The Savannah morning news., 1901-12-26
SECRETS OF LONGEVITY.
The Diet That Keeps One Healthy
and Alive.
From the London Chronicle,

From the London Chronicle.
In a little book called "Diet in Rela-
ton to Age and Activity" Sir Henry
Thompson. hale and hearty at 50. gives
us the lessons of his longevity. If it
We're the habit of mankind to profit
by sound advice, most of us would
carry this volume in our pockets, med
itate upon 1t as our psychological brew
iary, and find very little use for doc
tors. Luckily for the medical profess
sion, Sir Henry Thompson's example
demands renunciation almost as diffl-
cult for men In general as monastic
VOWS. Thirty-two years ago, at the
age of 50, he gave up alcohol. For
the sake of experiment, FIVE or six
years back he tried the effect of a
claret glass of good wine at dinner ev-
cry day for two months. Then came
back the sick headaches and pains in
the joints from which he had suf-
fered in early-life until he abstained en-
tirely from alcoholic drinks More.
over,' after his abandonment of alco-
hol, "the joints gradually lost their
stiffness, and ultimately became as
supple and mobile as they were in
youth, and continue absolutely so to
this day" We may tell Sir Henry
Thompson that we do not suffer from
sick headaches; but how many moder-
ate drinkers of 81, or even 81, are ready
to swear that their joints have all the
suppleness of youth? Are old gentlemen
willing to ascribe what they call rheu-
matism to the habbtual though modest
glass? There Is so much controversy
about alcohol among the medical eX-
perts that the moderate drinker
plumes himself on the ancient wisdom
of the middle course between topers
and abstainers. On the subject of
cakes Calverley's schoolboy had
learned that 'excruciating aches re-
suited If We ate too many" For the
moderate drinker this philosophy com
prises cakes and ale, and when the
aches come he puts them down to
chills. A French writer has collected
the opinions of sixty physicians in
Paris on the effects of alcohol. Thirty
four affirm that moderate use, say,
bottle of wine day. is beneficial.
Nine will have no compromise with al
cohol lin any form, and seventeen de.
clare that to the health of most people
one bottle a day makes no difference
whatever. One doctor declined to
hazard any opinion on the plea that
the varieties of human physiology are
too great to warrant any positive
judgment. But Sir Henry Thompson
is in a position to speak not only for
himself. 1T may be fairly said that
a case. But 1t Is not a single exam
pie, and really designates very large
class of active men among all ranks,
possessing a more or less similar tenn
permanent, of which a type is here de-
scribed, and it is for such that / have
found ii so successful" This vision of
a shining band of veterans, all as sup
pie as athletes, ought to give pause TO
many an aged man when he Is about
to order his evening toddy. But he
may say that the zeal of the convert
belongs to youngsters Of So.
Food, not drink, however, is the bur-
den of Sir Henry Thompson's practical
counsel. Half our bodily ills are due to
improper eating. IL is a common fall
lacy that, as we grow older. we need
more nourishment. "the extra glass OF
cordial, the superlativey strong ex-
tract of food" Sir Henry Thompson
draws an alarming picture of the head
of the family sinking to decay because
his affectionate spouse plies him with
dainties he cannot digest, the egg whip
ped up with sherry the insidlous calfs
foot jelly, the inopportune cup of CO.
Goa. Many fond wife is slowly doing
her lord to death, for all the world as
II she were a poisoner in one of Miss
Braddon's early novels. She urges him
to try patent foods, which are so "nu-
tritious" that his stomach cannot
stand them, and she imagines that
even his drinks must have nutriment.
forgetting that "the primary object of
drink Is to satisfy thirst" and that TO
take milk, for example, with meat is
zone of the greatest dietary blunders
that can be perpetrated." Even the
dentist is an unwilling agent of mis-
chief. He gives you a new set Of mas
ticators as efficacious as the originals,
but he does not warn you that the
loss of your natural teeth is an indica-
ton that the body needs less food than
Il demanded in your heyday Your tailor
is also in the innocent conspiracy, for
he congratulates you on the increase 70
your girth, as IL II were the glory OF
the citizen to cut into a deal Of mate
rial when he Is ordering new clothes.
Here, we suspect, Sir Henry Thompson
is OVERRIDING the case. Is a man really
nattered when he is told that his waist
has grown another inch? And you.
poor deluded victim, are more than half