I. UNIVERSAL LIFE (OPINIONS OF THE PHILOSOPHERS AND POETS). CONTINUITY BETWEEN BRUTE BODIES AND LIVING BODIES. ORIGIN OF THE PRINCIPLE OF CONTINUITY 239 II. ORIGIN OF LIVING MATTER IN BRUTE MATTER 249 III. ORGANIZATION AND CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF LIVING MATTER AND BRUTE MATTER 255 IV. EVOLUTION AND MUTABILITY OF LIVING MATTER AND BRUTE MATTER 259 V. THE COMPOSITION OF THE SPECIFIC FORM. LIVING BODIES AND CRYSTALS. CICATRIZATION 281 VI. NUTRITION IN THE LIVING BEING AND IN THE CRYSTAL 290 VII. GENERATION IN BRUTE BODIES AND LIVING BODIES. SPONTANEOUS GENERATION 294 BOOK V. SENESCENCE AND DEATH. I. THE DIFFERENT POINTS OF VIEW FROM WHICH DEATH MAY BE REGARDED 307 II. CONSTITUTION OF THE ORGANISMS. PARTIAL DEATH. COLLECTIVE DEATHS 312 III. PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF CELLULAR DEATHS. NECROBIOSIS 321 IV. APPARENT PERRENNITY OF COMPLEX INDIVIDUALS 330 V. IMMORTALITY OF THE PROTOZOA AND OF SLIGHTLY DIFFERENTIATED CELLS 334 VI. LETHALITY OF THE METAZOA AND OF DIFFERENTIATED CELLS 340 VII. MAN. THE INSTINCT OF LIFE AND THE INSTINCT OF DEATH 345 INDEX 361 LIFE AND DEATH. BOOK I. THE FRONTIERS OF SCIENCE—GENERAL THEORIES OF LIFE AND DEATH—THEIR SUCCESSIVE TRANSFORMATIONS. Chapter I. Early Theories.—II. Animism.—III. Vitalism.—IV. Monism.—V. Emancipation of Scientific Research from the Yoke of Philosophy. CHAPTER I. EARLY THEORIES. Animism—Vitalism—The Physico-Chemical Theory—Their Survival and Transformations. The fundamental theories of science are but the expression of its most general results. What, then, is the most general result of the development of physiology or biology—that is to say, of that department of science which has life as its object? What glimpse do we get of the fruit of all our efforts? The answer is evidently the response to that essential question—What is Life?