The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1888-03-08
NO ONE NEED DIE.
Dr.. Hammond's Plan for Living Forever.

NO ONE NEED DIE.
Dr.. Hammond's Plan for Living Forever.
People die through thsir ignorance of
the laws which govern their existence
and also from their inability or indisposi.
ton to obey those laws with which they
are acquainted. We are told in the first
chapter of Genesis that before Adam ate
the forbidden fruit the life Of man was
to be eternal. But with the acquisition
of the knowledge of good and evil death
became his portion. 1t seems to me that
it would be more in accordance with the
actual state of affairs at the r-"sent time
to believeithat death came th. ugh the
loss of knowledge rather than from his
obtaining it, for now he loses his life not
through an excess of knowledge but
through an excess Of ignorance.
do not see that there is any physio.
logical reason why even at. the present
day man should die. From knowledge
of the causes of disease greater than that
possessed fifty years ago, and from the
advance of medical science leading to
better methods of treating the deviations
from the normal standard of health to
which we are subject, the life of gene.
ration has within the period mentioned
been heightened five or six years. That
is, the average man instead of living
thirty years, as he did fifty years ago,
now lives nearly thirty-six years. Look.
ing at the question from this standpoint
only, it will be seen that it is merely a
question of time when his life will be
extended to thousands of years, and that
with an eternity of time his life also will
be eternal.
Let us take one aspect of the subject
and We shall not, think, fail to perceive
that when We thoroughly understand it
and are willing to live in accordance
with its requirements, death, unless by
accident, will cease to exist:
We know that this life is continued
through the death of the various atoms
of the several tissues that enter into the
composition of bis body. His organs are
kept in action by force and this force
results as does all other force from the
metamorphosis Of matter. Thus to obtain
heat We burn wood or coal, and ashes
and gases are evolved in this process; to
generate electricity ne convert zinc or
some other metal into a salt through the
action of an acid and electricity is set
free. In the body, the brain, the heart,
the liver, the muscles all act through the
destruction or rather alteration of the
substance of which they are composed
With every thought that emanates from
the brain, with every. emotion which it
feels, with every act of the will which it
originates, with every perception which
it experiences, certain portion of the
central tissue is broken down into sim-
pier substance and through various chan.
nels is excreted from the body. With
every rulsation that the heart makes
some part Of the organ, though small it
may be in amount, is destroyed, and is
cast out of the system to make room. for
new substance. With every contraction
of a muscle, no matter how small from
the effort required to WELD the heaviest
kind of q sledge hammer to that necessa'
ry to lift a pin or crook finger or wink
an eyelid, muscular tissue dies and being
no longer fitted for the purpose for which
it was formed, is taken up by the veins
and like that coming from the brain and
heart and the lungs and the stomach and
all the other organs which serve the pur.
poses Of the body, is gotten rid of through
the kidneys and the skin and the respi.
ration to be reformed outside of the sys.
tenn into other substances which in their
turn make the food by which the body is
again nourished.
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 direc-
tions, 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 daily require
ments of his system, disease could never
ensue through the exhaustion of any one
of his vital organs. A large majority of
the morbid affections to which he is sub.
iect are due to lack of this knowledge.
Suppose, for instance, that man on
rising in the morning should say to him
self, To-day I have to read ten pages of
'Blackstone's Commentaries twenty
pages of Don Quixote,' to walk three
miles and half, to pay visit of half an
hours duration to my grandmother and
to take my sweetheart to the theatre
where I shall spend two horifs to do this
Irequire taking ont his pencil and men,
orandum book as he speaks) so much
carbon, 80 much nitrogen (giviug, of
course, the exact weight of these several
elementary substances). I can get those
precise quantities from eight ounces of
bread, four ounces of eggs, eight ounces
of beef, six ounces of potatoes, four
ounces OF fish, half pint of beef soup,
eight ounces of water and eight ounces
of strong coffee to make them 60 little
farther than they would otherwise. In
case l have an extraordinary demand
made upon me for mental or physical
exertion I shall have to add to these sub.
stances others which will compensate for
the increased loss"
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