Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-09-21
ANOTHER ELIXIR OF YOUTH.
Sour Milk Cannot Repeal Laws Of Life
and Death.

From the New York Herald.
The Herald's special cable from London
announces the somewhat startling dis
covery of a probable elixir of youth in the
shape OF sour milk used as steady article
OF diet. Although to many the remedy
may be worse than the disease, the fact
that 1t Is recommended by Metchnikoff, one
OF the leading scientists Of Europe. will ap-
peal TO such as may be resigned to the bit
ter and sweet of the struggle to live longer
and cheat old age of its well earned dues.
The fashionable microbe Is, of course, at
the bottom of the explanation The organ
isms are everywhere. in us, around us,
through US, part of us, from the moment
we breathe until We turn to dust and they
i've after us to prey on all future genera
lions Of men,
and captivating. If he cannot absolutely
exterm1nate our myriads of enemies the
next chance Is to checkmate their malig-
MANI purposes Then, too. sour milk is
abundant. and that which the consumer re-
1ects may become the head of the corner on
which all other theories of life may rest
The learned scientist believes that the lac
tic acid bacteria are at the bottom of the
whole business, as they destroy the hurtful
| and disease-producing microbes that Turk
in the human intestines. 1t Is the old and
revamped notion that even the smaller
creatures have their enemies, who bite
them ad infinitum." But it is somewhat
difficult to understand why. in accordance
with the law of compensation, the victory
should promise to be so uniformly one-sid-
ed. Alas! on the contrary. we know that,
despite the Tactic acid bacillus and its gas
producing tendencies, men will get old and
women will cease to be young. We may
husband out life's taper at the close as
best we can, but in the end it must drop in
its socket when the wick is burned. 1t Is
matching the combustion with the size of
the candle.
The connlax conditions of life must he
met in spite of all the theories calculated
to modify or alter them. Life is, after all,
successful resistance against gradual de.
cay. The microbes and the chemical
changes they induce do their work; the
vital forces of the body react as best they
may, and the balance Is eventually struck
turbed there is disease, premature old age,
degeneracy, imbecility and untimely death.
How such undesirable results can be pre-
vented are questions of draught to the fur
mace, the proper regulation of energy to the
machine, the avoidance of strain, the con-
servatism Of vital force, and, lastly. the
calm submission to the inevitable. The MI
crObe, important as he may be- Is certainly
not the sole and important factor In solv-
ing this difficult problem Of coordination OF
forces.
; The elixir of youth may amuse us as
hope, but can never appeal to us as fact.
The laws of birth and death must be i'm
mutable as long as the world stands The
seed must produce its kind, and the envi-
ronment must do the rest Long lives run
in some families and premature old age and
early death in others. Some are more sus-
ceptible to disease than others, while the
more robust are liable to accidents OF every
sort The law Of demand and supply works
itself out in this as well as in other mat
tiers of economy of force. and, melancholy
as is the truth, good old age is an exception
to the commonly accepted expectation.
There is no step backward when nature
takes her stride. No microbe certainly
holds any balance of power to alter what
Is to be. The only sure thing Is life In the
now, and even as we say it it is slipping
from us.