_Physiological Distinction between Elementary Death and General Death._—We distinguish the death of the anatomical elements, _elementary death_, from the death of the individual regarded as a whole, _general death_. Hence we recognize an _apparent death_, which is an incomplete and temporary suspension of the phenomena of vitality, and a _real death_, which is a final and total arrest of these phenomena. When we consider it in its essential nature (assumed, but not known) we look on it as the _contrary of life_, as did the Encyclopædia, Cuvier, and Bichat; or we regard it with others either as the consequence of life, or simply as the end of life. _Non-scientific Opinions._—What is death to those outside the realm of science? First of all we find the consoling solution given by those who believe death to be the commencement of another life. We next find ourselves involved in a confused medley, an infinite diversity of philosophical doubt and superstition. “A leap into the unknown,” says one. “Dreamless and unconscious night,” says another. And again, “A sleep which knows no waking.” Or, with Horace, “the eternal exile,” or with Seneca, annihilation. _Post mortem nihil; ipsaque mors nihil._ The idea which is constantly supervening in the midst of this conflict of opinion is that of the _breaking up_ of the elements, the union of which forms the living being. It has, as we shall see, a real foundation which may perhaps receive the support of science. We shall not find that the best way of defining death is to say that it consists of the “dissolution of the society formed by the anatomical elements, or again, in the dissolution of the consciousness that the individual possesses of himself—_i.e._, of the existence of this society.” It is the rupture of the social bond. The old idea of dispersion is a variant of the same notion. But the ancients evidently could not understand, as we do, the nature of these elements which are associated to form the living being, and which are liberated or dispersed by death. We, as biologists, can see microscopical organic unity with a real objective existence. The ancients were thinking of spiritual elements, of principles, of entities. To the Romans, who may be said to have held that there are three souls, death was produced by their separation from the body. The first, the breath, the _spiritus_, mounting towards celestial regions (_astra petit_); the second, the _shade_, regaining on the surface of the earth and wandering around the tombs; the third, the _manes_, descending to the lower regions. The belief of the Hindoos was slightly different. The body returned to the earth, the breath to the winds, the fire of the glance to the sun, and the ethereal soul to the world of the pure. Such were the ideas of mortal dispersion formed by ancient humanity.