The Lexington intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1901-1949, 1904-01-09
L.CaEAsE IN LoNGEvIrY.

and turattve Medicine
lt is admitted that mauy live,
, ave low prolonged which under
: the conditions cd a century ago
o. even half that period
have inevitably been lost. say,
! American Medicine The intro
dpcdon OF vaccination sal othr,
forms Of preventive ana cOratv,
incubation, including the Varjou,
antitoXinS; the discovery Of The
means aud methods Of auaesthe
sia and antjSepsis and the U4,og
milton 90 che Importance OF clean.
Illness personal and circunlteph.
ual have jn numOerleSS mStan.
o. accomplished What would for.
werly haVc hcvp rcg@ric3 as sci.
eUtj6c miracles Ia ihc prcSerya.
tjon and prolOngaU0n Ot Aumau
htN Rut IN considering t6c broad
question of the actual iNcreaSe Of
the length al Gte, there arr sew.
eral aSpSvts from which IL must
be examined no w mean by in.
creased longevity that a larger
proportion ot individuals attain
eentenarian rank, or that the ay
erage Of age at the time of death
has become greaterg Are Ne to
understand that each Individual
lives longer than he would have
lived under the conditions of one
or more centuries asO3
The death rate has Of recent
years hecn decreasing in all the
civilized countries. In this con.
nectiOn we must recOllect that
the mortality in every community
varies with age. In infancy IL is
very high, in childhood very low,
from 10 TO Is years of age il is
lower than at any other period Of
life; then it continues low, but
with gradual increase, until mid
die age is passed, after which it
rises rapidly in every succeeding
decade. We find that, according
to the common consensus of sta
tisticians, the only trustworthy
means of conducting this inq uiry
is by examination of the life ia.
bles, by which we come to ascer-
tain the expectation of life at
each year of age. Such tables
form the basis of all the calcula-
tons of insurance companies.
and arecOnstructedfrOmth mean
population for a series of years at
various ages, and the mean annual.
number of deaths at the CORE.
spending ages. Now, it is known
that the contagious, infectious
and gastrOintestinal Diseases,
which furnish so large a proper
tion 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 45 from alcohol.
ism, cancer, tuberculosis. dia-
beteS, old age, apoplexy, diseases
of the heart and blood vessels. of
the respiratory and digestive or.
gans, Of the kidneys 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 sanitation, have increased al
such q rate as to cause serious
misgiyings for the future. In tho
city of New York the death rat,
from cancer and from diseases OF
the kidneys (Bright's disease in its
various FORMS has doubled in g
years; so that in some respect,
the saving of life among tn,
young. by the partial suppression
OF contagious and septic diseases
tends to be cOunterbalanced b,
an increasing mortality after mid
die life from diseases depending
more on personal habits than OF
external causes.
We find that during the pas
half century the expectation o
life for males at birth has in
creased by nearly four years. Blu
the lowering of Che death rate an,
the increase of the expectation o
life do not necessarily imply in
creased longevity to the race as
whole. The saving of so MANY fra
gile young lives has the necessar