Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1895-01-16
CAUSE OF OLD AGE.
Shrinking of the Arteries Marks
the Beginning.
The DEGENERATIVE PROCESS.
Meat Eating Said to be the Cause OF Early
Decay.-Comparisons Between
Russians and Germ ans.

Psychologists have long been familiar
with the fact that CHARACTERISTIC
change in the tissues takes place III adj
yanced age, which, provided an indi-
vidual dies natural rather than yio-
lent death, is the real cause OF the ter
mination of life. This change in the
tissues is the result OF gradual shrink
ing of the arteries, which marks the be-
ginning of old age, and which occas-
ions, as it progresses. gradual starya-
ton and shrinking of the tissues. The
organs of man of advanced years are
nll smaller than in the same individual
when In his prime. The cause OF this
degenerative change in the arteries is
a question which has been made the
subject of much study and speculation.
A few years ago an Italian bacteriolo-
Qist proclaimed that he had discovered
the germ of old age" The idea was
SEQ lted by all scientific men, but there
may be something in it. after all. At
any rate there seems to be good ground
for believing that germs, If not spe-
cifio germ, are at least one Of the most
important influences which bring ON
old age.
It has long been known that the
ptomaines or toxic substances produced
by microbes, are capable Of setting up
various degenerative processes. De-
generative changes in the joints, the
liver, the kidneys, and other organs,
have been directly traced to this cause.
DIR. Dana, an excellent authority in
nervous diseases, has recently called
attention to the fact that clerosis and
other degenerative changes in the brain
and spinal cord are doubtless due to the
influence of ptomaines absorbed from
the alimentary canal. The writer has
for some time held the opinion that the
degenerative changes incident to ad-
vanoing age are due to the same cause;
namely, the toxines absorbed from
the alimentary canal. These toxines
are constantly present in greater or less
quantity according to the extent to
which Preventative and putrefactive
processes prevail in the stomach and in
testines. These processes depend. first,
upon the integrity of the digestive pro-
cess in the individual, and, secondly,
upon the character of the substances
introduced into the alimentary canal as
food
The strong and offensive sdor Of the
flesh of the dog and other carnivorous
animals, places them in wide con-
trast with herbivorous animals in this
respect. The source of this strong odor
Is to be found in the characteristic
difference in the contents of the ali
mentary canals Of the two classes. The
fecal matter of the dog and other car
nivorous animals is in the highest de-
gree putrescent and repulsive, while
that of the herbivorous or vegetarian
animal is very much less offensive
The same is true with reference to the
urine of the two classes The strong
odors connected with the body of the
dog and other carnivorous animals.
evidently find their origin in the de-
composition of flesh taking place in the
alimentary canal. Tho decomposition
of vegetable substance is rarely accom-
panied by the formation Of extremely
offensive or toxic substances, whereas
the decomposition of flesh gives rise to
poisonous substances of most extraor-
dinarily loathsome and deadly proper
tieIi
These considerations suggest at once
the thought that while all human be-
ings must necessarily be constantly sub
ject to the influence of toxic substances
generated in their own alimentary
canal. and consequently must grow old
and sucoumb sooner or later to the de-
generative processes Of old ago. these
processes may be greatly accelerated by
subsisting upon diet which favors the
production of toxic substances in the
alimentary canal.
If this theory is correct, we should
expect to find the greatest longevity
among those animals and those men
who subsist upon the simplest and |
purest diet, other conditions being |
equal. 1t would be impossible to find
sharper contrast than that which ex-
lists in this respect between carnivorous
and vegetarian animals. Contrast. for
example. the dog. which grows old,
becomes rheumatic and infrm in eight
or ten years. with the donkey, which
lives useful life to forty or fifty
years. and the elephant, which is still
active and useful at hundred years.
The same is true among men. The
greatest number Of persons now alive
above one hundred years Of age, is to
be found among Russian peasants who
rarely taste meat. These people have
been practical vegetarians for so many
centuries-perhaps from the earliest
ages-that anatomists have noted
distinct difference in the length of their
canals as compared with
those Of the flesh-eating Germans,
whose ancestors were cannibals. H.
&, in Modern Medicine.