San Antonio Daily Light. (San Antonio, Tex.), Vol. 15, No. 276, Ed. 1 Sunday, November 3, 1895 Page: 3 of 8
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Übe Baflv light.
SUNDAY NOVEMBER 3 1895
THE NATURE OF DEATH.
TL* Lite That Endure* I* Lit* Only in the
Abitraet
The nature of death we conceive
from our knowledge of it in man and
the higher animals and conceive it er«
roneously. For with the higher anf.
mals what we call death is a sudden
cessation of the gross functions of the
body. There is a moment at which the
watchers say ‘ This that was alive is
flow dead.'* Death has come by one
of the atrio mortis the 'hree gates;
by the failure of the heart of the
lungs or the brain the mechanism has
broken down and stops suddenly ana
visibly. Even in old age when there
has been a slow degeneration of all tho
organs the final arrest of their func-
tions comes sharply at . particular
moment. But this suddenness is no
part of the real nature of the event.
The point of time varies with the skill
of the surgeon and with the appliances
at his disposal. It is not until long
after the moment at which it seems to
us that the spirit has left the body that
the tissues are dead- For hours after-
ward the skin ren>-"ns alive the hairs
grow the sweat-g«tnds are in repulsive
activity while the muscles respond to
electrical stimulation by nightmare
contortions. The body of a man is a
highly integrated structure; each or-
gan has a communion so intimate with
every other that failure of any part is
reflected upon the whole and the
break-down of heart or lung; or
brain brings slow but irremediable dis-
aster upon the whole bodj*. In this
we have to distinguish two pilings:
What we call death—the sudden arrest
that is an accident of the complex har-
mony of the body as when a stf amship
is stopped in mid-ocean by the rupture
of a valve —and the actual death of the
living protoplasm of the cells and
tissues.
In the descending scale of animal
life the relations bet ween the organs
arc-less and less intimate and mislead-
ing suddenness of the arrest of their
machinery fades away The heart of
a turtle from which the brain has
been removed will continue to beat
for days.
A worm or a star-fish may be cut in
pieces and each piece remains alive
Sometimes even reproducing the
Whole. Who shall name the point of
death of an oyster or of a sea-
anemone? No stoppage of a single
organ lapses sudden death and oon-
spicuB i change in the whole when
proton 1 smic death of a part occurs
eitbc- the part is sloughed away and
re| >aced or the ripples of destructive
change spread slowly from cell to cell
each unaffected part remaining active
to the last. In the simplest animals of
all organisms that consist of a single
cell death may be seen at its lowest
terms There is no composite multi-
cellular body no bodily mechanism to
break down no possibility of the fail-
ure of one set of cells gradually creep-
ing upon others. Each organism is
alive or dead as its protoplasm is alive
or dead.
Here in their simplest forms are
life and death; and here asking if
death be inherent in living matter we
find surprising Violence of
heat and cold mechanical forces and
the assaults of chemical afiinites may
destroy these single particles of life;
but if not overthrown by rude acci-
dent and if provided with food and
drink their potaplash lives forever.
Each particle feeds until outgrowing
a convenient size it cleaves asunder
and the one life becomes two lives.
So far as reason and observation can
inform us the living particles in the
ponds and seas of to-day have de-
scended In a direct continuity of liv-
ing material from the first dawn of
life. No other solution is open save
the possibility of a spontaneous gen-
eration of living matter so continual
and so common that it could not have
eluded the search of science. This is
that “immortality of the protozoa’*
hinted at by Lankester in England
blazoned into fame by Weismann.
Whether or not the protoplasm of the
tissues of higher organisms be poten-
tially immortal can be only a matter
of inference. The reproductive cells
indted form a living chain binding
the animals and plants of the present
with the animals and plants of the re-
motest past. This reproductive pro-
toplasm is immortal in precisely the
same sense protoplasm of single
cells is immortal and there seems no
reason to believe with Weismann that
the protoplasm of the other tissues has
acquired mortality and is of a differ-
ent kind. It dies but only because it
is a part of a complex structure.
The machinery of the body is.not
regulated to last forever; on the other
hand it is to the advantage of the race
. that it should break down when repro-
duction has been accomplished and
Sts break-down results in the ruin of
its component parts. There is no
reason to suppose the protoplasm itself
grows old. A slip cut from a tree
many centuries old may be grafted on
a young tree and so enter on a new
lease of life. Were the process to be
continued a continuity of protoplas-
mic life might be maintained. So far
as we can tell death is not inherent in
living matter. Protoplasm may live
forever as a flame shielded from the
wind and fed from an endless store
would bu n forever.
Interesting as it may be this triumph
over death is barren and formed in the
sense that affects us most. The life
that endures is life only in an abstract
sense. It is individual life that ap-
peals to our emotions; individual death
that broods over our joys. Even
among the protozoa the individuals
that come into being are new indi-
viduals the parent divided in two is as
surely dead as if a corruptible body
were left behind. Mortal man and the
Immortal protozoa have the same bar-
ren immortality; the individuals perish
living on only in their descendants
oreatures of vhetr body separated
of theirtidyingprotoplasm the
alone —London Review.
“WIEN BLEIBT WIEN!”
MARCH.
By JOHANN SCHRAMM EL.
CYCLE BREVITIES.
—’—
Heavy* tubing is coming into
greater favor with wheelmen than
it formerly was.
Carry your lamps after dark
and use your bells at all times so
the “mossbacks” can’t raise any
howl.
The largest wheel yet put upon
the market is built on the order
of a tandem with saddles for five
persons.
Some of the messenger boys at
the Navarro st. Messenger office
are becoming quite protlcient in
trick riding.
Bicyclists were out in large
numbers pecan hunting last Sun-
day. Several wheels were heavily
laden as they were returning.
By an ordinance bicycle riders
in a Western city are compelled
to carry red lamps on their wheels
at night no other color being
allowed.
Although bloomers are coming
more in public favor in the north-
ern cities the lady riders of the
Alamo City do not appear to “take
to them” well.
When Albert Steves mounts his
racer it looks as if he would crush
it out of existence but such is
not tho case. It stands his avoir-
dupois without a groan.
In France bicycles have been
authorized for tho distribution of
telegrams and an allowance of $3
a month is made to messengers for
tho uso of their machines.
The Scientific American is the
authority for the statement that
every stroke of the bicycle pedal
sends the rider as far forward as
a man 17 feet high could make
with ono step.
It is to be hoped that the wheel-
men’s mass meeting which will
again be called in the near future
will be attended by every lover
of this healthful and exhilirating
sport in the city.
It is a noticeable fact that the
business men are beginning to
appreciate the value of tho bicycle
insomuch as almost all the firms
requiring errand boys collectors
etc. prefer those with wheels.
Bicyclists were quite numerous
on the roads leading to the differ-
ent missions last Sunday but
their progress was hampered so me-
what by the dust which was very
deep but since tho recent showers
it will for a time at least be in
good condition.
The sewers now being laid over
V the different streets of our city are
a\great inconvenience to bicyclists
as\they cut the streets so badly
thai it takes quite a while for
them'. to r cover their former
smoothness; which at best waa
none too fcood. ... x
English cycle repairers have
recently introduced a nA. method
of patching single tube tires. The
patch is put on in the usual man-
ner and it is then vulcanized in
place by means of electricity. The
patch is thus rendered inseparable
from the rest of the tire.
The Ban Antonio cycle club and
the Alamo Wheelman both have
quite a good sized membership
roll but they are not doing as
much work as they should do in
order to benefit themselves. If
tho wheelmen do not work to
their own interests they cannot
expect anyone else to do so.
The chief objection to the bi-
cycle lamp is that it is not large
enough and therefore its rays are-
not powerful enough to light up
the road for the rider on whose
wheel it is attached and also does
not give enough light to warn any-
one of the approach of the rider
until in too close proximity to
prevent a collision.
At the National Institute for the
blind in France cycling is one of
the amusements. A species of
home trainer is providedon which
the inmates of the institution ride.
The wheels are so arranged that
the actual speed is indicated on a
dial so that races are held and
some of the inmates have establish-
ed records. The machines are
also arranged so as to give audiblo
signals at various speeds.
The light rain during tho week
was a great inconvenience to cy-
clists as the paved streets wore the
only ones accessible to the wheel.
Those who live in tho suburbs
and depended on the wheel to
reach town had to find other ways
of conveyance. The mud is the
wheelman’s greatest enemy in
in this city as a rainy gener-
ally continues for several days
and oven then it takes this black
waxy mud some time to become
dry after the rain has stopped.
It seoms as if bicyclists of this
city did not take very much in-
terest in regard to their welfare
if the proposed meeting at Con-
vention hall last Monday is to be
taken as an evidence as there were
not enough cycle devotees present
to even make any attempt at hold-
ing a meeting. If our wheelmen
continue this way they need not
expect good roads ordinances for
their protection cr anything in the
way of improvement which would
benefit them. The only way to
obtain such is to form a per-
manent organization as recently
suggested by the Light and each
and every member put hie
shoulde- ♦3\the “wheel” and do
* V ood cauB ®- When
Ignedj to
Hesky < n< from their
• Attest •-
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San Antonio Daily Light. (San Antonio, Tex.), Vol. 15, No. 276, Ed. 1 Sunday, November 3, 1895, newspaper, November 3, 1895; San Antonio, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1683438/m1/3/: accessed June 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .