Abstract
Life may be compared with a candle flame, a unit of matter which has persistent characteristics in time although its very composition is continually being exhausted and renewed. The simile can be extended to say that the flame of life of any individual is a revolving population of structures, including populations of cells, tissues, and sometimes even of organs, as well as of chemical components. A central feature of life is that it is composed of and built upon components which are continuously undergoing turnover.
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© 1978 Plenum Press, New York
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Leopold, A.C. (1978). The Biological Significance of Death in Plants. In: Behnke, J.A., Finch, C.E., Moment, G.B. (eds) The Biology of Aging. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-3994-6_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-3994-6_6
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
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