The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-03-05
two men;
oslcr-Twentieth Century.

/
| to my friends, harmless obsessions
with which | sometimes bore them,
! but which have a direct bearing on this
| important problem. The first is the
| comparative useIessness of men above
40 years of age. This may seem
shocking, and yet read Alright the
| worlds history bears out the. state
ment. Take the sum of human
achievement in action, in science i'm
Tart, i'm iterature-subtract the work
of the men above 40 and while we
should miss great treasures, even
! priceless treasures, we would practi-
cally be where we are today. 1t is
! difficult to name great and far
reaching conquest of the mind which
has not been given to the world by Il
I man on whose back the sun was still
shining The effective, moving, vital
izing work of the world is done be-
| tween the ages of 25 and 40-these Is
golden years of plenty. the anabolic or
constructive period, in which there is
/ always a balance in the mental bank
and the credit is still good.
I'm the science and art of medicine
there has not been ain advance OF the
first rank which has not been initiated
by young or comparatively young men.
1 Vesalius, Harvey, Hunter Bichat
! Laennec Nirchow, Lister, Koch-the
green years we're yet upon their heads
when their epoch making studies were
made.
''If Men Stopped Work at CO."
MY second fixed idea is the useless
mess of men above so years of age.
and the incalculable benefit it would
be in commercial, political and in pro-
/ fessional life if. as a matter OF course
men stopped work at this age. Donnie
( tells US in his 'Blathanatos' that by the
laws of certain wise states sexagenaril
were precipitated from a bridge, and
In Rome men of that age We're not adj
mitted TO the suffrage, and they were
called deponati because the way TO the
| Senate was per pontem and they from
lage We're not permitted to come hither.
''In that charming novel. 1.-THE Fixed
! Period" Anthony Trollope discusses
the practical advantages in modern
i life of a return to this ancient usage
and the plot hinges upon the admira-
! BILE scheme of a college into which at
GO men retired for a year or contem-
plation before a peaceful departure by
chloroform. That incalculable bene-
fits follow such a scheme is apparent
| to anyone who. like myself. is nearing
the limit and who has made a careful
study of the calamities which may be-
! fall mer during the seventh and
| eighth decades.
How johnson Put 1T.
James Johnson, Nineteenth Century.
| although a famous author was not
quite correct in his assertion, SO oft
repeated to Mrs. Thrale, that life de-
| clines from 49, yet it is certain that
after the period in question the cor
| poreal farbric of man ceases to acquire
+! any addition of power or perfection
of function--though it may and gem
orally does, augment in size-the in
ORC nf hniner ii
1ninution of size.
1.-THE fifth and sixth septenniads-35
to , years-are, as it were, the double
Keystone Of tho arch of human life,
but the curve of tho arch in this place
is SO imperceptible that during this
long period of Ia years it cannot often
be distinguished from a right line. IT
is in this respect that the Johnsonian
dogma is not strictly correct. Life re-
mains, as it were. at a stand ESQ far
rs corporal structure is concerned)
during tho fifth and sixth septenniads
perhaps a little longer. If the high
est point of the arch could be ascer-
tanned, I should be inclined to place
it at the beginning of the sixth sep
tenniad-Vthat is about the age of SO
or &c years. >
BTigluicst Bodily Deeds.
1T is between the limits Of %
and A. that the mightiest exploits of
! corporeal strength have been per-
formed, but for reasons which shall
presently appear, il may not always
have been within the said limits that
the noblest effusion of intellect radi-
lated from the human mind. The doc
Urine that the powers of the soul aud
| Of the body rise acquire maturity and
decay together has created great and
| unnecessary alarm in weak minds,
.g,HE.
The parallel does not run straight be-
tween mind and BODY generally,
Although the mental and corporal
powers attain their acme in the fifth
and sixth septenniads, the intellect
may yet display greater prodigies
after the completion Of that period
than il could have done during the
golden era Of moral and physical per-
lection.
"The reason of this is obvious. Tho
mind continues to acquire knowledge
long after the body has ceased to
gain strength. And although powers
of tho intellect-aS memory, imagin-
alton, or even perception-may be on
the decline yet the accumulated MAJ
terials in the granary Of the mind
may. and often do, enable it to con-
struct edificeS OF nobler dimensions
and more durable architecture than
at earlier and more vigorous epochs
of life.
1T was in tlle golden septennlad
that the Bard of Avon
Exhausted words and then inn
| agined new.
THE almost supernatural genius Of
| Shakespeare rs exhibited in his works
| the first Of which appeared when the
author was in his thirty-third year
renders us slleptical as TO that genius
( being surpassed after the turn of life
| 1T was i'm the fifth or sixth Scptenniad
| that 'Waverly' was cxecuted-and no
one will contend that it was cXcclled
by any Of it's successors. After the
! meridian scptenniads. indeed. the
Bard of Avon exhibited a sad falling
| off more. however, from premature
| exhaustion Of the intellectual powers
! by mordiuate labor than from natur-
al decline Of the mental energies.
i "'Childe Harold was born even be-
| fore the Golden Era commenced and
was scarcely excelled by any subse-
quent productions Of Byron's gigantic
L s4,4