The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1909-10-12
OLD AGE A DISEASE,
Much Interest Taken In MetCh-
nikoff's Discovery.
VIEWS OF FAMOUS DOCTORS.

Agree In Thinking That Large lhfes-
tine Is Most Frequent Seat Of Deadly
MaIadies--Its Removal Impossible,
Declares Or. Wyeth of New York.
In medical circles throughout Amer
lea especially in the larger cities. pub
licatfon of the discoveries of Professor
Ellie Metchnikoff, head of the Pasteur
institute in Paris, to the effect that old
age constitutes an actual. definite dis
ease emanating from the large mites
tine. has been received with great in
terest.
Professor Metchnikoff in expert
ments which he has been conducting
for several years has developed the
theory that death is Il disease. due to
the formation of putrefactive bacteria,
These bacteria. which produce deadly
pOisons, form in the large intestine,
and their effect is to poison the blood.
causing the hardening of the blood
vessel walls.
1t is we'll known medical fact that
hardening of the walls of the blood
vessels. the tightening of the arteries
and other phenomena of old age often
| occur in very young persons as a re-
suit of certain diseases. Young per-
sons afflicted with prolonged poisoning
with such a metal as lead frequently
take on the appearance of old age
BY analogy Professor Metchnikoff
concludes that constant absorption of
some similar poison is responsible for
| the early appearance of old age in
men. The eminent scientists connect
ed with the Pasteur institute and 9th
er famous European specialists, ac-
cepting this theory, have set to work
| to discover the means of Kidding the
Intestine of putrefactive bacteria.
Could stave OFF Death.
If an antidote powerful enough to
combat the poison germs is found
Professor Metchnikoff and his asso-
| ciates are confident that death can be
warded off indefinitely
Professor Metchnikoff's discovery
may form an epoch in the annals of
medical science" said Dr. Raymond
L. Ditmars. curator of the Bronx zoo
| in New York city. Its discovery
| which scientists have been hammer
ing away at for years. have no doubt
that man could live indefinitely if the
large intestine could be cut out safely.
But I'm afraid it can hardly be done
| now.
ut is a striking fact that animals
| that have no large intestine live to
an advanced age. Compared with
other animals, old age develops in the
human being prematurely. Among the
animals that have no large intestine
that live to an extremely cid age are
birds. They preserve their youthful
agility and spryness to the end of
their long span | am told that some
of the Chinese sacred cranes without
the large intestine live to be 1000
years old. Turtles, too. whose intes-
tine is greatly abbreviated, live very
much longer than man.
The "Mother" Of Old Age.
DR.. Peter j. Gibbons. of New York.
well known physician. was enthusias-
tic over Metchnikof's discovery.
THE large intestine can truly be
called the mother of old age" he said.
Nearly all the troubles that afliict
the human race today come from that
one source-the putrefaction of the
large intestine. Uric acid is Il great
| trouble today, which has its seat in
the large intestine. The great trouble
| Is indican, which produces intestinal
fermentation aud causes destruction
of the lurge intestine. If we could do
away with the large intestine, we
could do away with Brights disease.
which is really the most common
cause of death today"
There is no doubt that bacteria in
the large intestine cause great
amount of suffering aud DEATH said
Dr. John A. Wyeth. one of the lead
ing surgeons of New York But to
say that one could live indefinitely
simply by removing the large intes-
tine is the height of foolislness. | do
not believe that Professor Metchni-
koff claims indefinite life through his
discovery. Just now the discovery is
of no practical benefit. The operation
to remove the large intestine is so
dangerous that scarcely any one could
live through It,