Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1898-08-27
WHEN OLD AGE COMES
IT DEPENDS NOT UPON YEARS, BUT
UPON VITAL FORCE.

The Greatest Enemy to Long Life Is Self
| Indulgence - Why People of Advanced
Age should Eat SparirgIy and Drink
More Freely.
Some men are 20 years younger phys
ically ard mentally than others are at
the same age. It is self evident 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 subtle agent known as the
vital force, an acquaintance with which
| enables the analytical mind to become
proficient in prognesis by weighing in
the balance the vitality on the one side
with the pathology on the other.
The indication of old age may be no.
ticed Ey 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 check. while the frost of
many winters manties the brow. The
typical healthy person who attains old
age is spare OF body. and old age en-
phasizes this fact by causing paucity
of adipose tissue. So the wrinkle Of
time, after all, is kindly in nature.
Physiologically we notice that a
elimination of the physical energy is ac-
comTanied by q corresponding diminu-
ton of the power to eliminate waste
material from the body. Elasticity and
strength give place to hardness and
brittleness of nearly all the tissues of
the body. The general health may be
good, because there is. harmonious
balance between the action of the nery-
Gus system and the circulatory system.
However, the former is less responsive
to external stimulation, and the latter
is less vigorous III old age. The vital
processes conducted by the circulation,
respiration and metabolic changes i'll
the tissues are less active. There are
diminished adaptability of the whole
system to changes in the environment
and less ability to meet the require
ments of emergencies, such as sudden
demands of muscular and mental strain.
The senile conditions and diseases arc
numerous and obvious-in the irst
place, weakened digestion and assimila-
tiOn. The weakened vigor of the circula-
tiOn and 9landular system necessarily
weakens the power of eliminating
the eXcrementitious substances, which
gives rise to pernicious nutrition, and
that in turn is the cause of the tendency
TO develop malignant or. benign growths
i'll different parts of the body i'll old age. |
The strong tendency to overeat and |
undcrJirink, together with the natural |
decline Of functional power, gives rise !
to condition OF lithemia, which is the |
prime cause OF the majority of deaths |
in old age. In tie healthy state that |
great glandular furnace and chemical |
laboratory, the liver. is capable of trans
forming an excess Of heterogeneous matter, |
which may result from metabolism of |
tissue or exist i'll the food consumed, |
into the highly soluble excrementitious
substance known as urea. This excre-
ment is eliminated from the blood
mainly by the kidneys and to much
less extent by the skin.
Now, in old age, with the functional
power and natural vitality on the wane,
together with the strong tendency to |
overlap this function of the liver, we
find this waste is not converted into
urea, but into uric or Hthic acid, COM
paratively 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 ir-
1
itably impair the function of the renal
epithelium, and we find this poisonous
substance is not eliminated from the !
system, but accumulates in the blood.
This explains why old people are
almost universally troubled with disease
of the liver, kidneys, bladder and pros
tate gland. The unstable circulation,
changes and brittIeness
of the walls of the blood vessels, with
the tendency to overtax the digestive
are the cause of many old peo-
pie going to THAT bourn from which
no traveller returns by the apoplecfic
route.
Hereditary diseases naturally mani
fest themselves when the vitality is be-
low n certain level, so we are not sur
prised to find certain dyscrasic and
latent tendencies manifesting them
selves 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 pneu-
monia, diseases of the liver and urinary
organs, consumption, cancer, apoplexy
and gangrene.
The enemy 20 longevity, the author
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 in
yested, thereby avoiding too large/aI
residue of waste matter either in the |
Intestinal canal or in the form of excre-
matter in the blood Jour
nal Of American Medical Association