, 1892-01-12
ENJOYING OLD AGE.
POETS AND STATESMEN WHO HAVE
LIVED LONG AND WELL

OH 0dlito ASA hho
enumerated instances of long lived per-
sons possessing all their faculties unim-
paired, and opened up a subject full OF
interest and which even the large space
occupied by his address did not allow
him fully to develop. 1t seems a physio-
logical law that the functions of the
body must be kept in exercise in order
to maintain their efficiency, and it is 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 employ
ment.
The fact is constantly observed in per-
sons engaged in commercial pursuits,
who retire ut the age of sixty and then
fall into rapid decay, while professional
men remaining at work preserve their
vigor often for another twenty years
1t is n sad thing to see the nerve centers
decay, with a corresponding weakness
of body and mind, but it is still sadder
TO witness, with a wrinkling of the skin.
n corresponding shrinking of the brain.
allowing vanity and some of the weakly
passions, which had been kept in sup
preston, to come again to the fore.
How different is the spectacle when
the organ is kept in its integrity by o
slant use, and the mental faculties pre-
served in all their pristine force. We
have only to look around and to see u
poets, bishops, judges, ministers of state
and medical men long lived and still in
mental vigor while working at their re-
spectiye avocations. Very remarkable,
too, is it that, as Sir James Crichton-
Browne observed, the freedom of Ian
guage will remain as good as ever; an
example of this was observed but lately
in a discussion on the London univer-
sity questions, when two of the most
logical and well expressed speeches were
made by octogenarians.
oLD AGE o o BE UNHAPPY.
We can at the present time point to
statesmen and lawyers of great age still
before the public; as not long g we
could see Lord ~Palmerston. Lord
B-ougham, Lord Lyndhurst and others.
In former times we may remember
Newton living to be eighty-five, 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, however, must be
genial and diversified. The man OF
business often has no occupation besides
his breadwinning, whereas n medical
man has a variety of subjects to interest
him.
A speaker at the international con-
gress showed by experiments upons school
children, when three or four sums in
arithmetic were given in succession,
that each sum showed an inferiority to
the previous one, both in correctness
and as regards the time in which it was
completed. The one faculty employed
was gradually exhausted, a fresh piece
of evidence showing the necessity for
diversity of work. In the treatment 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 employment 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. If old persons be
asked as to the consciousness of age they
will all with one consent declare that
there exists nothing of the kind. An old
person has a knowledge of his age in the
same way as his friends; he sees it by
looking in the mirror, by remembrance
of past vents or the loss of contempt
r%aries, but he is not constantly carrying
about with him the conviction or feeling
that he is old; he is thus still able to oc-
cupy himself in the business and pleas
ures of life.
AUTHORITATIVE TESTIMONY.
Button spoke of his green old age as
one of the happiest periods in his life, al
though the kind of pleasures then expe-
rienced are, of course, different from
those of youth; and even when decay
comes, and a man is becoming free from
the remembrance of all earthly things,
then, as Sir James Paget says land no
better example could be found of full
mental activity by continual work., it
may be SO ordered on purpose that the
spirit may be invigorated and undis-
turbed in the contemplation of the
Frightening future. Another writer,
speaking of old age in reference to the de-
cease of an eminent barrister, also main
tanned that the highest faculties are kept
keen by constant exercise, and the brain
vigorous by constant action and renewal.
The understanding has often been in
the 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 of passion have died
away, when the j~ealousies and cares Of
a career have ceased and been forgotten,
when memory fingers upon all that is
bright and charming in the past, and
when hope scatters her most glowing
tints over a fast approaching future; or,
in the words Of Sir j.. Crichton- Browne
himself: 1--WE are able to see in old age
glimpses of the truth that its chief glory
consists not in the remembrance of feats
of prowess nor in the egotistic exercise
of power, but in the conquest of peevish
weakness, in the brightness of hope and
in the discrimination of happiness
around. Depend upon it, the best anti
septic against senile decay is an active
interest in human affairs, and that those
keep young longest who love most
British Medical Journal.
Lost Anyhow.
Wife-And so you've failed and lost
everything?