Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-08-01
Providence Journal

nouncement that Dr.. Browu->a~--,
the venerable French physician. t-.--.
covered the long7sou-ht-f5r .'t.-,. --..
ciple - and produced q connection nj
can indefinitely pToioug human 4v...
ence. Men have long since ceased r..
seek for the elixir OF life over wa..r .-..
erations dreamed, and most w.r. ra..
hope, have i, CgAsed to Gaze 55- e..
or think of the. mysterious es,s-..
OF NarEraye or Van Ee.u.-- sam,
with the same amused ..- v.E
which they read of the painful struggles
the Qlchemists for the secret which sae-,5
transform baser metals into ..... --...
very naturally seemed absurd. t..r fin.
sgreat Psychologist OF the &.ua-a.-;h .a,-
fury should have seriously set himself d.
work to prove the possibility uf ta. srF
sought by man in the middle ages ...r
the disposition to regard 5ne s,.-rrsr
hoax is certainly paruoUabIe, Jusu.ter n.
fact that even eminent physu.a-.s-, .,
the Nineteenth century have eN.-.s,.f
the opinion that there is no phy-.a..-f.s-
reason why man should die.
But the story IS not a.tuge-Ier hoax
Dr.. Brown SeqUard has nos r~usr,,sfa
tally, but he certainly appears t.rsr.
persuaded himself that be has dtscoysrss
something very nearly akin Ct. tla,
vital principle which Mir. A.lrelR
Wallace still believes TO exist T.eGs.
tin@uiShed FreuchmGu-so saws that AHA
review, the New York Aedica. journal
has long believed that such rruar.a
resides in one of the organs of the BODY
at least so far that the blood passing
through it IS enormously Influenced
thereby. With blood taken from tue
veins of young animals hs Ias
therefore for Il series of years been r-
oculating old and brokeu-dowu animals.
and with such surprising results tina, b.
has more recently been experimenting
upon his own system. Dr. Brown
Sequard is by no means q young man
he is fast nearing four score-but these
simultaneous injections seem To- havers-
juvenated him, rs well as the animals
upon which he first made his tests An
old and decTepit dog became eu1owe.
anew with fTiskiness of comparative
youth; and he himself, as he tells tie
Paris Societe de BiOiOgie, has felt his
muscular strength in great measure Tee
turned and his mental viEOU materially
increased
This is practically al that is yet known
in this country of the result of the doe
tors experiments or of his deduction
concerning them though il is safe TO say
that he has had no thought beyond tls
possibility of so restoring the waste oi
the system rs TO temporarily postpone the
day Of inevitable dissolution. But
CLAIM even of so much will not be Tee
ceived without much questioning anil
after the fullest confirmation, because Of
its wide importance, ana more Ulrtca--
larIy because of the radical and almost
fundamental changes ia our view
of physiological laws which it .a~
wolves. Indeed, it is not easy
TO believe, without the evidence
of wears of the most careful and the Wa-
est extended experiment and obseUa-
tion, that there can be any single pToply-
Tactic against all the ills of mortality.
Nor is such a thing to DE desired as
that man should violate the laws Of bis
being and still escape the penalty OF bus
misdeeds.
Much has been written upon this su.-
iect III recent years. Mr.. H. &. hIA
published an interesting little WORK upon
1.-The Possibility of Not Dying s'Ir
half a dozen years ago. Dr. W il.
Hammond back in the sixties advanced
the theory that there is no TAyso.ogel.
reason for death; Sir Spencer Wells, las
famous English surgeon, has quite re-
Gently expressed his belief that the 1a--
uraI duration of human life should De 81
least one hundred years, with an o'e--
siOnaI extension of some ten or L.tas-
wears more; and even q century az.
i3ichat, whose munitions wOudrI.u-F a-'
ticiputed the conclusions of "a later s,.-
ence held that the normal iaH--f--t o-
our race should be at least ninety -s.A
years, basing his inference upon The l+..
that the life term of all known l.-.--
mails exceeds at least six times tie p-il.-
of their growth But all these nave
based their opinions upon the beiiel una.
the decay of the human organism c'.1
be prevented, not repaired that $50 ~
healthful surroundings, by
food and drink and coin
ing. by abstinence from -'
moralities and excuses physical anu
mental. And it is only a long IKE l-'
obtained that it is for the Gr'i .-
manitv 10 acquire The theory IS -..s'-
and it is something more than p..+s.0
The animal body differs from aA' --
ganic machine in the fact that .1
the power of self repair, AMI SOD -."-
the repair can be precisely ail-s.1
the waste life will continue. saw. "-
interruption OF accident. inc .--
Of course, is whether il is !i-. -..''-
possible to make these two at'..-s
exactly counterbalance each olhri i..
indefinite period, or even for a-s
great number of years
what is now considered the norma. .''.
ton of life. Possibly not, an" ls- .-
on the other hand, not little -.--.l 10.
that the average duration OF human Am
has been increased something more --
six years within the past haI l--
as a result Of our greater sanitary N-
edge and our knowledge Of the means ,-s
prevent disease. The list of u-eF1-''-
diseases is already large
and is being augmented from
to wear. Where We shall --.I
man can say, though the a'--..
have to proIong life already far -.
our Willingness TO apply the know
A hundred years may not DE- e- -ax
estimate CT the natural limit OF INC I'D
genera tions hence, and we -.--t
might indeed be much nearer lL-. ~
if as nations we strOve honestly anu t-,.f
sistentIy after it. vt least NJ Is 10 -- -.ss
that long life thus gained is the '|.- 18th
worth having, and the only -i.
would not prove q curse rather
blessing to the human race