River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1904-08-04
SEEKING ETERNAL YOUTH.
French Scientist Experimenting to
Produce Magic Philtre to Kill
Old Age Microbe.

Why grow old? One has only to cap
ture the microbe which produces this
condition and treat it with the proper
medicament and one may vegetate in
eternal youth through countless aeons.
At any rate, this is the possibility put
forward by Prot. Metchnikoff, of the
Pasteur institute, Paris, says recent
report.
Prof. Metchnikoff's work on the bat
lie between microbes and phagocytes
has long been a classic. 1t is an extern
sion of this work which has led him to
the opinion that old age is a chronic dis
ease and may be cured just like any 9TH
er. Only the remedy has not yet been
found, but if the professors conclusions
are sound there should be no great diff
ficulty in discovering the elixir vitae"
A recent lecture on the subject given by
the professor produced something like
sensation in Paris, where the art of
trying to look young in spite of ones
years is almost universally practiced.
If to seem young is good, to be young is
better. That the magic philtre which is
to work this miracle is in a fair way of
being discovered may be now taken for
granted, and the professor points out the
way.
In a recent conversation Prof. Metch-
nikoff enlarged upon the subject of his
lecture. Old age, both in man and beast,
the professor said, was produced by GER
tain physiological conditions, the re-
suit of overproduction of certain kind
of cell known as macrophages. limo
cent, even beneficent in small numbers,
they become injurious when their num-
Der increases beyond a certain point.
81 have" continued the professor,
"been for many years closely investigat-
ing the problem of old age, and the rea-
son that took up this most interesting
subject was that science merely con-
tented itself with accepting the exist
ing state of things without trying to re-
tard or prevent the advance of senility.
GAS a matter of fact, old age is the re-
suit of battle between the good and the
bad elements of the human organism.
a fight which invariably terminates with
a victory for the latter. When use the
word battle I am not speaking meta
phorically, but really mean an activs
struggle for supremacy. There are in
our bodies many cells which have indie
pendent motions and they are capable
of devouring all kinds of solid bodies,
hence the name of phagocytes or vo-
racious cells.
"These phagocytes fill an important
role in our organism, and it is they which
surround and devour any intruder who
might injure our health; in fact, they
are the police who safeguard our sys-
TENS. Take, for instance, the case of
man stricken in apoplexy; the blood IS
temporarily paralyzed; here the work
of the phagocytes at once begins. They
surround the blood clot and devour it
and as soon as the brain is relieved from
this pressure the natural functions of
the body are resumed and the patient is
cured, the cure in this case being en-
tirely the work of the phagocytes.
"Now, we have divided these 'phago-
cytes' into two distinct classes, the mi
crophage' and the macrophage,' and the
latter are distinctly responsible for SEN
lie decay.
'"The invasion of the tissues by these
macrophages is so general in old age
that one is necessarily compelled to at
tach great Importance to it, as, for in
stance, in the brains of old men and old
animals We find that the brain cells are
entirely surrounded and destroyed by
'macrophages.'
my theory is that in old age all the
better elements of our organism are de-
stroyed by these macrophages, which
have increased and multiplied too fast,
and my conviction of the truth Of this
statement has been more than verified
by personal observation.
"To determine more precisely the
functions of these phagocytes, closely
studied the action of the hair, which on
turning gray gives the first visible sign
of old age. found that colored hair was
full of minute particles of pigment. At
a given moment the cells of the hair be-
come agitated, they come out of their
torpor and devour all the pigment in
their reach. These cells, which are, after
all, another variety of 'macrophages'
called 'pigmentophages,' or, better still,
'chromophagesO are filed with colored
particles, and, becoming active, pro-
coed to move, some travelling through
the body and some leaving the system.
In this day these 'chromophages' take
with them the pigments of the hair,
which necessarily deprived Of these,
turns white.
Man has distinct aversion to grow
ing old, feeling instinctively that in old
age there is something abnormal. Now
we give medicine to allay pain, why
should we not discover some remedy for
old age, which, after all, is chronic dis
ease?"
And why not? The macrophage has to
be got under, and the man who will in
vent good and reliable machrophage
killer will have become immortal in more
than one sense.