66 ')ON'T know lifej—how know death says Dr. Lin Yutang, quoting a famous saying of Confucius, and he proceeds to dismiss as inconsequential the idea of a future eternal life, to which he refers as the "pill of immortality." The doctor is not alone in his skeptical attitude toward what for most people is a subject of tremendous importance. Many a modern scientist disbelieves in personal immortality mainly because his physical science does not afford him convincing proof thereof. Therefore, some conclude, there is no such thing as a soul living forever,—it, indeed, they admit even the existence of such an entity as a human soul. And because the present day world is science-mad, the opinions of skeptical physical scientists are listened to and adopted by countless minds, young and old.. Hence a simple presentation of tne facts we know about the human soul is quite in order.
What we shall say about immortality will be based on facts. That there exists in the body of man,-ror for that matter, in every plant and animal, in every being that has lite,—something that makes it essentially different from a non-living body, no one will doubt for a moment, 'That something we call the principle' of life, and this vital principle in man, which sets him apart and above all mere animal and plant life, we ordinarily refer to as the soul...A more particular concept of the nature of this human soul we can obtain by a detailed glance at the operations of which it is the ultimate principle.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.