The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1874-07-15
The Advent Of Old Age.

There is a certain period in life
when the human body, as we'll as
mind, reaches its maximum point
of developement, and from that
point to the grave is the season OF
decay. This idea is far more for
chilly expressed by Shakespeare,
who makes Jacques, in GAS You
Like It," say: :,
"And so from hour to hour we ripe and
And then from hour to hour we rot and
And thereby hangs a tale"
At what age are we to look for
this change? The Psalnlist says
the days of men are three-score
years and ten, and some of our
readers, perhaps, will remember a
pretty little poem Of Willis, writ
ten on his thirty-ffth birthday, be-
ginning: "I'm half way home"
But poets are not very reliable au-
thority ip matters of science. A
distinguished French physiologist
writing upon the subject says; 81
propose the following natural d.
Visions and natural duration for the
whole life of man. The first ten
years of life are infancy, the second
ten are boyhood, the third ten first
youth, the fourth ten second youth,
from forty to ffty-fve first man
hood, and from fifty-fve to seven
ty is second manhood; and this pc.
rod of manhood is the age OF
strength, the manly period of hu-
man life: From seventy to eighty
five first old age, from eighty-hVe
to one hundred second Old age"
These deductions are made from
a. careful study of the question with
all the aids derivable from a thor
ouch knowledge of the sciences Of
anatemy and physiology. 1T is not
claimed but what these divisions
will vary in different individuals,
overlcap each other in the same
one; but that they are as correct
as such a general truth can be
stated we verify believe. These
limits are not so arbitrary as they
may seem at first sight. At ten
years of age the second toothing
is completed and infancy ought to
end; at twenty the Zones no longer
increase in length and boyhood
naturally ends; at forty the body
ceases to increase in size, and youth
ends and so on. After forty: what
ever increase there may be of the
body is in fat; and, instead of in
creasing strength and activity, this
latter growth weakens the body
and retards its motions. When
the growth ceases absolutely the
body rests, rallies and becomes in
vigorated. This period of internal
invigoration is the period of first
manhood, and lasts fifteen years,
when the period of old age begins !;
and this period begins when we
have no longer any reserve Of
strength to draw upon, and when
the natural strength is barely sufi-
cient for the daily work, and when
any thing unusual fatigues, and ex-
traordinary efforts impair the gen
eral health. When this condition
OF things arrive, old age has fairly
begun, and this period is at seven
ty years Of age.
Button, the distinguished iatur-
alist, says .'that the man who does
not die by accident or disease lives
to ninety or one hundred years. y
This is eminent authority no oae
will dispute; 1t is very true, how
ever, that comparatively few men
live to be ninety or a hundred years
old, but. that affords no argument
against the truth of our PROPOSE
ton. Most men die Of disease
only few of old age. The death
record of any place will show, how
ever, quite a respectable number of
people who live to be eighty 's:nd
one hundred years.