Willmar tribune., 1903-12-09
INCREASE IN LONGEVITY.
Introduction of Modern Curatives
= Performs What Would Have For
merly Been Called Miracles.

= Performs What Would Have For !
! merly Been Called Miracles. =.
It is admitted that many fives are now
prolonged which under the conditions
of century ago-or even half that Pc
riod-would have been inevitably lost.
The introduction of vaccination and
other forms of preventive and curative
incubation, including the various anti
toxins: the discovery OF the means and
methods Of anaesthesia and -antisepsis;
and the recognition of the importance
of cleanliness, personal and circumfer-
ential, have in numberless instances ac-
complished what would formerly have
been regarded as scientific miracles in
the preservation and prolongation of
human life. But in considering the broad
question of the actual increase of the
length of life, there are several aspects
from which it must be examined, says
American Medicine. We do not mean
by increased longevity that a larger
proportion of individuals attain cen
tenarian rank, or that the average of
age at the time of death has become
greater. Are we to understand that
each individual lives longer than he
would have lived under the conditions
Of one or more centuries ago? The
death rate has of late years been de-
creasing in all civilized countries. In
this connection we must recollect that
the mortality in every community varies
with age. In infancy it is very high, in
childhood very low, from ten to fifteen
years of age it is lower than at any other
period Of life; then it continues low, but
with gradual increase, until middle age
is passed, after which it rises rapidly
In every succeeding decade. We find
that, according to the common consen-
sus OF, statisticians, the only trustworthy
means of conducting this inquiry is by
examination of the life tables, by which
we come to ascertain the expectation Of
life at each year Of age. Such tables
form the basis of all the calculations of
insurance companies, and are construct
ed from the mean population for Sc
ries of years at the various ages, and
the mean annual number Of deaths at
the corresponding ages. Now it is
known that the contagious, infectious
and gastrointestinal diseases, which fur
1ish so large proportion of fatal cases
In infancy and childhood, do not cause
even five per cent. of the deaths which
occur after the age of As. On the other
hand, the deaths of persons over As from
alcoholism, cancer. tuberculosis, dia-
betes, old age, apoplexy, diseases of the
heart and blood vessels. of the respira-
tory and digestive organs, Of the kid
neys and bladder, and from violence,
constitute about 80 per cent. of all such
deaths. In fact, the deaths from some
of these causes, in spite of all our santa
tion, have increased at such rate as to
cause serious misgivings for the future.
In the city of New York the death rate
from cancer and from diseases of the
kidneys (Bright's disease in its various
forms) has doubled in 30 years; so that
in some respects the saving of life
among the young, by the partial sup
preston Of contagious and septic dis
eases, tends to be counterbalanced by
an increased mortality after middle life
from diseases depending more on per-
sonal habits than on external causes.
We find that during the past half cen
tury the expectation of life for males
at birth has been increased by nearly
four years. But the lowering of the
death rate and the increase of the ex-
pectation of life do not necessarily i'm
ply increased longevity of the race as a
whole. The saving of so many fragile
lives has the necessary effect of throw
ing forward into the later periods of
life a large number of weakly persons
and the average stamina of the popula-
ton is consequently reduced; so that
when the decline Of life begins and the
physical powers decay, this undue pro-
portion Of weakly lives tends to increase
the mortality at advanced ages.