Omaha daily bee., 1916-06-18
EXTENSION OF HUMAN LIFE
Most Efficient Means to That End
Too Often Overlooked by
Students.
NEED OF PERSONAL HYGIENE

While we are already agreed that
human life is extensible, we are not
so fully agreed as to the best methods
to be employed for extending it. In
fact, for several years few students
have been suspecting that the work OF
prolonging life-as it is at present be-
ing conducted-is not pursued in the
most effective manner, and that, in
, particular, we are neglecting one OF
the most, if not the very most, prom
Using means of all-industrial hygiene.
Our present methods have their
roots, for the most part, in the work
of Pasteur. Ever since Pasteur made
his epoch-making discoveries and ut
tered his inspiring words, 1T is within
the power of man to rid himself Of
every parasitic disease" health work
ers have sought to secure their results
almost wholly in the single direction
which he indicated, i. e., by attacking
our infinitesimal parasitic enemies.
In the report on national vitality Of
the Roosevelt Conservation commits
sion a summary of European life
tables shows that human life length
ened during the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries at the rate Of
only four years per century, and that
during the first three quarters of the
nineteenth century it heightened
about twice as fast, but since that time
it has been heightened more than four
times as fast, or about seventeen years
per century.
These figures would seem large
enough to satisfy the most ambitious,
and certainly, if life could continue to
lengthen at the rate of seventeen
years century, after a few more cen
turies the world would be populated
mostly by Methuselahs.
Darkened Prospects.
But our prospects are not so bright.
In fact, there is large element of
gloom. When we analyze the present
improvement we find it is due chiefly
to a decreased loss Of life from in
lection before middle age, in spite of
an increased loss Of life after middle
age from degeneration. Such a proc
ess bids fair soon to change our net
gain in the average life span into a
loss, but the truth is, we are witness
ing a race between two tendencies, a
reduction of the acute infectious dis
eases, such as typhoid, and an increase
in the chronic or degenerative dis
eases, such as arterio-sclerosis and
Bright's disease. By degenerative dis
eases are meant those which consist
in the degeneration or wearing out OF
the vital organs.
This degenerative tendency seems
to be more in evidence here than
elsewhere. In Sweden we find the ex-
pectation of life increasing at all ages.
There, even the nonagenarians of to-
day have more years to live than did
those Of former days in the United
States.
Thefact seems to bethat while we
are freer of germs than Our ancestors,
our vital organs wear out sooner. The
degeneration Of our bodies follows a
degeneration OF our habits. 1t is es.
pecialy significant that in England
where the diseases are not increasing
individual exercise, out-of-door sports
for the masses, and self-care are, ap.
parently, not declining, and it is still
more significant that in Sweden
where there is improvement at all
ages, the interest in individual hygiene
is the greatest in the world. 1t is the
only country where public health in
cludes private habits and touches the
life of the. people, especially through
the public schools.
Physical Surveys.
| Strong confederation of the de-