The Oregon daily journal., March 29, 1908, Page 27, Image 27

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O UPPOSE you were able to live as lone as
if yu wished, ort'in other words, thai you.
would not die until you had naturally de
veloped a desire for death; that you could live to
the ripe age of I0O, 1 20 or J 50 years perhaps
longer and retain the vigor and strength of
youth
Imagine a life of healthful aefhity and
pleasure continuing, free of disease, until one had
long passed the century mark, and passing azvay '
into the eternal slumber like "one who wraps the
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drapery of his couch about him and lies down to
pleasant dreams," without a struggle, without!
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century, but nothing, perhaps, more, marvMQUs,
than the announcement bf the possibility' of the'
dream of De Leon. Nothing of more impor-
. lance so man man a saenunc assurance or me pas
sioiiity Of an tnaepnue prolongation oj nje. ;. .
i 0 live longer is. it not me nope oj every ,
one of us? And to live as long as we desire' to
live not to die until the desire for death comes
as naturally as the desire for sleep is-this hbV
wonderful to contemplate f ' ,
Yet such is the latest announcement. ' of
science. From no less an authority than Profes
sor Elie Metschnikoff, the successor of the fa- '
mous Pasteur, and the foremost man of science
of the times, comes the word that the only natutal
death is that accompanied by the desire; that it is
possible, barring accident and preventing disease,
to prolong life indefinitely and retain one's vigor:
In his latest book, "The Prolongation of -Life,"
the famous biologist continues his warfare
. on the three enemies of humanity disease, old
age and death. And in a gleeful, optimistic way -
, he brandishes the torch of scientific victory before
-a stqrtled and eager world: . ,
This is, perhaps, the most important' an-'
l noiqtcement of 'science for many years: .
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'Llfe' .pulses now with fresher force awaken ,
To'jrreet the mild, ethereal twilight o'er. me;
This night, thou Earth! 'hast also-stood' unshaken.
And now thou breathest, new-refreshed before me.
And now beginnest, all thy gladness granting,- , .
A vigorous resolution to restore 'me, ,
To seek that higher life for which I'm panting."
uoetne "K aust."
N THE ancient Book of Kings tho desire to re
juvenato old ago and prolong human life is ex
pressed; hyndreda of yeara before Christ the
' Chinese gladly hailed the news that there lay in
the sett Fortunate Islands, where genii gave their gueste
to drink of a' beverage conferring. immortality.
To an eager and credulous world, Cagliostro, the
charlatan of the eighteenth century, declared he had
V 'discovelred an elixir of life by which he had survived
t through many centuries. -
By . the use of preventive ' measures and . rational
: hygiene, Elio Metschnikoff ; believes that science -will
i eventually banish disease. .
With certain hereditary blood diseases and specific
' poisoos developed in the intestines eliminated.-and cer- ,
V tain rule of diet observed, there can be, he says, an
f v indefinite prolongation of life, ? - -
. Then there remains but one evil, death, which, de
I". dares-the scientist, is possibly; like Bleeps the result' of
I auto-intoxication. Having lived to a vigorous old age,
the eminent scientist Is -of ' the opinion that manVin,-
, etinct of life will be replaced by an instinct of death.
I lAnd his most startling announcement is this:
.; Thaf man should not die until he develops thil
.natural desire to die I
. That his passing away, after completing the . per '
feet cycle of this life, will be one of the most pleasant
sensations that can exist, " ' , "
3A4& Banishment of the fear of death. Jblimination of
. rnent of disease and tits frightful, painful ravages.
f " The changing of wretched, ugly, palsied old age to a
I sweet, healthful,' vigorous, active old. age. Wonderful ' -r;
assurances l": ":-' V,--. V:'':;' "r -'rv
f :Dv" ; 'In jthe Melanesian islands," deolares -Professor' .
: Metschnikoff, ."old people who have become incapable bf : !
I' doing useful work are buried alive , ;! ' . ,
' lln ' times of famine the natives ; of vTerra del 1
I Fuego' kill and -eat their' bid women befojre they touch
' their1 dogs. When they were'isked hy they did this,
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they said that dogs could catch seals, whilst old
women could not do so. i
"Civilized races do not act like the Fuegians '
or other savages; they neither kill nor est th,
aged, but, none the bee, old age becomes Terxi
sad." . ' ;
In many European countries murders of old t
people, declares Metschnikoff, are extremely f
common, while suicides of old people are star-;
tlingly frequent. In 1878, in Prussia, among ,
100,000 individuals, there were 154 cases of sui
cide between the ages of 20 and 50, and 295, oe
twice as many, between the ages of 50 and 80.
Of suicides in Copenhagen, during ten '
years, from 1885 to 1895, there were 394 be
tween the ages of .50 and 70; and of the entire
number of suicides, Z6V2 per cent, were of peo
ple in the prime of life and per cent., were
of the aged.
And why is this? Why the unhappiness of
the' aged t You know the degeneration of the
body, the horrible shrinking, the seniL decay of .
the powers, the debility of the mind, the inept,
helpless condition. Surely old age is a tragedy.
But is there hbpe? Metschnikoff declares there
is hope. "
"Even among the lowest vertebrates there
are animals," he writes, "which withstand the ,
ravages of time much better than man. He"
cites a giant tortoise ot'initf'"itlZfflyri
which shows no signs of age, and one aged 86
yeara which performs all the natural functions. '
) Infusoria have been propagated by En
riques to the 700th generation without any evi
dence of debility.
"How far," asks Metschnikoff, "we are from
what should be the true condition of the human
race?" And he adds, "Facts justify the conclu
sion that human beings who reach extreme old
age may preserve their mental qualities, not
withstanding serious physical decay."
That many men are well preserved, retain- 5
ing bodily and intellectual vigor up, to the ago
of 70 and 75 years, leads Metschnikoff to con- r
elude, "It is impossible to regard this age as the J
natural limit of human life."
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AGE NO BAR TO GENIUS
He cites a number of men who produced
their best work when they had passed what is .
regarded as the limit of life, among them
Goethe, Victor Hugo, Plato, Michael. Angel -and
Titian. Besides, centenarians are really not
" rare, and in France each year about 150 persons
.die who have reached the age of 100 years. i
Ju 183t there were living in France 148.
centenarians, about one to 220,000 inhabitants, :
while in Greece there is now a centenarian for ;
rat h set of 25,641 persons, nine times as many, ;
as those in France. ,c ,'
To what age can a man live! , i, t ;
While Metschnikoff believes the, reputed ago
of Methuselah, 969 years, to be a mistake of cal-j
dilation, he cites the instances of Kentigern,
the founder of the Cathedral of Glasgow, who
died at the age of 185 years in- 600 A.. D., and
of Pierre Zortay, a Hungarian agriculturist,
who died in 1724 at the same age.
Women more frequently live to the hundred-mark
than men.
Just what enables people, to. live to an ex
treme age, the scientist does not say. Undoubt- .
t dly, sobriety leads to long ttfe, yet Metschni
koff records cases where extremely old people
, were addicted to tobacco, alcohol or coffee to ex
cess. Although 'it has been asserted that pure,
keen air insures: longevity, Metschnikoff states
that Switzerland, with its mountains and invigo
rating, air., is notable for. the, .rarity of -cenieua ,
rians. '
Again, it is interesting to note that most .
centenarians have been poor people. "There are ;
instances of rich centenarians, such as Sir Moses -Montefiore,
who died at the age of 101; but sueli
are extremely rare," he declaresl , , ; 'w ' t a
"Poverty generally brings with it sobriety, .
especially in old age, and it has' been often Said f. u l
that most centenarians have lived, an -extremely . :
sober life. Sobriety is certainly favorable to .. ,
long life, but it is not necessary, because quite ' -.
a number 6f centenarians have "drunk freely,"
For instance, there was Catherine "Hey- ',
mond, living to be 107, who drank much wine;
.Politiman, a surgeon, who got drunk every night
from his 25th yea;- and died at the age of 110 ;
Gascogne, a butcher of Trie, who got drunk -twice
a week, and lived 10,12,0; -Elizabeth Du
rieux, of - Savoy who lived on . coffee, drinking -
forty cups daily, and lived, in health to 114, and
Voltaire, who, as- he y himself .said,- had been .
"poisoning" himself ,j Wtb , coffee ; for ... ncsrly
sighty-year8.-' ' ( " . .' , ' ' '
: t f'It is plain, tbat'anyj facto, to; which long
Juration ol life has been. attributed disappears
rhen'many cases are examinetl," wriUs thn
' cientist, "Naturally a sound constitution and
1. . -1. (CONTINUED . ON' XSIPB. TACE.)'
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