The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-07-25
Fighting Rise
in Death Rate
ofMiddle Age
Science Seeks Method Of Saw.
fng Arteries and Finds 1t
Is-Walking.
~ WILLIAM BRADY, NJ. y.

he Is very apt to break into a SAM
tarium.
State mon invested in public
health education Is returning good
dividends In the shape Of reduced in
FAINT mortality. Cold statistics prove
that an infants chances of survival
are so much better than they were
twenty years ago that even a Repre-
sentative in the Legislature must be
impressed. Typhoid fever is getting
to be in reality the municipal dis
grace 1t has long been in theory.
Childbirth is becoming safer year by
year; tuberculosis, the disease of
youth, Il riehtfully looked upon as no
more and NJ less a penalty OF wrong
living than insanity; and even the
much too common cold" is recog-
nized as a contact infection invited by
crowding and insufficient open air,
simultaneously with all these gains
goes a steady rise in the death rate
for persons over 40 years of age. The
battling mystery OF cancer contributes
a share toward this high mortality OF
middle age. but the excessive death
rate is nevertheless mainly due to the
wearing out of arteries. And a man
can save his arteries II he tries.
Some physicians decry the practice
of making "A noise about blood pres
sure on the ground that 1t simply
causes people unnecessary worry.
since the mere presence of an ele-
waited blood pressure is in itself not
OF much significance as regards the
general health. ON similar grounds
the popular fresh air. pure food and
sanitary living crusades might he de-
cried for unquestionably the writings
and teachings Of health masters on
these subjects serve to alarm n
worry many individuals who might
otherwise remain for a time in bliss
full ignorance of the dangers of being
alive. Still practical. unemotional lie
insurance companies prefer not to
take n risk when the blood pressure
rises above $50 millimeters. for some
foolish reason or other.
The recent movement inaugurated
by the Life Extension Society, under
taking to teach people the value and
wisdom of undergoing n periodic phys
ical examination as "a sort OF health
assurance, will lengthen the eXpecta-
ton of life for thousands OF individ-
uals who imagine themselves sound
at 40 just by calling their attention
to the fact that their arteries are
Withstanding an unusual strain. II In
TO other respect at all.
The remarkable shortening of life
after 40 is not merely relative. 1t IL
actual. Expectation of life, as deter
mined by averages in large groups or
individuals. is measurably less to-day
than il was thirty years ago for those
of middle age. In other words arteries
are not wearing SO well as they used
TO before the days Of the automobile.
Degeneration or disease OF arteries
is produced by poison. The poison is
sometimes voluntarily taken into the
circulation in the form of alcohol,
tobacco and, in exceptional instances
even tea. coffee and cocoa. Sometimes
the poison is accidentally absorbed. as
in chronic lead poisoning in artisans,
or perhaps in girls and women who
use hair dyes containing lead or face
powders dixie Flake White) contain
ing lead.
Sometimes the poison is produced by
specific infection, as in certain consul
tutional diseases. But by far the
greatest factor of arterial disease, ar
terio-sclerosis, or hardening of the
arteries. is poison which is elaborated
within the body and retained in the
blood by reason of defective elimina-
ton. AS doctors express 1t, in their
customary English, this means SUBJ
oxidation, slow metabolism incom-
plete chemical reduction OF the fuel
used to stoke the vital furnace. the
popular term for this kind of poison
ing is Observation-Disclosures o can
have it without owning an automobile,
Acknowledgements is the essential
basis Of chronic Bright's disease, heart
failure or degeneration Of the heart
muscle, and apopleXy. In one indi-
yidual the heart bears the brunt OF the
trouble, in another the kidneys give
out first, in still another the brain
shows the first serious signs OF vas
cular change.
"Now, see here" said one old fell
low of AZ, when charged with harbor-
ing a high blood pressure and riding
too much In comfortable c~onveyances,
'as l understand it, / am growing
old"
YES, and fast replied the doctor.
swell, then, what's the use bother
ing my head about it? Is old age r
able?"
"Old age is durable" the doctor in
sisted. 1T is durable II taken in
time"
You see, It Is like consumption or
q bunion-you have got to recognize
It early, in it's ~incipiency. II you would
nip 1t in the bud.
Are there any early symptoms
which would warn a person of 40
or thereabout that he Is developing
acknowledgements? In many cases, 40;
frequently the individual feels hale
and hearty, has a whale OF an appe-
lite and looks 1t too, II you do not
observe him too critically. perhaps
the very first hint he has that any
thing is not right Is some accident
Ike cerebral Observation-Disclosures of
the sClerosed artery in the brain, a
stroke; or 1t nay be sudden angina
pector.s (heart pang) or a mysterious
onset of urpmic coma from kidney
insufiiciency,
Again, many persons with early
arterio-sclerosiG will complain of moth
ing more definite than a general fall
ing off in pep and endurance. which
Is wrongfully attributed to general
debility run down condition, spring
fever or growing old"
a characteristic case IL that of n
pnIInn mum ,f ~ Whn lnnnn 10 t.Ia