The Saint Paul globe., 1905-02-27
OSLER'S AGE LIMIT
TARGET FOR SNffRS
St. Paul Men of Years Heap
Derision Upon the
Professor

quoted as saying that the usefulness OF
man on the general average ended with
| his fortieth birthday. and that he
should be chloroformed Il he managed
| to squeeze along until he touched six
ty, has caused some amusement and
not a little indignation and pity IL St.
Paul.
| Eminent men OF this city expressed
astonishment and doubt concerning the
| statement and its truth, but on the
proposition everybody who was inter-
| viewed by he Globe Indignantly
| denied what the Baltimore physician
said. A personal friend OF DR.. Osler
4 declared that he was a good fellow,
but crazy, and many others designated
| the statement reported as being alb
| surd and wholly without foundation.
A few Of those who were asked to
express an opinion on the words OF DR..
Osler follow:
Northrop Scores osier
Cyrus Northrop, President of the Uni
| versity OF Minnesota-r consider the re-
ported words OF DR.. Osler thoroughly alb
| surd. His statement that mans use
| fuineSs ends when he is forty years old
| is foolish talk and so easily combated
4 that it is hardly worth while to go into
| particulars. Man is in state OF prepa-
| ration for his real work up to the time he
| Is forty, and II he is to accomplish much
| good it will generally be after he has had
| at least that much time for education and
preparation.
1 might say that nearly all the great
English statesmen became powers after
the age DR.. OSler says Is the limit of use
fulness. Gladstone, for instance, vacil-
lated about until he was old enough to
| settle down to accomplish something. In
my opinion a man should have the right
to keep in the race of life as long as he is
able To do effective work irrespective of
| his years. OF course one takes his
suggestion as to the chloroform at the
age OF SIXTY as anything but bad at
Very Rev Patrick R. Heffron, st. Paul
Seminary-History and experience are
both against the sentiment expressed by
DR.; Osler; In some rare cases precocious
/ individuals have done great things before
| they reach the age Of forty. but the cases
are very few. A man is normally best
attained that age. DIR. Osler's statement
| IS silly: absurd and utterly without
I foundation.
| Rev. ]. NJ Fulton, Central PRESBYTERIAN
| Church-The record of the world shows
! little real accomplishment in any great
| line of endeavor that has resulted from
| the fact that the men engaged In il were
below the age Of forty. When anything
! great has been done by an immature
| mind. the fact that ii is well done at
| once brings to mind the thought. how
| the brain responsible for it was thorough
| ly seasoned. AS far as the proposal is
concerned to chloroform those who reach
| the age OF sixty can only say that it is
not to be considered as a serious state
ment Of DR.. Osler.
OF course some men are old at twenty
hve ana many. many others are young
at fifty. Perhaps DR.. Osler was thinking
or the limit OF his personal powers when
he named sixty as the time when man
should withdraw from cumbering the
earth. 1 understand he is fifty-six.
Start Calls It Joke
Charles NJ. Start Chief Justice Supreme
Court OF Minnesota cannot believe that
DR.. Osler was serious when he made those
sta tements. / think he must have been
Joking: shall regard him as joker
untii IL IS proven to me otherwise. any
way. The idea of man having Outlived
MS usefulness at forty years and being a
subject to be chloroformed at sixty is
ridiculous Some of the worlds greatest
deeds have been accomplished by men
who have passed the age of sixty years.
I should say that the first forty years of
preparation for what was to come after.
and / should say that IL a man behave
himself and care well for his health and
mind that the period of his activity should
stretch from the age of twenty-fiv to the
age or seventy-five. rounding out a half
century Of real life. 1 thing DR.. Osler
vein.
E. T. Young. Attorney General of Min
nesota-I certainly do not think that a
mans period of usefulness ends at forty.
Nor do l think that a man should he
either retired or chloroformed when he
arrives at the age Of sixty years. 1t may
N
achievements in the worlds history pages
We're the work of men under forty but
IL Is true. too. that many more brilliant
achleVenents have been accomplished by
men VINO nave passed not only the age OF
forty. but the age of sixty. In the first
place. L do not think that a mans use
Iulness can be gaused by years. The only
gauge feasible is ability and bodily
strength.
II man retains at sixty-fve the vigor
OF aidhl nlind and body which has failed his
-flN-aa h. m
told that he must either step TO one side
10 allow his ripened talents to rust ard
TOT away. nor can he be told that his
presence Is burden to the world He
mas the right Of life and activity. and
mat right VIII ever be accorded to him
Chtll the average man arrives at the age
FULLEST. He is ofttimes lacking in the hall
ance and the poise which years of expe-
rlence can only give. While the world pro
duces brilliant persons who may soar to
the highest flights i'm the worlds oratorv.
literature and thought when they are vet
httle more than mere youths yet the
world needs men of mature mind expert
ehced IN Judging, acquainted with the
race to which they belong and OF balance
sufficient to utilize to the best the efforts
or these younger men who may have
reached the climax of their abilities at
thiTty-tive and begun to go into a gradual
nut complete eclipse when the fortieth
cannot judge. iHfallibIy. a mans abilities
by tne years which have passed over that |
man mead.
Too Ready With ChIoroform
]. A. Du Bois. NJ. D.. Sauk Center-Dr
Osler goes farther than l have ever ad-
Nocated in my Utopian dreams NV |
theory Is that the first twenty-five years !
of mans life should be devoted to |
study. Then for fifteen years let him |
work hard. After that a man who has |
served with his brain should sit back.
give the young men a chance and advise
the younger generation from the fullneSS
or his experience. Turn him out to pas
ture, as 1t Were. and let him go back to |
the soil. and save the remnants of unset
hshness which he inherited from his
mother. But DR.. OsIer is too ready with |
his chloroform.
DR.. c. A. Wheaton. an Old Acquaintance |
of DR.. OSler-I know him well. He is a |
McGill man. and before going to Jonns I
Hopkins university was at one of the |
Philadelphia colleges. He is an awfully |
good fellow. but crazy.
Senator T. NJ. Pugh of Duluth-Stuff |
and nonsense L am nearly seventy years I
old and. confdentially. L say that many |
men do not really arrive at their prime |
until they are sixty to seventy years old. |
Many man at thirty-five has outlived I
his usefulness. but a healthy man is |
often at his best at sixty and older |
have no sympathy with the Baltimore |
mans expressions
Mai F. Won Baumbach. Collector OF In |
ternal Revenue-Look at the great men of /
history who have performed their great |