Daily Yellowstone journal., 1888-04-17
A PHYSIOLOGICAL QUESTION.
with More Knowledge Of Physical Law,
Life May BE Extended indefinitely.


The food that man takes into his
stomach ought to be Of such quantity and
quality as would exactly repair the losses
which, through the action Of the several
organs, his body is to undergo. If it is
excessive in either of these directions, or
II it is deficient disease of some kind will
certainly be the result. Ii he knew
enough to be able to adjust his daily food
10 the expected daily requirements Of his
system disease could never ensue through
the exhaustion of any one of his vital
organs.
Suppose, for instance, that a man ris-
ing in the morning should say to himself:
'Today have TO read ten pages Of
'Blackstone's Commentaries, twenty
pages of Don Quixote, to walk
three miles and a half, TO pay visit of
half an hours duration TO my grand
mother and to take my sweetheart 10 the
theatre, where shall spend two hours;
to do this / require taking out his pencil
and memorandum book as he speaks) so
much carbon, so much nitrogen giving,
of course the exact weight of these
several elementary suhstances). | can
get those precise quantities from eight
ounces Of bread, four ounces of eggs,
eight ounces of beef, six ounces Of pota-
toes, four ounces of fish, half pint of
beef soup, eight ounces Of water and
eight ounces of strong coffee to make
them 60 little further than they other
wise would.
Now suppose that he is exactly right
in his calculations, and that the food
taken is neither too great nor too little,
but exactly compensates the anticipated
losses, the death of each cell in the brain
or the heart or the muscles, etc, will he
followed by the birth Of a new cell
which will take its place and assume its
functions Gout, rheumatism, liver and
kidney diseases, heart affections, soften
ing and other destructive disorders of the
brain, the various morbid conditions to
which the digestive organs are subject,
would be impossible except through the
action Of some eXtc nal force. such rs the
swallowing Of sulI luric acid or blow
on the head or a s'lbwith knife, which
would come clea.ly within the class of
aNtiASHto' anu VI NNAloS ildlll VI tiltot
would he avoidaile.
Again, let u imagine that man knew
just 10 what extent his animal appetites
should be grltified. that he had ascer-
tanned definitely to what extent. if at all,
alcohol and tobacco and other stimulant
and sedatives should be used. that his
knowledge in regard 10 clothing were
perfect, that he had acquired complete
information of the manner in which his
house should be built and heated and
ventilated and otherwise he made sani-
tarily perfect, that cookery had become
ono Of the exact sciences. that he was
able to avoid the effects OF extreme heat
ard cold and moisture, that, in a word,
he had nothing to learn in regard to the
best way Of living SO as TO preserve him
self from all morbiiic causcs-su suppoSing
all this land / admit that il is not very
likely that he will for ages upon ages
acquire the almost God like omniscience
necessary, death would he impossible
and the eternal life TO which we are told
he was born would again be his.-Dr.
William \. Hammond in Philadelphia
Times.