Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1889-09-11

] NelShJ from the atrOphy of its parts
but the functions are less perfectly per
/ formed Thus, the action of the heart
becomes weaker and less frequent, the
/ respiration slower, the digestion
weaker, the muscles thinner, the skin
I shTunken, the joints stiff, the teeth fall
! out, the hair becomes gray, the arteries
/ become OssIied and the entire form
losses its elasticity and becomes les
I EJECT than adult age. The whole ten
: Cency Of the body is To consolidation.
/ The organs of special sense also be-
Z come affected. The eye loses its bright
| Less and the SIGHT grows dim and pres
| byOpIc; the taste Is less acute, and the
] sense of smell is almost, if not alto
: Eether, lost at comparatively early
| period
With these changes the mind also
/ participates The memory is the first
faculty To fail, and the others follow in
I rapid succession.
IL these alterations are gradual and
[ uniform throughout the system, death
\ from old age Is the result; but it rarely
| happeps that arrangement of some one
important function does not produce
/ this result before the general breaking
/ up of the vital principle occurs.
During the first ten or fifteen years
/ the decay OF the organism IL so slowly
effected that very little inconvenience
results, and occasionally we meet with
! individuals who are able to withstand
/ the tendency to degeneration to a very
advanced period of eXistance, but IT Is
nevertheless progressing, imperceptibly
It may be, but surely, TO the extinction
OF that mysterious principle we cal
life.
II. = .
| the conditions which extend the period
of decline. The diseases to which It is
especially liable are those which are re-
lated to the principle organs of life
/ ApOpleXy, paralysis, organic diseases
of the heart and lungs, of the large
vessels of the liver and kidneys, are
I frequently encountered.
l have alluded to the changes that
eusue In the mind as consequence of
advanced age, but 1t is not 10 be sup
posed that there is a failure of all the
mental faculties. Indeed there is,
| during the first ten or fifteen years of
/ this period, an increase in the strength
and powers of endurance of the mind,
and quite often this process continues
for several additional years. The Judge
ment, owing to the experience which
| the individual has obtained in the af-
fairs of life. becomes rlper and more
unerring there Is greater power of de-
termining the value of facts and a less
disposition to be governed by the emo
tions.
But after time the intellect be-
comes less absorptive of perceptions,
and less creative OF ideas. The power
of mental concentration is markedly
diminished. The memory fails; es-
pecially in regard to recent occurrences.
The Imagination loses the VIvIdnesS
and extensive range of youth and ma
turity, and the judgment becomes
feeble and vacillatiug. The individual
begins to rely on others for advice as TO
his affairs, and little 10y little he parts
, with his own will, even in matters OF
the smallest import auce. The emo
tions no longer sway the who'e being as
they once did, and some of them are
utterly eXtingulshed. Often, however,
maudlin or fretful condition is devel-
oped, which ends with its own eIpres-
sion of tears or sniflles, never prompt
I ing TO yOlitIOnal impulses or producing
more than a momentary disturbance
To all this, however, there are some
times notable exceptions, but yet not
enough to Invalidate the law that the
period in question is one of decline IN
fact as well as In name.
Undoubtedly much can be done by
! the observance of ordinary hygienic
rules to retard all these changes and to
postpone the inevitable death, but 1t is
none the less certain that many per-
SONS live to an advanced Old age and IN
the enjoyment of a fair measure of
health who violate every sanitary law.
They take little or no exercise, they
indulge themselves IN all the pleasures
uf the table, they drink alcoholic
liquors to excess, they disregard the
obligations of chastity, and yet they
do not seem To suffer N health, mental
or physical. These, however, must lie
re .arded as exceptions to the general
rule, moreover, ii Is quite probable that
but for their improper mode of living
they would have been IN still better
condition, and death would have been
still further postponed.
Bearing in mind the fact stated in
the preceding remarks, II Is apparent
that there is less demand made upon
the organs of life in old age than
during either tie period of increase
or of maturity, and that these or
gans are less capable of perform NJ
their functions than in early, middle.
or adult life. 1t follows, therefore,
that they must be less severely taxed;
the stomach, for instance, should re-
ceive less food, for its power OF diges-
tion has diminished. Severe physical
exertion should be avoided, for the
muscles, especially the heart, has lost
In tone. Tue man, for instance, who
can at thirty run hundred yards or
more with scarcely any acceleration OF
his pulse or respiration, would run
risk of falling dead if he were 10 at
tempt this feat at seventy
But nothing Is 50 conducive Tor
health in old age and the cultivation OF
a genial frame of mind as not losing
interest in the affairs of life To grow
old gracefully is of itself the best anti
dote TO the inroads of time The MINI
retains its hold upon matters which
have interested 1t, and loses almost
imperceptibly the y.gor natural To IL.
The various organs of the body feel
this influence and continue TO perform
their various functions with a promp-
titude and efficiency which would lie
imposslbIe in one imbued with melan-
choly or full of the consciousness that
life has lost its charms Ii Is folly for
elderly persons to seclude themselves
from the world and TO cease To mingle
with the young. The inmates OF tie
homes for the aged may sometimes be
louged-lived, but their existence Is