The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1905-09-30
Mans Right to Live 100 Years.

Man is not only entitled to be activs
and useful up to the century mark, but
l.; cheated ii ne falls short of it, accord.
Zig to Sir Cr;chton-Browne, a distin.
goished English medical authority. IL
q recent paper on the prevention OF
sanility tie doctor takes sharp issue
with Professor Osler, who recently,
with happy irony" suggested thai
men of sixty should chloroform them
selves because their usefulness is end
Ell. Says Sir Crichton-Browne:
Eut while Professor Osler was merely
playful in his reference to sexagenariaM
ira-nolatior, he was serious in his treat
n.ent of old age generally and dealt with
il in a manner which l cannot but regard
as unjust. He maintained unjestinGly that
the effective, moving, vitallZing work OF
the world has been done between the ages
OF twenty-five and forty and that above
the latter aSe men are comparatively use
less. Subtracting, he said. from the sum
of human achievement in action, In sci
ence in literature and in art the work of
the men above forty, we should be, not
withstanding the loss Of a few scattered
treasures of great price, practically where
we are today. It would be an incalculable
benefit he argued, in commercial, In po-
litical and in professional life If men
stopped work at sixty years of age.
I could quote numerous instances in
every department of human activity in
REPUTATION of Csler's age limit at forty,
and were a balance struck between the
truly great and eifectual achievements OF
men at from thirty to forty on the one
hand and forty to fifty on the other, l
am inclined to think that In proportion
to the numbers living in these two
decades respectively the advantage would
be with the latter, not only in magnitude.
but in protitableness to mankind.
And. further I am prepared to maintain
that long after fifty, and long after sixty,
when, according to Osler, compulsory re-
ttrement and silence should be impos ed
upon all sorts ard conditions Of men,
contributions of inestimable value have
been made to knowledge and the arts and
sciences, while wisdom has f1ourished like
a palm tree. The senate of the ages, like
that of Rome, has been composed Of
graybeards.
This authority holds that the problem
lies in nutrition and malnutrition, and
while we may not add to the vital i'm
pulse with which each individual en-
tiers life, we can see that it has fair
play. To quote further:
I have limited, for time has not allowed
more than a hint, that IN the higher nerve
centers evolution goes on late in life and
that even in what is called old age the
freshness OF youth may sometimes sur
vive. And I have limited also that the
natural evolution OF our nerve centers is
largely interfered with and too often ar
rested by uafavorabie environment and
deleterious habits of life or methods OF
work and that old age is thus prernaturely
induced. Unluly abbreviated or loaded
with infirrnit:es that do not necessarily
belong to it. And if l were asked to what
extent retrogression is thus FASTENED and
old age abbreviated I would say that 1t is
a good working hypothesis that the nat
Ural life of man is 100 and that in so far
as it falls short Of that it is 'curtailed Of
fair proportion
Sir CrichtOn-BroWne adds that lon
gevity is promoted by a good start in
life and the abolition of disease. His
plea is lot only scientific in it's bearing.
but sociological. Poverty must be elm
mated and the laws of hygiene not
only preached, but enforced - and,
above all, simple life"