The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1900-06-02
So. 40 PER YEAR.
FIGHT FOR LIFE WITH
AN ENRAGED OSTRICH.

Inc case Oh -ADranaln -. Elmer, VINO
has reached the age of 11s years, is in
teresting. The Metschnikoff discovery
might be useful in further prolonging his
life If we knew anything about it, but
M. Metschnikoff has not divulged it.
There are many instances of longevity
on record. Probably the most remarka-
| BILE was that Of John Parr, who was over
$50 years Of age when he died. He was
an Enghshnan, and eventually died Of
acute indigestion from overeating at a
dinner given in his honor PARIS vitality
was remarkable. He married his second
wife when he was 1928 years old.
Nothing bears more on this subject than
the theory Of Weissman on the origin of
death. His reason for death is that we
are formed of an infinite number of mi
mute cells which are out of their environ
ment, and which were intended to be
| elsewhere than in the human body If
| these cells were in an ideal environ
they would exist Indefinitely. It is
complex theory and difficult to under
| stand. We start with the lower forms OF
life, the protozoa, a unicellular organism,
a cell which never dies. 1t is practically
immortal. H.-..
The original. cell disappears and two
| cells are born of it, but the original cell
does not die, because there is no corpse.
These two cells become four cells, and
| these again eight, which again become
| sixteen, and SO on indefinitely so long as
| they are in an environment which is their
| ideal. But the human body is made up
! OF a vast number Of cells, which are QUE
! Of their natural place, and for this rea-
| son they deteriorate and the death of the
| body ensues. - IS s-.- -.
The life of man depends entirely upo,t
| the start he gets. We may Hken his life
! to an arrow shot from bow The height
| Of the arrows fight depends upon the
amount of force Impaired to the string of
| the bow at the time the arrow leaves it.
There has been a great deaf said about
the curve of live. There is a certain
time in the life of man when he is at his
best; the top Of the curve. But as a mat
ter of fact like the arrow, man begins
TO die at the moment he starts. In other
words, his velocity decreases from the
moment he is ushered upon the earth,
and goes slower and slower until he be-
gins to drop. There may be many things
to retard its fight.
| It is not question as to whereby he
| may increase his original velocity; he may
| be given a velocity which will carry him
to very great age, but he can do moth
| ing to increase it. He may cut his fight
short by not avoiding certain dangers. He
! may retard his flight by certain abuses
of the good things of life, such as to-
bacco or liquor. Then he may run across
certain diseases or accidents. Anything
that would take him off before his al
lotted time may be called an accident,
such as contagious diseases or disease Of
ri ind R11fh no die of old az
any time after he reaches forty years Of
age. In that time he may have worn him
self out.
The period Of time he lives does not
| impair his age 1t is possible that Abra-
| ham Elmer, at 11S years, may be much
younger man than another at sixty or
seventy NO one who knows the. effect of
tobacco or spirituous liquors can hold that
life has been prolonged by their use, that
| without their use life would have been
prolonged. OF course, the fact that man
may live as long as he has with the con-.
| tinual use of tobacco and alcohol shows
that they may be used by some people
without much harm. I should say, how
ever, that the fact that Mr.. Elmer has
| lived to his present age is proof that
he has never used them to excess, or Of
an amount that would be an excess in his
| case. j
| What might be excess in one man would
| be moderation in another. No two Of US
are exactly alike. AS no two of us look
alike, so no two physical systems exactly
resemble each other. It is, therefore,
| rash to draw conclusions Of any sort with
regard to invididuals.
That Mr.. Elmer should live to be 11S
years old proves nothing. We know that
certain families have the habit of lon
gevity Statistics prove that nearly all
| the members of certain family will die
| in their ffties, and member after mem
| Der will drop off at that age The pathol
| ogtsts, recognize tits, and therefore lon
gevity is called a habit
| Heredity plays large part in the age
habit of families. I should judge that a
man who has lived to a great age has
| we'll balanced mind. Life at it's best is
| beset with pitfalls. It requires a person
of ability to avoid them and live long.
| The deduction that Mr.. Elmer was men
| tally bright is based on the fact that the
nerve centers which govern the vital OPP
erations such as heart action, breath
! ing and digestion, arc all in TIE skull and
| in such close proximity to the intellec-
! tual part Of the brain that they partake
| of the latter.
A vigorous mentality is always accom-
panied by vigorous life However Duny
! The body may be nuscularly, the heart.
/ lungs and digestive organs Of an intel
| lectual man are generally good. or
| course even here we may have excep-
| tons. Carlyle was a marked exception
| to the fact, being a dyspepic, yet even
he lived to reasonably old age.
! and more tI1fnned by axes and the an
| nua1 autumna1 fires, the lumberInen are
/ growing scarcer and the porcupines are
| growing more frequent There are now
| huge belts in the state wherein there
| is not to be found single tree worth cut
/ ting. ALI Of the former giants of tho
1 woods have been laid low and sawed UP
| into planks of one sort or another. The
trees left behind are only saplings, half
groWths or else matured trunks so
crooked that no good can be had Of
them. The porcupine likes them just as
well, however, as If they were worth
money, and lives among them and feeds
on them and brings forth its young in
their cavities and rolls itself into ball
| and laughs at the disappointed wildcat
or farmers dog as heartily as II 1t were
still surrounded by the prfmeyal giants
which once sent their upper branches
swaying hundred and fifty feet above
earth. In fact. 1t can fall out Of the
tops of them with much more pleasure
and safety.-Viroqua (Wis.) Correspond
ence New York Sun.
| ~
| Heredity I'm the Ear.
A 7r minent psychologist who has beer
MAXI. an exhaustive study OF ears says
that : 40 other physical feature does thu
law OF heredtty SO strongly rule Indeed
ne declares that the ear is the only fea.
ture by which an infa1lible Identification