The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1888-05-05
THE LIFE OF MAN.
Or. Hammond Talks More About
the Ability of Man to Live Always.

[Dr. William A. Hammond In N. Y. Mail and
Express.l
In recent paper ia which this subject is
discussed l expressed the opinion that there
is no physiological reason why man should
die. The article has attracted great deal
of criticism. some Of it favorable, some of it
adverse and some Of is humorous. | do not
see why there should have been any comment
Of this last-named quality. The matter in all
its relations is certainly serious one, and L
was never more in earnest in my life than
when expressing the thoughts in question
They were necessarily fragmentary in char
acter, and, of course, lacked that fullness of
detail which l should have given had the
circumstances been favorable to elaboration.
/ am advised now, however, that few more
words from me upon the subject would be
acceptable, inasmuch as it appears that GER
tain of my observations, as well as the whole
drift of the article, have been by some Of my
critics greatly misunderstood.
In the first place it has been said that my
idea is not original. So far as the assertion
of the possibility of not dying is concerned
have made no claim to originality. But |
do claim that in enunciating this proposition
that there is no physiological reason for man
dying priority is mine. Even this claim,
however, has been disputed. and have been
referred to little book by Mr.. Hyland Z;
Kirk, entitled the"Possibility of Not Dying"
and published by Messrs Putnams in 1898,
for the original basis OF my statement and
argument. When | wrote my paper ] had
not seen the book in question, but L have
since read it very thoroughly, and, while l
lafa
production, | have been unable to find any
reasons for the eternal life OF man in the
slightest degree similar TO those | have adj
duced.
But evea Mr.. Kirk had based his little
book upon the proposition which forms the
foundation of my arguments, he still would
not be its original prop0under. For in
work of my own, entitled Treatise on Hy
giene," etc., and published in 1868, twenty
years before Mr.. Kinks brochure made its
appearance, used the following words:
"The animal body differs from any inor-
ganic machine in t1e fact that 1t possesse
the power Of self-repair. In the steam en-
sine, for instance the fuel which serves for
the production Of steam, and subsequently
for the creation Ct force, can do nothing to-
wards the repair OF TIE parts which nave De
come worn out by use. Day by day, BY con-
slant attrition and other causes, The engine
becomes less perfect and eventually must DC
put in order by the workman. In the anima.
body, however. the material which serves
for the production of force In the body itself,
and the substances which are taken as food
are assimilated according to their character
by those organs and parts which require
them.
The body is. therefore, undergoing contin-
ual change. The hair OF yesterday Is not
the hair Of today; the muscles which extends
the arm is not identically the same muscle
after as before its action; old material has
been removed and new has been deposited to
an equal extent; and though the weight and
form, the chemical constitution and histol0g-
ical characters have been preserved, the iden-
tity has been lost.
$50 long as these two actions exactly
each other life continues. III
it were possible so to adjust the repair to the
waste that neither would be in excess, there
is no physiological reason why life, II pro-
tected against accidents, should not continue
But this is not with our present
knowledge possible and consequently decom-
position eventually becomes predominant
and death from old age results.
1t has been alleged that if man were never
to die the time would come when the earth
would be insufficient by reason Of his great
numbers for his sustenance, and that then
death from starvation would result. As q
proposition, this is doubtless
true, but practically 1t would be found to be
of very little Importance, for the earth Is
capable of supporting, If all the arabic land
were properly cultivated, a population many
million times larger than that which it now
contains. Moreover, my argument related
solely to physiological reasons for the per-
petuity of life, and of course, therefore, to
factors operating within the human body.
Even if man thoroughly understood the laws
of his being, and were wise enough to live in
accordance with this knowledge, death would
by no means be abolished. He would still be
liable to be struck by lightning flor with all
his knowledge of the laws Of electricity he
would not be able always to protect hlmselD
to be drowned by floods, to be blown up by
dynamite and, above all, to be killed in war.
For it Is not to be supposed that complete
ness of knowledge in regard to health would
make man any more moral or any less ag-
gressive than he is at present.
Besides, II through the possibility OF not
dying by living as he ought to live, mankind
should increase in number to such an extent
as to be beyond the sustaining capacity OF
the earth, the surplus would of coarse die OF
starvation, and very properly, too. We
should have them, on large scale, the prin-
cipal of the survival of the fttest" brought
into action. 1t would be the worthless that
would die and thus the balance would be
tending toward proper adjust
ment.
1t is scarcely possible, however, that all
mankind would, under the most favorable
acquire perfect knowledge
of the laws of life and at the same time IN
yariably live In accordance with those laws;
L
incapable people just as there are now.
man at the present day knows perfectly well
that if he walks the streets OF New 0rk IN q
March night clothed in evening dress ana
without an oyercoat he is liable 70 get pneu-
monia, and vet every year dozen or more
examples of such faulty come to our knowl-
eye He knows also that indulgence in al
coholic liquors to excess through many years
will eventually give him hobnail liver, even
il he does not die sooner OF cerebral hem
orrhage or some other disease of his nervous
system, or be hanged for numbering his wife
and vet he continues to drink as though each
dram were potion of the elixir Of life"
Is it at all probable, then, that the most
attainable knowledge IN regard 70
the laws of life would add yery greatly to
mans average longevity? To be sure with
increased length Of life it might reasonably
be supposed that his brain should reach such
an advanced stage of development as to in
crease his mental capacity, put there would
having acquired the requisite knowledge,
would not experience any increase in the
size or quality of their brains, and who would
be as great fools as similar in
dividuals are at the present day.
Eternity is long. 1t may be millions of
years before any part of mankind will obtain
perfect knowledge of the laws of life. but
that such perfection is attainable | firmly be-
lieve. As stated in the previous article the
life Of generation has been perceptibly
AhSAO - nv ACetoOn w QOuOb
that the ratio Of increase will 60 on from
year to year. Our sanitary knowledge and
our knowledge of the means to prevent dis
ease are augmented day by day until now
they are, in some respects, absolutely perfect
The list of preventable diseases is already
long one, and If we do not avail ourselves Of
the information we posses in regard to them
II is simply because we are hampered by ig-
norant and parsimonious and corrupt legisla-
lators and other officials. Our practice is
far behind our ability in the mat
ter of preserving the health and thus OF adj
ding to the length Of mans life. 1t Is not
to suppose that next year will
find us where we are now or that the year
after that will show no advance from where
we shall be next year. If, therefore, the life
Of a generation has increased SIX years with
in the last half century as the result among
other causes, of the almost complete sup
of smallpox and cholera, to say
nothing of the absolute abolition from civil
lied nations of such lpestilences as the
''plague," the ''black death" the sweating
sickness" and others equally malignant, why
should il not be heightened at least six years
every subsequent half century, so that at the
end Of five hundred years the life of a gen.
Grafton would be not less than a hundred
years? There would then he some persons
on the earth at least three hundred years old
and what are five hundred years in the life
Of the earth?