Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-03-10
WHY PEOPLE DIE.
EMINENT OPINION THAT DEATH
Is NOT A NECESSITY.
Merely a Question of Time When
Life Will Last for a Thou
sand Years.


obey those laws with which they are ac-
quainted. We are told in the first chapter
of Genesis that before Adam ate the for
hidden fruit the life of man was to be eter-
nal, but with the acquisition of the knowl-
edge 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 present time to believe that
death came through his 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 igno-
rance.
do not see that there is any physiolog-
ical reason why even at the present day
man should die From knowledge OF the
causes of diseases greater than that posses
sed fifty years ago, and from the advance
of medical science leading to better meth
DDS of treating the deviations from the nor
NAL standard of health to which we are
subject, the life of generation has within
the period mentioned been heightened from
five to six years. That Is, the average man,
instead of living thirty years, as he did fifty
years ago, now lives nearly thirty six. Look
ing at the question from this standpoint
only, it will be seen that it is merely a ques-
ton Of time when his life will be extended
to thousands of years, and that with an eter-
nifty 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 re-
quirements, 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 the compost
ton of the body. His organs are kept in
action by force, and this force results, as
does all other force, from the metamorpho-
sis of matter Thus to obtain heat we
burn wood or coal, and ashes and gases are
evolved in the process; to generate cleo
tricity we convert zinc or some other metal
into 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 al
! teration, of the substance of which they are
composed. With every thought that ema-
mates from the brain; with every emotion
| which it feels; with every perception
| which it experiences certain portion of
| the central tissue is broken down into sim
pier substances and through various chan
nels is excreted through the body. With
every pulsation that the heart makes some
part of the organ, small though it may be
in amount, is destroyed and is cast out of
the system to make room for new sub
| stance. With every contraction of a
muscle, no matter how small, from the
effort required to WELD the heaviest kind
of sledge hammer to that necessary to
lift pin or to crook finger or to wink an
eyelid, muscular tissue dies, and being no
longer fitted for the purposes for which it
was formed, is taken up by the veins, and
like that coming from the brain and the
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 respira-
ton to be reformed outside of the system
into other substances which in their turn
make the food by which the body is again
nourished.
The food that man takes into the stom-
ach ought to be of such quantity and quail
ity as would exactly repair the losses
which, through the action of the several
| organs, his body is to undergo. If it is ex-
cessive 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
daily requirements of his system, disease
could never ensue through the exhaustion
of any one of his vital organs large
r,oior,fv nf tba ,oo,hid 10 ,rb Oh
he is subject are due to a lack of this
knowledge.
Suppose, for instance, that man on ris-
ing in the morning should say to him
self: To-day have to read ten pages of
Blackstone Commentaries ten pages of
Don Quixote,' to walk three miles and a
half, to pay visit of half an hours dura-
ton to my grandmother, and to take my
sweetheart to the theater, 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 sub
stances. | can get these precise quantities
from eight ounces of bread, four ounces of
eggs, eight ounces of beef, six ounces of
potatoes, four ounces of fish, 4 half pint of
beef soup, eight ounces of water and eight
ounces of strong coffee, to make them go
little farther than they otherwise would
In case have any extraordinary demands
upon me for mental or physical exert ton,
| shall have to add to these substances
others which will compensate for the in
creased loss"
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 be followed by the
birth of new cell, which will take its
place and assume its functions. Gout
rheumatism, liver and kidney diseases,
heart affections, softening and other de-
structive disorders of the brain, the various
morbid conditions to which the digestive
organs are subject, would be impossible ex-
cept through the action of some external
force, such as swallowing sulphuric acid or
blow on the head or stab with 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
lust to what extent his animal appetites
should be gratified; that he had ascertained
definitely to what extent, if at all, alcohol
and tobacco and other stimulants and Sc
datives 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
made sanitarily perfect; that cookery had
become one of the exact sciences that he
was able to avoid the effects of extreme
heat and cold and moisture; that, in
word, he had nothing to learn in regard to
the best way of living, so as to preserve
himself from all morbifc diseases-suppos-
ing all this land / admit that it is not very
likely that he will for ages and ages acquire
the most God-like omniscience necessary
death would be impossible, and the eternal
life, to which we are told he was born,
would then be his.
From consideration of these points we
perceive that people die,
First-From ignorance of all the laws of
life.
Second-From willfulness in not obeying
the laws they know.
Excessive Sailing.
Sinutilar foot bro,rbt o,,t -