The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1897-02-27
-GHAMCEssGF LEE OF.;7OLD MEM

II :
Science says Age Is No More Disease
Than Childhood. n.
4 Or. :Adolph Bloch read a paper tile
other day before the Paris Society of
Anthropology, in which he ridiculed the
theory that old age is disease, con-
tending that it is no more disease than
childhood. 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.
1t is difficult to say at what period of
life old age arrives. There are many
causes that bring on precocious SEN
ility. Sometimes one man is very old a.:
30, and another presents all the attri:o-
utes of second youth at SO. 1t is more
logical to describe old age as that period
in life during which aman dies natural
ly, if he does not succumb to malady
Or an accident. Very few old men, as Il
matter of fact, die of disease, however
strange this may appear. A great many
of them drop off from simple exhaus-
ton, without leaving: the least trace of
any malady. No doubt, there are mala-
dies that attack old men, such, for in
stance, as congestion of the brain, in
fammation of 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 pipestenls. Many deaths Of
old people are attributed to these causes,
but we must not forget that they do not
suffice to explain all. Bichat 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 NJ
Jacques Bertillon the Partisan record
Of the deaths from senility of both men
and women during period of i years,
taking the age of 60 as the average
From these figures it appears that NOR
tally among old people is greatest be-
tween the ages Of so and IS, while it
diminjshes suddenly from the Goth year
That is to say, the malady takes light
er 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 50 without
accident has a good chance Of becoming
a centenarian and dying Of old age only.
The deaths of old people in whom no
disease can be discovered are always
put down in statistics under the name OF
senile debility, senile exhaustion, seniie
cachexy, and senility. Now, the natural
death through senility is not known,
according to DR.. Bloch. It has some
times been noticed among old people in
the hospital of Sainte-Perine, but the
anatomical examination 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. It
is highest during the winter months,
without at all being assisted by pneu-
mcnia. It is also variable according to
localities, as can be proved by consult
ing the statistics Of the departments of
France. There are some regions where
1uen live longer than they do ia others.
For instance, Yonne and Gironde are
particularly favored in this matter.
How this is nobody can tell, but it is a
fact duly observed.-N. Y. Sun.