The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1872-10-17
A Long and Healthy Life.

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of vig.r, enjoying every day of our ex
istence. 1t is imperiously our duty t,
study the best means of promoting 81
happy condition. If we thank tn,
Great Creator of all for the life He ha
bestowed on us, we should endeavor t.
retain His gift in the fullest perfection
1t would be well for mankind if tn,
principles of physiology, and the laws O.
hygiene as deduced therefrom, formed &
part of every course Of education; fol
then men, being acquainted with the
great causes of disease, and the best
means of preserving health, would sc
conduct themselves as to secure the one
and avoid the other"
1t will, perhaps, seem incredible tc
many persons that health or length OF
days should be at all under our own con-
troll. Numbers of worthy people are Sc
disposed to look upon everything that
happens as dispensation of Providence,
that has to be submitted to whether or
not, that they will hardly like to be told
of laws which regulate health and life,
and by obedience to which the one NAV
be promoted and the other heightened.
There is, however, no reason to doubt
the fact; and every one may decide the
question for himself, by living strictly
in accordance with those laws, and
making the satisfactory result
Man lives and grows by the functions
of digestion, respiration, circulation, and
secretion. The food is converted into
blood, and becomes vitalized, and in this
state is propelled to every part of the
system, to nourish and renew, and to
remove such matters as, having per-
formed their functions, have become
effete, and would prove noxious if not
removed.
In infancy and childhood, the nutri
tive or building-up process is ceaseless
and rapid anything which tends to
check it, such as deficient supply or bad
quality of food, is not only to be care
fully avoided, but is highly blamable.
Children require to be plentifully fed
with suitable food if the appetite be
cheated, there will be imperfect devel-
opment, and disease, If not deformity,
through all after-life. When, however,
all the organs are fully developed, and
the body has attained maturity, a diff
ferent relation of the action occurs. The
blood-vessels are only called upon to re-
place what the absorbents remove, and
tor period the normal condition of the
frame may be regarded as one approach
ing to perfect equilibrium. During
heiSkatr thif state Of ymatqEjtfy tbs bQay
form, or vigor, except inasmuch as the
continued exercise of some parts, or the
disuse of others, may occasion greater
or less degree of development. Hence
it is that persons in middle life should
be careful to control their appetite, and
rigidly refrain from eating too much.
Middle life is however, the period when
people are disposed to think that they
ought to indulge in creature comforts,
their position in life is generally taken
by that time, and SO g Widespread table
tempts them into the daily practice of
taking more than they want, and ILL
health is the inevitable consequence.
At the age of fifty there is usually an
increase in the bulk of the body, by de-
post of fat chiefly on the trunk but at
the same time the face shrinks, the eye
lids become loose, the crows feet APP
pear, and here and there Time traces
furrow on the countenance, which
henceforth he will plow deeper and
deeper. The muscles, too, fall away,
and the skin becomes dry and harsh.
Except in rare cases, the hair turns gray
and loses its gloss, crispness, and curl, or
becomes thin and falls off. AS age ad-
vances, so do these characteristics mark
themselves more strongly the Elasticity
which once gave freedom and ease to all
the movements of the body and limbs is
lost in continually increasing rigidity
and consolidation. The bulk diminishes,
in consequence of the absorption of fat;
the muscles become stringy and fibrous,
and often weak; the voice falls into
piping treble; the eyesight needs artif-
cial assistance, the hearing is blunted
in short, all the senses lose more or less
of their dclicacy with age.
There is somethingin this which makes
a long life appear undesirable; yet we
have many proofs in ancient and mod
ern times that old age is not by any
means incompatible with cheerfulness
and a capacity for enjoyment.
Doctor Van Oven gives tables of 1000
persons who lived ages from 100 to 1S5
years. A noteworthy instance of what
simple and regular living will effect is
afforded by Cornaro, the Venetian, who
had almost killed himself by excesses at
the age of forty. He then became strict
ly attentive to his diet and course of life,
and lived sixty-four years longer-to
the age of lO4.
"How few really die of old age !' OBJ
serves Doctor Van Oven. "Parr's death
at 152 was premature, induced by fool
ish change from the simple diet and
active habits Of peasant to the luxu-
rious ease and exciting foods and drinks
of country gentleman. His body was
examined by the great Harvey, who
found all the organs in SO sound con-
dition, that, but for intemperance and
inactivity, he would, in all probability,
have lived many years longer" An
English gentleman named Hastings,
who died in 1850, at the age of 100, rode
to the death OF a stag at ninety. Thos.
Wood, parish clerk, lived to l60, and
could read to the last without spec
tacles, and only kept his bed one day"
j. Witten, Il weaver, was "never sick,
never used spectacles, hunted a year be-
fore his death, and died suddenly" at
the age of l02. Francis Atkins " was
porter at the Palace Gate, Salisbury it
was his duty to wind up clock which
was at the top of the palace; and he
performed this duty until within year
of his death lat 1922. He was remark
ably upright in his department, and
walked well to the last" Margaret
M'Dorval, Scottish woman, who died