Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-05-09

against microbes. with whom they fight
terrible battles in the most intimate re-
cesses of our organism They heal wounds.
And they reabsorb blood effusions and other
elements out Of place"
- Soldiers in Revolt.
Vhey are the soldiers, the police and the
hoNse-cleaning servants of the body, and
If their story ended here the phagocytes
wouNd merit all the honors due to veterans.
UnhAppily, as Prof. Metchnikon shows.
they pre- soldiers who cannot resist the OPP
portunity to pillage when it comes. In
time they revolt against their brethren the
higher cells, and eat them. And as the
higher cells are eaten up the conJunctive
tissue takes their place.
Why do the higher cells allow themselves
to be eaten?
They undergo progressive weakening"
says Prof Metchnikon. The sclerosis. or
hardening, of Old age, is like that of GER
tain chronic maladies in which the brain,
kidneys and liver are poisoned by alcohol,
lead, mercury and the virus OF syphilis.
What, then is the poison cause in the
seemingly causeleSS SclerosiS OF old age!
Evidently the innumerable masses of mi
crobes tnat swarm in our great intestine.
According to the latest researches OF
Strassburger, they amount to 12s,ooo,ooO,-
10000 per day"
Have / not heard that some of those
microbes are uSeful?' ! asked
The uselessness of this microbian flora
is shown by its distribution The great
mass of it exists in our waste-basket IN
testine, the digestive parts of the TUBE
being almost Tree of it. Both Madame
Metchnikofr and Prof. Nuttall have raised
newborn guinea pigs and other creatures
free from microbes. Finally the patents
who have had their great intestine cut out
have lived very well without the aid of Its
microbes
And they bring on what we know as old
age
The mass of them remain in the intes-
tine, so that our organism regularly ul-
umphs over them; but their soluble pro-
ducts can easily pass into the lymph and
the blood. Here are the slow polsons cap
able of weakening our higher cells ana
provoking the phenomena OF senility
What is to be done?' continues the
Pasteur Institute professor. Man cannot
wait for his great intestine to disappear IN
the course OF ages"
1t might be cut outF
perhaps in a far-off future that will be
accomplished, but in spite of the immense
progress of surgery, we cannot at present
dream of thus relieving each citizen. NO,
the rational course is to fight the great In
testine'S mass of microbes.
To Be Avoided.
1t is a pity that space lacks to follow
Prof Metchnikof in the purely hygienic
considerations under this head. He speaks
highly Of the general use of 'Kaffir milk
(milk that has been subjected to Tactic ard
alcoholic fermentations). Or perhaps better
still, merely sour milk COR butter milk, be-
cause the alcohol of the former may in time
weaken the higher cells, while 1t Is the Tactic
microbes alone who fight the microbes OF
putrefection. Already {. great result,
says Prof. Metchnikoff And, finally, pc
ware of all uncooked products OF the NIL
crobe-infested earth-salads, artlchokes'
strawberries, melons, onions, cucumoers'
celery, radishes and so forth. Unless thor
oughly cooked Ito destroy their microbes
with intense and continued heat) 90 not
touch them on your life.
And now, at last, we come to the great
active remedy, the miracle Of the twentieth
century.
Il ought to warn you that the problem is
not solved for immediate use" says Pror.
Metchnikoff; but it's solution has nothing
impossible about it. The thing to do is to
strengthen the blood globules. the nerve,
hepatic and renal cells. the muscular nper
of the heart and others.
In order to enable these higher cells to
continue resisting the phagocytes and SO
fight off old age?' 1 said, to show that
understood
THE task is facilitated by the discovery
of serums acting specifically on the differ
ent elements" These are Prof. Metchm-
koff's own words 1.-The principle of the
preparation Of these serums remains always
the same (as at first announced) rake
element into an animal of different spe-
cies After a few such injections the serum
of this animal becomes a specihc poison
for the red blood globules OF the former
species Of animal; while little doses Oh II
Gin analogy with digitalis and other pol
sons) strengthen the specific elements IN
stead of killing dissolvinS them. so
they are called cytotoXic Serums. Since
their discovery by j. Bordet or the fasteur
Institute they have been studied and con-
firmed by scientists all over the world, the
latest publication being that of Belonovsky,
at ST. Petersburg Here is the rationa!
way to strengthen the higher elements or
the human body and prevent 1t growing
old as it does now, at sixty, seventy and
eighty years of age.
How Longp
What life will man have when you get
the serums to work on him?'
1T is written: My spirit shall not al
ways strive with man, for that he also Is
flesh; yet his days shall be an hundred and
twenty years.
"And that was a cutting down." I sug-
gested, because God saw that the wicked
ness of man was great In the earth.
Prof Metchnikofr did not follow me IN
this line of thought, seeming content TO
point out that the exceptionally favoraple
conditions under which the early patr1arcns
attained physiological old age In their
tents and among their focks did not en-
dure after the settling of the Jews In the
cities of the land of promise; though he
thinks that the development of the IN
stinct of natural death among so many
of the pat-iarchs may account for the
small space devoted in Old Testament writ
ings to the idea of future life.
my own consciousness tells me that such
an instinct can never develop in me-
said
so the normal healthy boy of ten years
will assure you he will always be tndifrer-
ent to the girls!" And the great physiolo-
gist can give other cases of changing in
stincts "The aversion to death, which per-
sists in the dying philosopher even when he
is intellectually fortified against it, is doubt
less the manifestation Of deeply rooted
instinct to live; but we must not forget
that this latter develops only gradually in
the human infant, while children are no
toriously foolhardy and young men take
chances from which the middle-aged re-
COLL.
The Instinct Of Death.
Prof Metchnikoff Is sure. in any case,
that the instinct to die cannot develop in
man before his Tooth year, because present
day nonagenarians and centenarians notori-