New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1907-07-14
TO DEFER OLD AGE.
Efforts Made in the Past-Ne1C
Ones to Come.

America has come TO be regarded as essen
TALLY the country of the young mans opportu-
nifty. The virility OF youth is demanded by the
nations busy commercialisn. More and more
the task OF creating and directing great enter
prises is being intrusted to men under the age
of forty. The dictum of DR.. William Osler. of
Oxford and Baltimore. that man is capable of
his greatest achievements before that age, has
been widely accepted correct.
But the veterans OF life are at last beginning
TO sit up and take notice of this growing ten
dency TO GUST them from the big things Incl
dental to the nations progress They see that the
intense character of modern commerciaism
wears out the human machine much more quick
ly than the more lesurely methods of the past,
and nowhere is this fact becoming more gen
orally recognized than in the United States. In
spite of all this, some of thers are beginning to
assert that a mans best work should be done
after. and not before, the age of forty. Their
hope has long been that advanced medical
science will one Of these days find means TO
prevent the premature process of aging.
If science cannot do this. they argue. then
men will become discouraged in attempting TO
carry out the more and more exacting demands
OF sanitary science as to how they should eat,
drink and breathe. With every new discov-
cry Of one more kind Of harmful bacteria wait
ing to prey poor mortal flesh, the conviction
spreads that there Is little use making the fight
to cross the meridian OF life with a sound con-
stitution, because by that time mans useful
ness is about done anyway, and the quicker the
end comes the better.
But. on the other hand, the marked advances
which have been made by modern medical
science in recent years in getting at the funda-
mental causes of the disposition Of the body to
grow feeble and prematurely aged, serve to in
spire the hope that some way TO control these
causes may yet be discovered.
The latest move in this direction has been
made by Mrs. Russell Sage. who has increased
her public benefactions already totalling many
millions. by 100000 10 found and maintain the
Russell Sage Institute of Pathology.
The investigators attached 10 this proposed
new institution viii not bother themselves with
the ordinary Ills Of humanity Their quest will
be to discover the causes which produce old age
and aff1ict the autumn of life with enfeebng
and wasting processes. They viii seek the exact
forces which cause bones to grow brittle. nerves
TO lose their reaction, arteries 10 harden vital
organs TO lose their power and the brain TO be-
come uncertain and enfeebIed.
The inquiries will be conducted with the
operation OF two OF New York's greatest hos
pitals-
MEDICAL WIZARDS.
Through all ages human effort has reached
out after the secret OF perennial youth, That
was the search Of the alchemist of the Middle
Ages. whom Shakespeare pictures brewing all
sorts OF ConCOctious within the gloomy reCesses
of his stone chamber. The wizards of to-day
have practically the same object in view. They
do not expect to be able To make the human ma
chine last forever, or even keep inc OItGln IN Il
fran body weakened by infectious diseases in
earlier years. They do hold out hope. however.
OF being able 10 increase the stay upon earth OF
/ those sturdy veterans who have crossed the
meridian of life with sound constitutions. Not
! only that but in doing SO they expect 20 be able
10 lend to the latter end Of life some at least of
! the vigor and virility OF youth.
One Of the most daring experimenters among
/ the advance guard OF modern medical wizards is
/ tho Russian professor, Metchnkoff He ed-
! yances an alluring theory which is borne out To
/ q considerable extent by actual experiments
/ Natural death, Metchnkofr insists, Is FASTENED
! by poisonous microbes produced in the body 10y
/ the functioulug of the organs. The poison IN
duces fatigue IN proportion as the organs are
exercised. Sleep. he says. IS caused by the same
/ microbes and IL is while asleep. when the or
I gans do not go through their functions. that we
/ throw Off the effect OF this poison But, he
/ claims the entire effect is never wholly thrown
/ OF 4 residuum gathers with increasing years
/ which he believes ultimately causes death. lie
quotes this graphic description OF natural death
! written by Dernange 10 illustrate what he
means:
Having reached the extremity Of old age, re-
! tanning still the glimmerings OF faded intel
! NgenCe the old feels debility gaining upon
/ him: his limbs refuse to obey his filling WILL
/ his skin becomes insensible. dry and colo
/ warmth withdraws from his extremties: his
face grows thin. his eyes hollow ana ms eyeslght
dull. his speech dies upon his lips. which remain
! aeape; life forsakes the old man from the cir
/ conference to the centre; his breathing becomes
! Iabored and finally his heart ceases 10 beat. The
| old man has thus gently gone out. appearing to
! fall asleep for the last time"