Second step

In all the higher forms this development cannot be kept up for an indefinite period. After a while they succumb; they die. The creature is not equal to the task of indefinite self-renewal. But continuity of the life process is not needy upon the prolongation of the existence of any one person. Reproduction of other forms of life goes on in incessant sequence. And though, as the geological record shows, not merely individuals but also species die out, the life process continues in increasingly complex forms. As some species die out, forms better adapted to utilize the obstacles against which they struggled in vain come into being. Continuity of life means continual re adaptation of the surroundings to the needs of living organisms. We have been language of life in its lowest terms -- as a physical thing. But we use the word "Life" to denote the whole range of knowledge, individual and racial. When we see a book called the Life of Lincoln we do not be expecting to find within its covers a treatise on physiology. We look for an account of social antecedents; a account of early surroundings, of the conditions and occupation of the family; of the chief episodes in the development of character; of signal struggles and achievements; of the individual's hopes, tastes, joys and sufferings. In exactly alike fashion we speak of the life of a savage tribe, of the Athenian people, of the American nation. "Life" covers customs, institution, beliefs, victories and defeats, recreations and occupation. We employ the word "experience" in the same pregnant sense. And to it, as well as to life in the bare physiological sense, the principle of continuity through renewal applies.