119
and future life, 144
and immortality, 147, 148
and pessimism, 176, 177

Büchner, on Buddhism, 144
on morality, 107
on science, 219

Burial, of the old, alive, 152

Bütschli, on immortality of protozoa, 264

Byron, on fear of death, 177
on instinctive nature of fear of death, 128
on pessimism, 177

Cæcum, absence of, in birds, 253
of chimpanzee (figure), 45
and disease, 69
of man (figure), 44
of man and apes, compared, 44
of monkeys, 67

Çakya-Mouni, discovers death and disease, 119, 120

Calkins, on degeneration of infusoria, 232

Cancer, in alimentary canal, 73, 74
modern science and, 213, 214

Casimir, sacrifices at burial of, 141

Castration, Hartmann on, 183

_Catasetum_, disharmony in, 30

_Catasetum saccatum_ (figure), 24

Caterpillars and cocoons, 33

Celibacy, 12, 13, 163

Cellulose, digestion of, 252

Centenarians, Lankester on, 259
Lejoncourt on, 280

_Cerceris_, figure of, 28

_Chætogaster_, vegetative reproduction of (figure), 265

Chemotaxis, of sexual cells, 268

Childbirth, ages of women at, 93
pains of, 92

Chinese, ancestor-worship among, 144
belief in immortality, 145
Buddhists, views on future life, 149
laws against, 109

Christianity, and asceticism, 11
and continence, 163
influence of, on art, 13
and human nature, 7, 10

Chromophags, in blanching of hairs, 243

Cicero, on death, 169, 263
on future life, 169

Civilisation, and progress, 292

Cocoons, formation of, 33

Confucius, on ancestor-worship, 145, 146

Conjugation, and immortality, 264

Connective tissue, in old age, 236, 238

Consciousness, relation of to bodily functions, 160

Credé, on prevention of infantile blindness, 210

Cruger, on bees and orchids, 23

Cuisine, modern, evils of, 292

Cytotoxic serums, 245

Dahlmann, on meaning of Nirvâna, 156

Darwin, on fertilisation of orchids, 21, 22
on luminous insects, 37
on natural morality, 8
on origin of man, 40

Davids, Rhys, on meaning of Nirvâna, 156, 157

Death, Aurelius on, 262
Baudelaire on, 288
Cicero on, 169, 263
Guyau on, 195
Hartmann on, 184
Mailaender on, 188, 189, 190
Nordau on, 193
Plato on, 166, 167
Renan on, 195
Rückert on, 195
Schiller on, 195
Schopenhauer on, 179, 180, 181, 288
Seneca on, 171
Socrates on, 166, 167
Tokarsky on, 125
Tolstoi on, 122, 123, 299
Weismann on, 266
Zola on, 226
Philosophers on, 133
as annihilation, 162
compared with anæsthetics, 159
fear of, 115, 116, 153
feigning of, 114
in ephemerids, 275
instinct of, 281, 298
of Jewish patriarchs, 280, 281
natural, 266, 272, 277, 278, 279, 280, 299
in old age, 267
scientific study of, 262

Degeneration, senile, in infusoria, 231
in insects, 232
in vertebrates, 232

De Goncourt, quotations from, 121, 225

Deniker, a fœtus of man and ape, 47

Descartes, on lengthening life, 257

Desire of life, not to be ignored, 228

De Vries, on new species, 57

Diet, as regulated by religious, 162

Digestive system of man, 60

Disease, religious measures against, 164

Dogs, old age in, 233

D’Holbach, on natural morality, 7

Dragon-tree, of Oratava, 265

Dubois, on _Pithecanthropus_, 50

Du Bois Reymond, on agnosticism, 221

Dufour, on wasps, 27

Duhring, a blind optimist, 117

Duncan, Matthews, on childbirth, 94

Duration of life, 277, 278

Ebstein, on prolonging life, 258, 260

Ecclesiastes, on life, 293

Edgren, on arterial sclerosis, 247

Elixirs of life, 257

Emasculation, by Skoptsy, 9

Ephemerids (figures), 271, 273
absence of instinct of preservation in, 275
larvæ (figure), 272
sexual instincts of, 36
swarming of, 271

Epicureans, _summum bonum_ of, 6

Ewald, on microbes in intestines, 251, 252

Eye, of man, imperfections of, 78

Fabre, on caterpillars, 33
on fossorial wasps, 27, 28, 34

Faith, modern return to, 222
Tolstoi’s return to, 224
Zola’s attraction to, 225

Family instincts, 108
love, 295

Fauvel, on natural death, 280

Fear, of death, Rousseau on, 118
Tokarsky on, 125
Tolstoi on, 122, 123
in the aged, 118, 131
in Buddhism, 119
by a Christian minister, 124
by French writers, 121, 122, 132
instinctive nature of, 127, 128, 153
occasional absence of, 152

Feet, of man and apes, 43

Fichte, on future life, 176

Finot, on continuity of life, 197
on fear of death, 122, 126, 197

Flies, cause of death of, 274

Flora of the intestines, 248, 249, 251

Flourens, on limits of life, 277

Fœtus of gibbon, figure of, 46
of man, figure of, 47

Food, of ancestral man, 74
instinct of choice of, 75, 76

Fossorial wasps, 27, 34

Future life, Cicero on, 169
Fichte on, 176
Kant on, 176
Plato on, 168
belief in, 141, 149, 151, 159
opposed by reason, 161, 165
_see_ Immortality

General paralysis, symptoms of, 111

Gerontology, science of old age, 297

Glow-worms, 37

Goal of human life, 300, 301

Gods, of the Greeks, 4
of the Orientals, 4

Goncourt, E. de, quotations on fear of death, 121, 132

Gorillas, old age in, 233

Greek art, 5
philosophy, 5

Gruenbaum, on injection of serums, 54

Guinea-pigs, reared without microbes, 249

Guyau, on death, 195, 196;
on love, 196
on religion and death, 133
on failure of science, 222
on resignation, 199

Haeckel, on the “cellular soul,” 269
on future life, 221
on morality, 107

Hair, blanching of, 242 (figure), 243
and disease, 63
of embryo, 63

Hammerling, on optimism, 191, 192

“_Hamlet_,” quotation from, 227

Hands, of man and apes, 43

Happiness, Hartmann on, 186
Mailaender on, 189
Meyer-Benfey on, 198
meaning of, 111

Hartmann, on death, 184
on immortality, 184
pessimism of, 183
on progress, 185
as a youthful pessimist, 117

Hassenstein, on childbirths in the young, 283

Heape, on menstruation, 88

Hegel, death from cholera, 120

Heim, on feelings at death, 126

Hell of Chinese Buddhists, 149

Helmholz, on the eye, 78

Henseler, on ages of patriarchs, 259

Hermaphroditism, 79, 80

_Herminium monorchis_, figure of, 26

Huber, on ants, 34

Hufeland, on prolonging life, 258

Humanity, vagueness of conception, 296

Humboldt, on natural morality, 8

Hunt, on burial of the aged living, 152

Hutcheson, on naturalism, 7

Huxley, on origin of man, 41

Hymen, disharmonies of, 85
distinctive of human race, 81, 82
primitive function of, 85, 86
ritual destruction of, 83, 84

Illusion, Hartmann on, 183
Mailaender on, 188

Immortality, Aristotle on, 169
Buddha on, 147
Hartmann on, 184
Meyer-Benfey on, 198
Plato on, 168
Schopenhauer on, 179, 180, 181
Seneca on, 170
Spinoza on, 175
amongst animals, 270
of “cellular soul,” 269
of protozoa, 264
of reproductive cells, 267

Inaudi, the calculator, 58

Infanticide, 103, 104

Infusoria, conjugation of, 231
immortality of, 263, 264
reproduction of, 230
senile degeneration of, 231

Insects, compared with vertebrates, 276
fertilisation of plants by, 21
senile degeneration of, 231

Instinct of death, 281, 282, 283, 298
of family, 108
of life, 129
sexual, 283
of society, 109

Intestines, bacterial flora of, 248, 249
large, degeneration of, 70
large, diseases of, 73, 74
large, excision of, 70
large, function of, 70, 71, 72

Jewish belief in future life, 142

Justice, in relation to humanity, 112

Kant, on future life, 176

Kephir, use of, 255

Khémâ, legend on immortality, 147

Kidney ducts, 80

Koch, on microbe of tuberculosis, 212

Lactic acid, arrests putrefaction, 255

Lady-birds and nectar, 32

Language, as a social band, 297

Lankester, Ray, on centenarians, 259

Lanugo, of human embryo, 62

Larvæ, of ephemerids, 276

Lecky, on natural morality, 8

Lejoncourt, on centenarians, 280

Leucocytes and phagocytes, 240

Liberty, future limitation of, 301

Life, duration of, in Biblical times, 259, 260
modes of lengthening, 257, 258

Light, attractive to insects, 35

Linnæus, on origin of man, 41

Lister, and antisepsis, 209

_Listera ovata_, figure of, 32

Loeb, on natural death, 266

Longet, on old age, 234

Longevity, in birds, 232
and large intestine, 252
in Old Testament, 259, 260

Love, Guyau on, 196
spreading of, 295

Lubbock, on ancestor-worship, 150
an optimist, 117

Luminous insects, 37

Luther, Martin, on supernatural origin of disease, 164

Luxury, evils of, 293, 294, 301

Macrophags, definition of, 240
functions of, 240
in senile decay, 241

Maeterlinck, on pessimism, 191

Mailaender, on pessimism, 187, 188

Malignant tumours, science and, 214

Mammary glands, rudimentary, 298

Man, destiny of, 286
disharmonies, and harmonies in, 285
origin of, 40, 286
peculiar characters of, 59
rudimentary organs of, 59, 60
Marinesco, on function of phagocytes, 241

Marriage, age at first, 97
Christian views on, 163
early, in primitive races, 86, 90

Martelly, on intestinal putrefaction, 255

Materialism, Büchner on, 220
Haeckel on, 220

Matriopathy, 6

May-flies and light, 35

Medicine, advance of, 210

Memory, late development of, 78

Ménière, on bees and orchids, 21

Menstruation, in monkeys, 88, 89
origin and significance, 87, 88
origin of, 89
regarded as impure, 92

Merkel, on tissue-changes in old age, 238

Metamorphoses, of ephemerides, 272

Metchnikoff, on blanching of hair, 242
on senile atrophy, 238

Metchnikoff, Madame, on tadpoles
reared without microbes, 249

Meyer-Benfey, on happiness, 198
on immortality, 198

Microbes, absence of, in ephemerids, 274
harmful, 256
of the intestines, 248
producing poisons in intestines, 251

Microphags, definition of, 240
functions of, 240

Milk, fermented or soured, beneficent action of, 255
human, 282
secretion of, by males, 298

Monkeys, and choice of food, 75

Morality, based on human nature, 9
true foundation of, 289

Mosaic regulations on diet, 162, 163

Moths and light, 35

Müller, Johannes, on the eye, 78
Hermann, on lady-birds, 32
Max, on meaning of Nirvâna, 155, 158

Mutilations of the body, 9, 15

Naegeli, on natural death, 265

Natural death, 302
cases of, 278, 279, 280
in ephemerids, 27

Nature, Marcus Aurelius on life according to, 173
and morality, early opinions on, 3

Negroes and whites, 109

Nicene Creed, compared with ancestor-worship, 151

Nirvâna, Aurelius and, 175
Hartmann on, 186
Schopenhauer on, 182
meaning of, 155, 156, 157

Nordau, on old age, 234
on optimism, 192;
on pain, 193

Nuttall and Thierfelder, on germ-free guinea-pigs, 249

Obstetrics, in ancient times, 300

Old age, Longet on, 234
Nordau on, 234
amelioration of, 254
in birds and mammals, 232, 233
characters of, 229, 230, 278, 294
morbidity of, 244
scientific study of, 228
serums in, 245, 246

Onanism, 35, 95, 96, 99

Optimism, Hammerling on, 191, 192
Nordau on, 192

Optimists generally old men, 117

Origin of man, due to sudden appearance of new characters, 57, 59

Ourangs, old age in, 233

Orchids, and fertilisation, 19, 20

Orthobiosis, the taste of science, 289

Ostwald, on love of humanity, 296

Ova, immortality of, 267

Pain, Nordau on, 193

_Palingenia_, swarming of, 272

Pantheism, of German poets, 195

Paradise, according to the Talmud, 143
of Chinese Buddhists, 149

_Paramecium_, conjugation of (figure), 231
division of (figure), 230

Parasites, late evolution of, 18

Parovaria, 80

Parrots, paucity of bacterial flora in, 253

Pasteur, as founder of modern scientific medicine, 209

Pasénadi, legend on immortality, 147

Pathology, of old age, 278

Patriotism, 295

_Pelopæus_, figure of, 34

Penis, os, in man and apes, 81

Personality, consciousness of, 160

Pessimism, Byron on, 177
Hartmann on, 183
Maeterlinck on, 191
Mailaender on, 187
Schopenhauer on, 177, 178, 179
and Buddhism, 176, 177
and disease, 206
and disharmony, 38
origin of, 176
value of, 194
and youth, 117

Pettenkofer, suicide of, 131

Pfeffer, on chemotaxis in cryptogams, 269

Pflüger, on prolonging life, 258

Pfungst, on meaning of Nirvâna, 156

Phagocytes, functions of, 239
inhibited by lactic acid, 255
and poisons, 247
sensibility of, 240

Phagocytosis, in old age, 244
in senility, 242

Philosophy, and death, 166
relation of, and religion, 166
tendency of, to become religious, 175

Phenol, production of by microbes, 251

_Pithecanthropus_, 50

Placenta, of man and apes, 46

Plague, cause of, 208

Plato, and nobility of man, 4
on pleasure, 6
views on death, 166, 167, 168

Pleasure, views of Plato and Aristotle on, 6

Plotin, on immortality, 175

Pollinia of orchids, 21

Politicians, incapacity of young, 295

Politics, compared with savage obstetrics, 300

Post-mortem examinations, 246, 289

Pregnancy, avoidance of, 101

Progress, Hartmann on, 185
Spencer on, 291
not uniform, 18

Protection, means for, amongst animals, 114

Protozoa, absence of death, 263
sensibility of, 268

Purgatory, in Taoism, 146

Putrefaction, in large intestine, 73, 254

Rabbits, and destruction of young, 34, 37

Reformation, 14

Regeneration, in brain, 277
in cells, 271
in vertebrates, 270

Religion, and diet, 163
and disease, 205
and future life, 150
and science, 3
and sexuality, 163
Tolstoi’s return to, 223

Renal tubule, invasion of macrophags (figure), 241

Renan, on death, 195
on Jewish belief in future life, 142, 143
on Marcus Aurelius, 174

Renaissance, art of, 14

Reproduction, not cause of death in ephemerids, 275

Reproductive organs, 79

Resignation, in Buddhism, 159
Guyau on, 199
Hartmann’s system of, 187
Marcus Aurelius on, 174

Resurrection, primitive belief in, 140

Réville, on Chinese belief in immortality, 145, 146

_Rhizotrogus_ and light, 36

Richet, on failure of science, 222

Rousseau, on age and love of life, 117
on failure of science, 216
on fear of death, 118

Rovighi, on utility of milk diet, 255

Rückert, on death, 195

Rudimentary organs, in man, 59, 60

Sacrifice, at burials, 140, 141

Saint-Foix, on sacrifice of horses, 141

St. Matthew, on celibacy, 12

Savage, on old age in apes, 233
on social instincts of apes, 105

Schiller, on death, 195

Schopenhauer, and cholera, 120
on death, 121, 179, 288
on immortality, 179
pessimism of, 117, 177, 178, 179, 207

Schottelius, on rearing of germ-free chicks, 249

Science, advance of, 286
Bacon on, 204
destroys faith, 226
failure of, 215, 216, 217, 218, 222, 223
and immortality, 287
and old age, 228
and pessimism, 207, 286

Sclerosis of arteries, 248
in old age, 236, 237, 243, 244
due to poisons, 247

Scotch clergy on man, 12

Seidlitz, on natural morality, 8

Selenka, on fœtus of man and ape, 47

Self-preservation, 113, 275

Seneca, on death, 171
on human existence, 171
on immortality, 170
on nature as a guide, 7, 10

Senile decay action of macrophags, 241
characters of, 235, 238, 239
importance of phagocytes in, 241

Sensibility, specific, of white blood corpuscles, 160

Serum, alteration of properties, 51
anti-diphtheritic, 211
properties of, as guide to affinity, 51

Serums, use of, in old age, 245, 246

Sexuality, early appearance of, 94, 95
in the aged, 98
disharmonies of, 100

Sexual cells, immortality of, 268
soul of, 268

Shakespeare, sorrow and knowledge, 227

Shaving, regarded as degrading, 5

Skeleton, of man and apes, 43

Skin, of man, 62

Skoptsy, and emasculation, 9

Social instincts, 105, 109, 113

Societies, of insects, 294

Socrates, and death, 166, 167

Solidarity, of men, 297

Solomon, sorrow and knowledge, 226

Soul of cells, Haeckel on, 269
of protozoa, 268
of sexual cells, 268

Soured milk, benefits of, 255

Spencer, H., on belief in resurrection, 140
on natural morality, 9
on progress, 291

Spermatozoa, immortality of, 267
in old men, 97

Spinoza, on immortality, 175

Sterility, in human life, 295
in social insects, 294

Stoics, _summum bonum_ of, 6
on future life, 169

Strassburger, on microbes of the intestines, 248

Suicide, increase of, 4
of the old, 131
Schopenhauer, Hartmann, and Mailaender on, 190

Supernaturalism, modern craving for, 222

Survival after death, widespread belief in, 149

Sutherland, on morality of expropriation, 109, 296

Syphilis, absence of reference to in Bible, 260
resistance to effects of, 256
and sclerosis, 247

Tadpoles, reared without microbes, 249

Taine, on Christian art, 14

Tait, Lawson, on cysts, 80

Talmud, on paradise, 143

Taoism, and immortality, 146

Teeth, disharmonies of, 63, 64
of man and apes, 41
wisdom, 64

Telepathy, no argument for future life, 161

Tetanus, microbes of, 256

Thanatology, science of death, 297

Thierfelder, and Nuttall, on germ-free guinea-pigs, 249

Tissier, on intestinal putrefaction, 255

Tokarsky, on fear of death, 125, 279

Tolstoi, on fear of death, 115, 122, 299
on failure of science, 217, 223
return to religion, 223, 224

Tombs, burial of weapons and implements, 139

Transfusion of blood serum, 51

Transmigration of souls, in Buddhism, 157
of souls, Jewish belief in, 144

Trees, death of, 265

Tuberculosis, modern science and, 212

Tylor, on ancestor-worship, 150
on animism, 138

Uhlenhuth, on injection of serums, 53

Vanilla, cultivation of, 19
fertilisation of, 20

Vaccination, 301

Vermiform appendage and disease, 66, 68
of man and apes, 44

Virginity, historical importance of, 83, 84

Waitz-Gerland, on primitive customs, 139

Weapons, burial with dead, 139

Weismann, on origin of death, 266
on immortality of protozoa, 264

Wiedersheim, on human characters, 59

Will to live, Mailaender on, 189
Schopenhauer on, 182

Wisdom teeth, degeneration of, 64, 65

Women, views of Buddha on, 9

Wounds, modern success in healing of, 210

Xenocrates, 5

Youth, absence of fear of death, 116, 117
and excesses, 116
ideals of, 263
and pessimism, 117

Zola, on death, 225
on fear of death, 121

Zulu, ancestor-worship, 151

-----

Footnote 1:

Since A. Wagner’s classical work, “Ueber die Gesetzmässigkeit der
scheinbar wilkürlichen menschlichen Handlungen,” suicide has been
discussed by many authors. The most recent contribution to the subject
is the important monograph by Westergaard, “Die Lehre von der
Mortalitæt u. Morbiditæt,” Second Edition, Jena, 1901.

Footnote 2:

Shaving the beard began at the time of the Macedonian rule, and
philosophers refrained from the new custom, which seemed to them
unprincipled. (V. Hermann, “Lehrbuch der griechischen
Privatalterthümer,” 1870, vol. I., pp. 175–177.)

Footnote 3:

Quetelet, “Anthropomètrie,” 1872, p. 86.

Footnote 4:

Zeller, “Die Philosophie der Griechen,” Third Edition, vol. II. 1, p.
741, 1875.

Footnote 5:

Zeller, _l.c._ p. 880.

Footnote 6:

Zeller, vol. II., 2, p. 447.

Footnote 7:

Zeller, First Edition, vol. III., 7, p. 193.

Footnote 8:

Zeller, _l.c._ p. 401.

Footnote 9:

“De Vita Beata,” chap. viii.

Footnote 10:

“Moral Philosophy,” London, 1755.

Footnote 11:

Buckle, “History of Civilisation in England.”

Footnote 12:

Published at Amsterdam in 1776.

Footnote 13:

Vol. I., p. 32.

Footnote 14:

“History of European Morals,” Third Edition, London, 1877.

Footnote 15:

“The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex,” First Edition,
vol. I., p. 98.

Footnote 16:

“Die Darwin’sche Theorie.” Second Edition, 1875, p. 272, note 25.

Footnote 17:

“The Data of Ethics,” 1879.

Footnote 18:

The “Lalita Vistara,” translated from Sanscrit into French by Foucaux;
“Annales du Musée Guimet,” vol. VI. p. 183. 1884.

Footnote 19:

Zeller, _loc. cit._ p. 633.

Footnote 20:

Lecky, “History of European Morals,” chap. iv.

Footnote 21:

Lecky.

Footnote 22:

Lecky.

Footnote 23:

Buckle, “History of Civilisation in England.”

Footnote 24:

“De Secta Massonum,” Parisiis, 1884, p. 9. The passage was quoted by
Brunetière in the “Revue des Deux Mondes,” 1895, vol. CXXVII., p. 116.

Footnote 25:

Schnaase, “Geschichte der bildenden Künste, vol. III., pp. 577, 584,
and vol. IV., p. 718.

Footnote 26:

“Philosophie de l’Art,” Fourth Edition, 1885, vol. LXXXVIII., p. 352.

Footnote 27:

Reinhard, “System der christlichen Moral,” vol. IV., 1814, p. 831, and
vol. III., p. 14, 1813.

Footnote 28:

Gaudry, “Mammifères tertiaires,” p. 235, 1878.

Footnote 29:

Delteil, “La Vanille,” Paris, 1897.

Footnote 30:

Darwin, “The Fertilisation of Orchids,” Second edition, London, 1877.
See also Müller, “Die Befruchtung der Pflanzen durch Insecten,” pp.
74–85, Leipzig, 1873.

Footnote 31:

_Bulletin de la Société botanique de France_, vol. I., p. 370, 1854.

Footnote 32:

_Loc. cit._ p. 44.

Footnote 33:

Darwin, _loc. cit._ p. 179.

Footnote 34:

_Ibid._ pp. 207–208.

Footnote 35:

Fabre, “Souvenirs entomologiques,” vol. I., pp. 71–78, Paris, 1879.