The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-06-09
ABOUT LIFE AND LIVING.

Professor Wiley. or, DR.. Wiley, Is
one of the highest officials in what
some call "the poison squad" and the
boss chemist in the Department Of
Agriculture He stands ever on the
watch-tower to look out for and guard
the national health and to see that the
people get all that is coming to them
In the way of pure food and drink He
contends that longevity is Increasing
among the people of this country. and
insists that. it is because this genera
tion knows more about the laws of
hygiene. diet and surgery than our
forbears did. and consequently we live
to a greater age than they did.
Whether he is altogether correct in
his diagnosis we cannot say, but doubt
less there is much in it. This is an
and 1t is natural that our better
knowledge of the laws of health and
of diet contribute to increased length
of days. True. there are to be found
some who contend that II we knew
less of surgery and had less of it prac-
ticed on US we would live longer. but
perhaps they are prejudiced. Then
there are others who tell US that there
was no such thing as disease before
doctors were invented. but how do they
know? We do not certainly know
when doctors first began to practice on
humanity and experiment on human
ailments. That was in the remote past,
probably before there was any written
history, but we suspect that there were
medicos among the beginners.
However that may be. we are strong
ly inclined to the opinion that there
were ailments before there were doc
tors, else why were there any of the
latter invented? When tho first set
tiers of earth found an aching void
somewhere below the chin they began
to look about for something to fill it.
Then they probably chucked in raw
vegetables and unripe fruit and the
next thing was stomach-ache or some
other internal disturbance just as we
sometimes experience in this age of en-
lightenment. Then we'll wager a
doughnut that there was some good
old woman with knowledge of roots
an YARDS" ready to administer a po-
ton that would relieve the trouble for
the time being. And this was doubt
less the origin OF diseases and doctors;
they grew up in company, and both
have developed wonderfully. Not that
the doctors can cure all the ills that
a T. LIT. - 90 Ia
doggerel said:
BY physic life may be prolonged,
But death will seize the doctor too
That was true. and there are some
who are like old Pausanius, who, when
the doctor examined him and declared
there was nothing the matter with him,
retorted: TT is because, sir, use none
of your physic." But we all know that
there has been wonderful forward
strides in medicine and surgery, and we
know that the doctors and the sur
geons heal many diseases. This ad-
vance in the healing art and in knowl-
edge of how to live is doubtless the
reason why the average of human life
has increased a little over six years
within a generation. 1t Is true that
this is not very much consolation to
those who are cut down in early life,
but as somebody else gets the extra six
years 1t makes things about even oD
the whole.
But with all DR.. wiley's knowledge
and learning it seems to us that he
goes too far when he declares that
ats a rank disgrace for any man to
die, except from old age" To say
nothing of the many accidents and
casualties which destroy human life.
the Doctor will find himself up against
another famous scientist-Dr. Mech
nixon, Of the PaSteur Institute. He