Eureka weekly sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1887-1902, 1897-05-08
CHANCES OF LIFE OF OLD MEN.
science says Age IL No More q Dis
ease Than Childhood.

fhSS @hsthooVoo-
DIR. Adolph Bloch read paper the
other day before the Paris Society Of
Anthropology, says the New York
Sun, in which ne ridiculed the theory
that old age is a disease, contending
that il is no more disease than child
hood. With precautions an old man
is no more exposed TO maladies than is
a Younger man, provided he has not
taxed his strength too heavily.
IL is difficult TO Say at VIII at period Of
life old age arrives. There are many
causes that bring on precocious senil-
ity. Sometimes one man is very old
at 30, and another presents all the at
tributes OF second youth at 90. IL is
more logical to describe old age as that
period in life during which man dies
naturally. II he does not succumb to
malady or an accident. Very few old
men, as a matter OF fact, die Of dis
ease, however strange this may APP
pear. A great many OF them drop off
from simple exhaustion, without leav-
ing the least trace Of any malady. No
doubt there are maladies that attack
old men, such, for instance. as conges-
ton OF the brain, inflammation OF the
the lungs, and arterial atheroma. that
is to say. a degree OF thickness, more
marked in the tunics Of the arteries,
which become as solid and brittle as
pipestems. Many deaths OF old peo-
pie are attributed TO these causes, but
we must not forget that they do not
suffice to explain all. Bichst came
nearer the truth when he said that We
die in detail, and continue TO die until
the day when We quit this earthly
scene altogether.
DR.. Bloch shares the ideas OF Bichat.
and he cites statistics to prove that
they are not wrong. He secured from
VI. Jacques Bertillon the Partisan rec
ord Of the deaths from senility OF both
men and women during q period OF
ii years, taking the age OF 60 as the
average. From these figures it ap-
pears that mortality among old people
Is greatest between so and s5, while it
diminishes suddenly from the Goth
year. That is to say, the malady takes
lighter hold upon an old person who
has reached that age and passed the
critical period named above. In other
words, an old person who reaches 90
years without accident has q good
chance OF becoming centennarisn
and dying Of old age only.
The deaths Of old people in whom
no disease can be discovered are al
ways put down in statistics under the
name Of senile debility. senile ex.
haustlon. senile cachexy and senility.
Now, the natural death through SEN
illty is not known, according to DIR.
Bloch. II has sometimes been noticed
among old people in the hospital OF
sainte.Perine, but the anatomical ex-
animation in most cases revealed no
defect. and it was natural to come to
the conclusion that death was due to
progressive weakness.
Mortality among the old is variable,
according to the periods of the year.
IL is highest during the Winter months,
without at all being assisted by pneu-
monis. II is also variable according
70 localities, as can be proved by con-
suiting the statistics oi the depart
ments of France. There are some re-
gions where men live longer than they
DO In others. For instance, Yonne
and Gironde are particularly favored
In this matter. How this ia nobody
can tell, hut it is a fact duly observed.