The Mena weekly star., 1913-02-20
aberage 1enQtb
 of Duman 1ifr


 Within the last three cenl,n; the average length of life has riaa 'eS in civilized countries from 2o ''9l over n. Roughly speaking eyonr body lives nowadays half as ios. i! again as if they, had existed son, lUnS centuries ago. Why, a great man, 'lv scientists are. asking, should tbi process not be hurried on?
 The great improvement durn, the last few centuries has been dn9 to the bettering of sanitary condi tions and to the advance of med ical science generally. But manv investigators are trying to find something more speedy.
 The great authority on this snb ject is the famous Professor Netcb- nikOfl, who declares that there is m reason why the average length of life should not be nearer 200 wears than 100.
 His theory-and it is generally ac- cepted-is that the general decay which is called old age is due to the gradual collection of microbes on the largest intestines. They col lect on this tube owing to the pu- trefying of particles of food, and spread their poison gradually tl they cause general decay.
 Experiments have shown thai vegetables rich in sugar, such as dates, beetroot, carrots, etc.. pro- duce none of these poisonous mi crobes. His idea, therefore. is to form a sugar producing center in the important tube. But, as sugar consumed in the ordinary way gets all absorbed before reaching the spot, he has decided to form it by means of microbe.
 If this microbe can be firmly established in the human body, the problem of adding a century or so to the average life is solved. Lec- turing before a learned body in Paris a short time ago, he an- nounced that, after experimenting on human beings with this microbe which he had obtained from the in- testneS of a dog, he had found that | the poiSOns which in time bring on old age had ceased to form.
 Another cure for old age can be bought over a chemists counter, disguised in the pleasant form of chocolates. It is based on the same great scientists discovery that lac tic acid, such as is produced by sour milk, prevents the poisonous mi crobes from collecting II has been noticed that those races which live largely on sour milk are long lived. There are reasons for believing that some of the Arabs of the Sa- hara, who live chiefly on sour cam els milk. reach the age of 20o and upward. And the inhabitants of Bulgaria. where Centenariau, are nearly as common as siX-foOt men, live largely on preparation of sour milk, known as "Yahourth.' .' II is the bacillus of "yahourth" that M MasSol. the French scientist, has in- corporated in the sweets known as ''massolettes." What is known as tactic cheese is also on sale in Eng land with the same purpose. In the early part of the Bible sour milk is often mentioned in connection with the patriarchs, who lived for hun dredS of years.
 A Bulgarian scientist, Dr Tran jen, is working different lines Ger tain diseases are treated noWaiay; | by injecting into the blood of ,hC sufferer substance obtained from the blood of an animal which Ina, succeeded in shaking off that dis ease. The reason is that the blood must have developed a sort Of anti dote Ian anti-toXinl that has killed lhe diseases poison tor toxin
 So Dr. Tranien proposes to pu into the blood of the young peopl, a preparation obtained from the iis sues of old people. The blood O healthy young people should shakt this poison of. If the mystcrlou anti-toXin formed by the younl blood in order to do this could b found, the secret would be solved
 Another school of scientists relic on radium and similar rays. IL ha been found that, if radium ray shine on the larvae (the young O meal-worms, it dealys their growtl and decay. A meaIworm under ra dium outllNes several generation mot under radium. If some simila treatment could be successfully ap phed to man, a human being woult still be child at 30, and have comfortable middle age lasting ove 90 years.