Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-01-02
YEARS DO NOT MAKE OLD AGE.
Where There 10 vigor OF Mad and Body
There 10 Youth.


Where There 10 vixor Of Mad and Body
There 10 Youth.
From the British Medical Journal
Sir James Crichton- Browne has enumerated
instances Of long lived persons possessing oil
their faculties unimpaired, and opened up q
subject full Of interest and which even the
largo space occupied by his address did not
allow him fully to develop. 1t seems a phys
biological law that the functions Of the body
must be kept in exercise in order to maintain
their efficiency. and it il as true Of the body as
OF the mill or any other machine that it will
rust out from disuse sooner than wear out by
employment.
The fact is constantly observed in persons
engaged In commercial pursuits who retire at
the age Of sixty and then fail into rapid decay,
while professional men remaining at work pre-
serve their vigor, often for another twenty
years. 1t is Q sad thing to see the nerve centers
decay, with a corresponding weakness OF body
and mind but it 10 still Sadder to witness, with
| wrinkling Of the skin, corresponding shrink
| age Of the brain, allowing vanity and some OF
| the weakly passions which had been kept in
suppression to come again to the fore.
How different is the spectacle when the organ
Is kept in its integrity by constant use. and the
mental faculties preserved in all their pristine
force. We have only to look around and to
see ouT pOeth, D1suOps. Judges, ministers VI
state and medical men long lived and still in
mental vigor while working at their respective
avocations
Very remarkable. too. is It that as Sir James
Crichton-Browne observed, the freedom OF
Language will remain as good as ever. An illus
tration OF this was observed but lately in dis
| cussion on the London university questions,
| when two Of the most logical and well-expresscd
| speeches were made by octogenarans.
We can at the present time point to states
men and lawyers Of great age still before the
public. as not long ago We could see Lord
Palmerston, Lord. Brougham, Lord Lyndhurst
and others. In former times we may remem-
| Der Newton living to be eighty-fve, while
| Sophocles is said to have lived to be ninety
and Plato not much short Of this. 1t is clear
that hard work does not kill The toll, how
| ever, must be genial and diversified. The man
| OF business often had no occupation besides his
bread winning, whereas a medical man has a
variety OF subjects to interest him.
A speaker at the recent international con-
| gress showed by experiments upon school chill
| dren when three or four sums in arithmetic
| were given in succession that each sum showed
| an inferiority to the previous one. both in cor
RICHNESS and as regards the time in which 1t
was completed. The one faculty employed was
| gradually exhausted. fresh piece Of evidence
| showing the necessity for diversity of work.
In the treatmen: Of persons with mental
trouble or worry the very worst method is TO
rely too much on what is called rest, meaning
| thereby leaving the patient without other en-
p!oyment than to brood over his SORROWS. True
rest to the mind is only to be obtained by the
occupation of other faculties reused into action
by new surroundings.
There is no reason why old age should not be
as happy and as enjoyable as any other period
| OF life. II old persons be asked to their con-
seriousness Of age they will all with one consent
| declare that there exists nothing Of the kind.
| An old person has q knowledge OF his age the
same way as his friends, he sees it by looking
In the mirror: by remembrance of past events,
or the loss OF contemporaries. but he is not con-
| stantly carrying about with him the conviction
or feeling that he is DID, he is thus still able to
occupy himself in the business and pleasures OF
| life.
Button spoke Of his green old age as one Of
| the happlest periods of his life, although the
kind OF pleasures then experienced are, OF
| course, different from those of youth; and
even when decay comes, and man Is becom-
ing free from the remembrance Of all earthly
| things, then. as Sir James Paget says (and nc
| better example could be found of full mental
activity by continued work., il may be SC
| ordered on purpose that the spirit may be in
| vigorated and undisturbed In the contempla
ton OF the Frightening future.
Another writer, speaking of old age in refer
| ence to the decease of eminent barrister
also maintained that the highest faculties arr
Kept keen by constant exercise, and the braiI
| vigorous by constant action and renewal.
The understanding has often been in tn,
highest perfection in quite advanced old age
and that has been the best period of human
life. 1t is the time when the rage and storm o
passion have diedaway, when the jealousies ant
| cares OF career have ceased and been forgot
ten, when memory fingers upon all that is brigh
and charming in the past and when hope scat
tiers her most glowing tints over the fast ap
proaching future or, in the words Of Sir ]
Crichton- Browne himself:
I'VE are able to see in old age glimpses o
the truth that its chief glory consists, not il
the remembrance Of feats of prowess nor in tn
egotistic exercise of power, but in the conques
OF peevish weaknesses, in the brightness o
hope and in the discrimination OF happines
around.
Depend upon il, the best antiseptic agains
| senile decay is an active interest in human
affairs. and that those keep young longest VIII,
love most"
In the same key did Oliver Wendell Holmes
the laureate of old age. sing when some ladie
lately presented him with q loving cup in hi
eightisth year:
| Better love perfume in the empty bowl
| 1han wnes nepenthe for the aching soul;
Sweeter than song that ever poet sung.
1t makes the old heart young.