Evening journal., 1909-11-19

full century Of life upon this
a n war worn old planet7
How would you like to defer thateap-
parently inevitable meeting with the
grim specter until-let Us see, you
were born in 1866, you say-then until
1865?
II is an attractive idea, Is It not?
And the chief attraction lies in its pos
sibility. OF course you. like every one
else, have somewhere back in your
p 0subconsciousness the firmly implanted
conviction that threescore and ten IS
the last notch on the mortal gun, but
that, in the light of recent knowledge,
seems to have been 81 srseded.
No less an authority than the emil
nent physiologist, Professor William
Alexander Hammond. has asserted
that he can conceive Of no good rea-
son, spiritual or material. why man
kind should not live a hundred
years; that in all his manifold scien-
tiflc Investigations into the human
structure he has yet to find one phys
iological fact that compels us to sur
render our material being at the end
OF any definite period. He confesses
with some awe that the science OF life
has little TO do with time and that the
great cause OF all things so far as
thorough investigation shows, has
never placed a limit upon its effect
j. e., mankind.
Il was pointed out 70 Dr. Ham
rnond that we have "divine authority
for but threescore and ten years Of
mortal existence, to which the scientist
replied that he knew of no such lit
eral Interpretation, asserting further
that careful Bible students are agreed
that such a limit is purely man made
hypothesis and comes from sheer ig-
norance OF the actual reading and elu-
cidation of the truth. He therefore
emphasized his assertion that we have
no recognized authority for dying off,
and in this he is supported by many
eminent men, such as Professors
Metohnikoff of Paris. Ray Lancaster of
Berlin, Bains Of London and many
others.
Dying Only a Habit.
There is no reason why we should
die at threescore and ten, save that
for some reason we have made up our
minds to do so. and many stout persons
have refused TO be bound by any such
material law and have gone on living
despite IL. Habit is a dreadful thing,
and so firmly implanted has become the
idea of death that we supinely follow
the prevailing fashion and drop off
just when our advancing years should
make us most useful. Metchnikoff in
Paris has scolded us bitterly for fol-
lowing the style in dying and has in
some measure a sound base for his
vituperation. while other men who
have delved and dug into natures
laws assert that with our improved
methods of life there is no good reason
why we should not go on living so long
as we find pleasure in the feat.
Perhaps no period in the worlds his
tory has been so repletc with achieve
ment as have the last fifty years, and
each advance has added a few more
years to our span. DO you remember
when YOU we're a boy or girl how you
looked upon the tottering graybeard
and learned with awe that his halting
step and bent frame we're due to ths
awful weight of his fifty years? Look
about you now at the men OF fifty OF
sixty II you will. observe the women
an it pleases youi Bless you, they
are not old; they are just beginning e
livel Here is Nine. Sarah Berrtlardt
for example, turning her sixty sixth
year. She is q young woman. Observe
Queen Alexandra Of England, woman
Of sixty-hve. and see the beauty and
grace of her. Old2 Pooh, they arr
young women!
Gradually we are eliminating the s'
called accidents of life. and with eaci
elimination we increase the tally Of th'
years. We know what sanitation
means: we have understood the valu'
Of prophyla.ss or prevention, and W.
kin the incipient eentagion in its in