Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1907-11-05
HUMAN LIFE LONGER NOW.
MORE MOTHERS NURSE
BABIES.

Fewer "Baby Foods" used-Outdoor
Treatment of Consumption, Check
ing of Typhoid, and Aseptic Method
of Surgery Also Help.
DR.. Harvey W. Wiley, Chief of the
Bureau of Chemistry of the Depart
ment Of Agriculture, and one of the
foremost authorities on pure food in
the country, asserts that the average
span of human life is increasing, and
he explained to New York Times
correspondent some of his reasons for
his belief.
He based his opinion on facts with
in his own observation, and ascribed
the increase of years partly to change
in fashion and partly to the accom-
plishment of science. Among the
chief factors in prolonging human
life. in the opinion of DR.. Wiley, is
the comparatively recent improve
ment of social ethics, which has made
it fashionable again for mothers to
nurse their babies themselves, with
the consequent decline in vogue of
the nuHeIOuS DdUS lOOuS-
There are several other reasons
why the human race is tending to
longer life, and Dr. Wiley thinks that
they are having such a potent infiu-
ence that the time will come when
three score years and ten will be the
usual and not the exceptional allot-
ment to men, Beginning with the inn
proWment in the rearing of small
children, DR.. Wiley said;
"Vital statistics show that deaths
among infants years old are not so
numerous as they were twenty-five
years ago. A baby under years now
has about twice the chance of living
that it had then People have learned
that artificial baby foods are not to
be compared for the nourishment of
babies to natural foods. Mothers are
now nursing their own babies to a
greater extent than they did some
years ago, and are abolishing artific-
ial baby foods"
The doctor added very seriously:
ct has grown to be fashionable for
mothers to nurse their own babies
since the Queen of Spain declared her
intention to nurse the heir.
Except mothers milk, the oriy
safe food for babies is pure, certified
cows milk, without any manipulation
at all. If the child is i'll, the milk
should be modified upon a prescrip-
ton of a physician so as to get the
proper amount of fat and other nu-
tritive elements. 1t should never be
modified otherwise, except upon a pre-
scription; and when l say physician,
mean competent physician, not
merely one who is called Doc
Experiments have shown that when
infants are artifcially fed the use of
pure, sweet, fresh milk from healthy
cows alone eliminates that deadly dis
ease known as summer complaint.
Another factor in prolonging hui
man life" continued DIR. Wiley, is
the check to the ravages of typhoid
fever. So successfully has this dread
full scourge been checked that in
v iSllllc LnC QCdtAo Jill ~ plAOlQ ACNCl
do not exceed one in 1000 annually!
In fact, this disease is almost I'M
known in that city. Since it is known
that typhoid fever is principally pro-
pagated in water and milk, it is GER
tain that the proper control of these
two great supplies will rob typhoid
fever of its principal terrors.
"Another factor adding to the
length of human life, is the outdoor
treatment and segregation of con-
sumptives. Scientific investigation
has established the fact that tubercu-
iosis is an infectious disease. If the
tuberculosis germ can be prevented
from entering the lungs, consumption
will be destroyed. The segregation of
consumptives, taking the germs out
of the street, and open air life of the
segregated camp, viii save many an
invalid from death"
Progress in surgery, and especially
in asepsis and anti-sepsis, is another
cause for the prolonging of life.
Asepsis, the doctor explained, is the
treatment of fresh wounds before |
germs collect in them, and anti-sepsis
is the treatment of the wounds TO de
stroy the germs after they have col
lected Then he continued:
9Th. deaths from inflammation and
gangrene attending surgical opera
tons are now almost unknown, and
thus thousands of patients are saved
"StilI another cause for the increas-
ing length of human life is in the hy-
gienic education manifested. not only
in the family. but in the common
schools, the high schools, and the uni
versities."
All these forces taken together, DIR.
Wiley says, are saving and prolong-
type of human animal is growing up.
All with the final effect that the aver
age length of human life is increas-
ing.
What the final limit is to be-" DR..
Wiley added, thoughtfully, lis only a
matter of speculation.
IF we admit as physiological fact
that an animal should live four times
as long as it's period OF growth to
maturity, the time may come in the
far future when the average length of
human life. instead of the exception,
will be three-score and ten. When
such a condition arrives, centurians
will no longer be objects of curiosity"
MONEY CHANGERS KNOW A LOT.