The state that distinguishes organisms from inorganic matter, manifested by growth, metabolism, reproduction, and adaptation. It includes the course of existence, the sum of experiences, the mode of existing, or the fact of being. Over the centuries inquiries into the nature of life have crossed the boundaries from philosophy to biology, forensic medicine, anthropology, etc., in creative as well as scientific literature. (Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2d ed; Dr. James H. Cassedy, NLM History of Medicine Division)
    

concept

The painted faces of two men, one above the other, by Bruno; with the message that being HIV positive does not mean the end; an advertisement by Mann-O-Meter, the information and telephone service for gay men. Colour lithograph.

A woman divided into two, representing life and death. Oil painting.

Boer War: a British officer's pony looking at the bones of a Boer's pony killed by a shell. Halftone, c. 1900, after S. S. Lucas after a photograph by E. Blake Knox.

Protoplasm, or, Life, matter and mind / by Lionel S. Beale.

The statue of a lively, leaping pig. Engraving by I. Frezza after G.E. Morghen (?).

Der Ablauf des Lebens : Grundlegung zur exakten Biologie / von Wilhelm Fliess.

The circle of life : a search for an attitude to pain, disease, old age and death / by Kenneth Walker.

Vie et probabilité / Pierre Vendryès.

On the identity of the vital and cosmical principle / by Robert Lewins.

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The statue of a lively, leaping pig. Engraving by I. Frezza after G.E. Morghen (?).

Der Ablauf des Lebens : Grundlegung zur exakten Biologie / von Wilhelm Fliess.

The circle of life : a search for an attitude to pain, disease, old age and death / by Kenneth Walker.

Vie et probabilité / Pierre Vendryès.

On the identity of the vital and cosmical principle / by Robert Lewins.