, 1888-03-24
A PHYSIOLOGICAL QUESTION.
With More Knowledge of Physical Law,
Life May BE Extended Indefinitely.

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
if it is deficient, disease of some kind will
certainly be the result. If he knew
enough to be able to adjust his daily food
to the expected dahy requirements of his
system disease could never ensue through
the exhaustion of any one of his vital
organs.
Suppose, for instance, that a mar ris-
ing in the morning should say to himself:
To-day l rave to read ten pages of
'Blackstone's Commentaries twenty
pages of Don Quixote,' to walk
three miles and a half, to pay a visit of
half an hours duration to my grand
mother and to take my sweetheart to the
theatre, where 1 shall spend two hours;
to do this 1 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 s~ubstances). l 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, q half pint of
beef soup, eight ounces of water and
eight ounces of strong coffee to make
them go a 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 zach cell in the brain
or the heart or the muscles, etc, will be
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 external force, such as the
swallowing of sulphuric acid or a blow
on the head or a stab with "a knife, which
would come clearly within the class of
accidents, and of course many of these
would be avoidable.
Again, let us imagine that man knew
just to what extent his animal appetites
should be gratified, that he had ascer-
tanned definitely to what extent, if at all,
nv oDdSSo dllu julie olllllllldILS
and sedatives should be used, that his
knowledge in regard to 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 be made SAM
tarily perfect, that cookery had become
n Of the exact sciences, that he was
Bile to avoid the effects of extreme heat
and 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 morbifc causes-supposing
all this land / admit that 1t is not very
likely that he will for ages upon ages
acquire the almost God like omniscience
necessary, death would be impossible
and the eternal life to which we are told
he was born would again be his.-Dr.
William A. Hammond in Philadelphia
Times.