The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-06-12
APPROACH OF AGE.
1t Depends Not Upon Years, but Upon
Vital Force.

Vital Force.
Journal of American Medical Association.
Some men are twenty years younger phys
lcally and mentally than others are at the
same age. 1t is self-evident, then, that old
age does not begin at any set time, so far
as the divisions of time divide the periods
of life, but that it has to do with that sub
tie agent known as the vital force
qualntance with which enables the analyt
zeal mind to become proficient in prognosis
by weighing in the balance the vitality on
the one side with the pathology on the other.
The indication of old age may be noticed
by ocular inspection. The figure stoopS, the
walk is less elastic. the rounded figure gives
place to the spare habit of body, the wrinkle
of time mounts the cheek, while the frost of
many winters maltles the brow. The typi-
cal healthy person who attains old age is
spare of body, and old age emphasizes this
TACT by causing a paucity of adipose tissue.
so the wrinkle of time after ALL is kindly
in nature. Physiologicaly, we notice that
a diminution of the physical energy is ac-
companied by a corresponding diminution
OF the power to eliminate waste material
from the body. Elasticity and strength
give place to hardness and brittleness of
general health may be good, because there
is harmonious balance between the action
OF the nervous system and the circulatory
system. However, the former is less re-
Spons1ve to external stimulation, and the
latter is less vigorous in old age. The vital
processes conducted by the circulation, res
plration, and metabolic changes in the It's
sues are less active. There are diminished
adaptability of the whole system to changes
in the environment, and less ability to meet
the requirements of emergencies, such as
sudden demands of muscular and mental
strain.
The senile conditions and diseases are
numerous and obvious. In the first place
weakened digestion and assimilation; the
weakened vigor of the circulation and
glandular system necessarily WeakenS the
power of eliminating the Recommendations
substances, which gives rise to pernicious
nutrition, and that in turn is the cause of
the tendency to develop malignant or be-
nign growthS in different parts of the body
in old age. The strong tendency to over
eat and under-drink, together with the nat
ural decline of functional power, gives rise
to a condition of lithemia, which is the
prime cause of the majority of deaths in old
age. In the healthy state that great gland
ular furnace and chemical laboratory, the
liver, is capable of transforming excess
of heterogeneous matter, which may result
from metaboiSm of tissue or exist in the
food consumed into the highly soluble ex-
crementitious substance known as urea.
This excrement is eliminated from the blood
mainly by the kidneys, and to a much less
extent by the skim Now in old age, with
the fuctional power and natural vitality on
the wane, together with the strong ten
dency to OvertaX this function of the liver,
we find this waste is not converted into
urea. but into uric or lithic acid a cOmpar-
atively insoluble excrementitious and toxic
substance which if it appears in the blood
in sufficient quantity and is long enough
continued in circulation through the urinary
tubules, sets up irritation and inflammation
which inevitably impairs the function of the
renal epithelium, and we find this poison
Gus substance is not eliminated from the
system, but accumulates in the blood. This
explains why old people are almost unver-
sally troubled with disease of the liver, kid
neys, bladder and PROSTATE gland. The I'M
stable circulation. atheromatous changes
and brittleness Of the walls of the blood
vessels, with the tendency TO oVertax the
digestive apparatus, is the cause of many
old people going to that bourne from which
no traveller returns by the apoplectic
route. Hereditary diseases naturally mani
fest themselves when the vitality is below
a certain level; we are not surprised to
find certain dyscrasic and latent tendencies
manifesting themselves at this period of life
when the natural vitality is waning The
diseases most frequently found to be the
cause of dissolution among the aged are
pneumonia, diseases of the liver and urin-
airy organs, consumption, cancer, apoplexy
gangrene.
The enemy to longevity, the author con-
tinues, is self-indulgence, People who have
reached an advanced age may prolong their
lives and greatly add to the comfort of their
declining years by diminishing the quantity
of food ingested; thereby avoiding too
large a residue of waste matter. either in
the intestinal canal or in the form of ex-
- srr.e