Arizona republican., 1904-11-25
PHOENIX, ARIZONA, NOV. 25, 1904.
How to Live a Century.

v
 That one hundred years, instead of threescore years and ten, should meas ure the normal span of life is the opin- ion of a prominent English surgeon and physician, who does not speak from theory, but from the ex- perience of three generations of patients and from his own life. Although eighty-four years old him self, he says that by following certain rules of living he still enjoys the world as when he was young; that he is still free from the stiffness which gem eralIy comes with years and that his joints are "as supple and mobile as they were in youth"
 The views of this man are received with a great deal of respect in England for he is no other than Sir Henry Thompson, the oIdest member Of the Royal College of Surgeons. Sir Henry is also known on the continent almost as widely as at home, and in Belgium he is especially noted, being the sur geon extraordinary to the king of the BeIgians and a commander of the Or der Of Leopold. His honors, medals and prizes may be numbered by the score.
 Sir Henry's advice to all those who wish to be centenarians is summed up in the word "diet," and in @ book call ed "Diet in Relation to Age and Ac- tivity," he shows how not only a mans age, but his temper, his pleasures, his fortunes and even his spiritual nature are made or marred by the food he eats.
 In a word this English physician says everybody eats too much. And just now. in memory of yesterdays s Thanksgiving dinners, most people in the United States will be inclined to agree that he is right.
 Indeed. many of Sir Henrys doc trines deal a hard blow to the majority of men and to the old fashioned belief that "as a man gets older he should live more heartily" The popular the ory, against which he takes up cud- gels, in thus defined in his own Ian guage. It is the belief that when age arrives we may indulge in that extra support which the feebleness of ad- vancing years is supposed to deserve. The little luxuries hitherto forbidden now suggested by the lips of loving women and rendered in the confidence of affectionate hands are henceforth to be gracefully accepted, enjoyed and turned to profit in the evening of our declining years. The extra glass of cordial and the superlatively strong ex- tract of food are now to become del icate and appropriate aids to the en- feebled frame"
 Such a doctrine, the writer says is all wrong. Such a mode of living short ems, he says, rather than Iengthens life. It is in the years of growth and activ- ity that rich food and stimulating bev- erages may be disposed of with the least injury to the constitution. for then the eliminating power of the body is at it's height. On the contrary, when the system becomes old and less wig Orous it cannot grapple with such foods and drinks. Like a weak garrison, it is overcome by a too powerful attack ing force. Tn old age, he says, "the flow of blood cannot be driven into any semblance of the youthful torrent by the temporary force of stimulants nor Is it with 1mpunity to be over- charged by the constant addition of rich elements which can no longer be utilized.
 Accordingly, as mans vitality de- creases, says Sir Henry, the quantity and richness of his food should de- crease. He contrasts, for sake of arg1- ment, the body of a youth with that of an old man. "A young fellow" he says, 'in the fitness of health and ha- bituated to daily active life in the oper air, may, under the stimulus of appe- tite and of enjoyment in gratifying it often exceed both in quantity and va. riety of food what is necessary to sup ply all the demands of his system with. out paying a very exorbitant price fol the indulgence. If the stomach is sen sitive or not very powerful it some times rejects an extravagant ration O food, either at once or soon after tn, surfeit has been committed but if tn, digestive force is considerable. tn, meals. habitually superabundant, ar, gradually absorbed, and the surplus fund of nutrient material is stored uI in some form. When a certain amour has been thus disposed of, an undesir able balance remains against the feed CT, and in young people is mostly rec tifed by a bilious attack through tn agency of which a few hours vomiting and misery square the account"