The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1908-09-18
MANS PHYSICAL
IMMORTALITY
No Physiological Reason Why
He Should Die-Body
Self renewing.
From Health.

From Health.
THE last enemy that shall be destroyed
| Is DEATH say the scriptures, yet If some
mar attempted seriously to reassert this
I! ancient truth today we would look upon
him as a mad prophet indeed. Yet the
time will come when men will be able to
believe this promise of the bible, although
they may never be able to hope to see it
literally fulfilled.
Death some day will be acknowledged
to be as unnatural in the economy of the
creative plan as are sin and suffering. But
whether or not in some millennium period.
mortal man will be able to forego the
gross process of physical dissolution in be-
coming a spiritual body is a purely meta
physical question that does not enter here.
What does interest us is the question, oc-
cupying the creates scientific minds to-
day, whether the body as such cannot be
retained in perfect condition indefinitely.
William A. Hammond, one Of the great
authorities in medical science and form
-erly surgeon general in the United States
army, answers it by saying: There is no
physiological reason why man should
die"
Thomas j. Allen, NJ. A. LII. D., writing
in a similar strain, says: THE human
body is not like a machine which must
wear out by constant disintegratlon, for
1t is s~elf-renewing. 1t is a simple, scien-
tific fact that we get an entirely new body
SNSIy ASN SSolN, Il lllS
to seven. Every day is a birthday. for the
process of waste and renewal never
ceases. Perfect balance between elimina-
ton and renewal would avoid permanent
waste"
There is no doubt that when we be-
come more enlightened and understand.
perfectly the laws that govern and de-
termine our physical lives, and when we.
conform ourselves to these religiously life
will be immeasurably prolonged.
The decay Of the body, as evidenced in
old age, is unnatural. The aesthetic with
in us recoils in merely contemplating it's
approach. We feel that there must be
something self-perpetrative in the change
when the strong color in a healthy man
and the fresh beauty in a pure woman
take their departure, when the bloom on
the cheeks fades, when the brilliant light
within the eyes grows dim and the full,
red lips become pale and fallen.
Medical science has pointed out the
physiological cause of these conditions.
Probably the time will come when it will
be able to point out the manner OF avoid
ing them.
cause of the existence of an imperfect,
balance between the waste which the
body accumulates and the amount it is,
able to throw off. During youth the bal
ance is perfect. because the body has
more than Its normal vitality and strength
" SA1Io" ia lllt vas I.NdllST. But as
we grow older this perfect balance be-;
comes destroyed from one cause or an
other.
The strength that should go to eliminat-
ing impurities from the body is not hus-
banded but rather squandercd in different
ways Then too we eat and drink those
things that cause excessive waste. An,
impure diet composed of foods containing
uric acid, such as meat, or of drinks con-
tanning possons, such as tea and coffee.
taxes the eliminative powers, and when
the time comes when these give way a
state of imperfect elimination has set in.
the wastes in part are deposited in the
system. settling in the arteries and Joints
OF the body and accommodating until they
become obstructive elements.
The blood stream circulates imperfectly,
and when once this condition exists bad
functioning of every organ of the body
results and old age and death gradually
ensue.
Mind too has a great deal to do in hast
ening or retarding the unpleasant signs
of physical decay. Mental science has
satisfactorily demonstrated that mean.
narrow. selfish and unpleasant thoughts
act destructively on the tissues of the
body. while thoughts Of wholesome and
positive character act constructively.
And when the curtains of 1.-The windows
of the SOUL are drawn. when the temples
door is closed and a final silence is with
in, when the spirit passes the Threshold
to take up a newer and finer edifice of it's
own creation. science assures US that the
body lives on. Here at least physical i'm
mortality is an assured fact.
Theology has irreligiously taught us
that the body returns to inanimate dust
The religious answer of science is that IT
returns to Goo. The latest word in the
field of biology is that all nature, includ-
ing the all mother soil, is animated and
hallowed with the divine principle of life.
More than this, matter Is indestrucible
and eternal. There is not an atom that
can be lost in all the universe. For this
reason our bodies do not really die; thew
are in the care of the angels of the ele-
ments.
The peculiar cellular arrangement that
formed them into q beautiful body NAV
be caused to disintegrate through the ac-
ton of the oxygen upon it, time NAV
change the position of the atoms comnos-
ing it, but the latter still contain within
themselves the sacred and eternal princi-
pie of life as much as does the soul. and
they exist only to enter into new and
perhaps more beautiful combinations ~
life.
Epictetus. representing the ancient at
titude of religion toward the BODY. could
give II no higher classification than that Of
mud" Luther, representing the theo-
logy of his own day, spoke of the body
as a mess OF worms" Let us hope hat
In this day, wherein science is educating
theology in holiness, the serviceable BODY
without which soul could not be, will re-
cefve a higher and more fitting tribnte
than that which Luther and Tpictet,s
gave to it.
Disastrous Crops.
mo more big cherry crops for me- said
the man with the long chin whiskers. so
a ra w Iic fonS %L1A