The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-02-25
DR.. OSLER SAYS HE MEANT 1T.
RE'ITERiTES THE TSFLESSNESS
MEN AFTER THEY ARR FORTY
Is Preparing an Essay to Prove It-Citcs
Darwin as an Example Wen Can
Make Money hficr They Are Forty,
hut as for Advancing the World. No.

Darwin as an Example Wen can
Make Nancy hfcr They Arc Forty,
hut as for Advancing the world. No.
BALTIMORE. Feb 2i-"Ycs, | meant just
what / said about the comparative use
lessness Of men over 80" said Dr. Oser
to-day. speaking Of the stir caused by his
sreech at Johns Hopkins last Wednes-
day. in which he said that il the sum Of
human achievement in action, in science,
in art. in literature. be subtracted from
the work done by the men above 40, we
would still be practically whore we are
to-day
Il know there are exceptions, he said,
but the exceptions only Illustrate the
rule. | have spent some time in writing
an essay entitled La Crise de Quarante
Ans CThc Crisis Of Forty iearsl. which will
prove what ] say have not yet finished
tho essay, and have been years in accu-
mulating the facts it contains
But you were only joking doctor weren't
you, when you said that all men above 40
were useless}'
NO. sir. | wasn't | meant what said
and / will prove it when | get my essay
finished, returned the doctor.
"Yes. but when you quoted Anthony
Trollope IN your address about chloroform-
ing men over 60 you stopped and laughed
You were joking then?"
"Of course. / didn't mean that that should
be taken seriously" DR.. Osler replied.
-Will you prove your statement concern
ing men above 10 by citing special cases in
your essay"
why certainly. and plenty OF them
Take Darwin az an instance. His greatest
work was done when he was young man
exploring South America He may have
made more money after he returned home,
but making money and advancing the
world are two different things.
Then your remarks do not al all include
that class Of men whose possession of great
wealth depends on the accidental possession
of wilderness or coal or iron lands 10y
his ANCESTOR"
"Of course not: they don't count. They
Hive and die and the world goes on just tho
same It's the men who do things. who
move the world forward. whom | mean.
All the essential terminating, fementing,
vitalzing work is done by men before they
reach their fortieth year. There are few
exceptions. but they only illustrate the
truth OF what / say.
But, take your life as an instance, doctor.
You wrote all your books after your fortieth
birthday"
Yes, replied the doctor. "but didn't
wait until was 20 before | gathered my
materials for writing those books. | !
waited purposely. l was too busy before |
was 40 gathering the materials and making |
observations to write booksN What is con-
tanned in the books is the result of my en-
deavor before / was 40. and had | written |
II as | gathered II and then quit work at 40 |
the world OF medicine would be just as far
advanced as it Is now.
"A man may make money after he is 40,
but that is not an indication that he is help
ing the world along as much as he did be-
fore reaching 40. We would not take one
stsp backward II all the work done in the
hirtv1y Of the world by men after they
we're 40 was subtracted from the sum of
human achievement"