e Veronese Colonel Aless. Guaguino made his
contemporaries believe that a race of men existed in Russia, of which
the individuals died regularly every year on the 27th of November, and
returned to life on the 24th of the following April. There cannot
however be the least doubt, that the higher organisms, as they are now
constructed, contain within themselves the germs of death. The question
however arises as to how this has come to pass; and I reply that death
is to be looked upon as an occurrence which is advantageous to the
species as a concession to the outer conditions of life, and not as an
absolute necessity, essentially inherent in life itself. Death, that is
the end of life, is by no means, as is usually assumed, an attribute of
all organisms. An immense number of low organisms do not die, although
they are easily destroyed, being killed by heat, poisons, etc. As long,
however, as those conditions which are necessary for their life are
fulfilled, they continue to live, and they thus carry the potentiality
of unending life in themselves. I am speaking not only of the Amoebae
and the low unicellular Algae, but also of far more highly organized
unicellular animals, such as the Infusoria."[106]

[Sidenote: Similar view expressed by Alfred Russel Wallace.]

A similar suggestion that death is not a natural necessity but an
innovation introduced for the good of the breed, has been made by our
eminent English biologist, Mr. Alfred Russel Wallace. He says: "If
individuals did not die they would soon multiply inordinately and would
interfere with each other's healthy existence. Food would become scarce,
and hence the larger individuals would probably decompose or diminish in
size. The deficiency of nourishment would lead to parts of the organism
not being renewed; they would become fixed, and liable to more or less
slow decomposition as dead parts within a living body. The smaller
organisms would have a better chance of finding food, the larger ones
less chance. That one which gave off several small portions to form each
a new organism would have a better chance of leaving descendants like
itself than one which divided equally or gave off a large part of
itself. Hence it would happen that those which gave off very small
portions would probably soon after cease to maintain their own existence
while they would leave a numerous offspring. This state of things would
be in any case for the advantage of the race, and would ther