Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1919-03-07
The Fountain OF Youth I! It's In
The Brain.
(By Garrett P. Serviss

(By Garrett P. Serviss
Professor Ludwig Sylow, the
Nestor of Norwegian mathema-
! tlcians,' as Professor G y. Mill
Ter calls him, died recently III
Christia MIA at the age of eighty
FIVE. A very memorable fact
about him is that he had reached
the age of sixty-five years when
he was appointed professor OF
mathematics in the Christiana
University. The thing that
makes this fact piquant is that
sixty-6ve years is precisely the
age at which, in the Judgment OF
the governing boards of most
schools and universities. profess
sors instead of being appointed
should be shelved or dismissed.
Moreover, Sylow was not ap.
pointed to be mere fgurehead,
but to perform the active duties
of his post, and that he did. with
no indication of failing powers,
until the last year OF his life,
wten," says professor Miller,
he frequently remarked tina: he
felt tired" He was then, remem.
Der, eig lty-fve.
The case of this remarka BILE
mathematician, who has given
his name to a fuuda mental the
orem of the matthew Of
groups, which NAV be taught
when the Pyra mids are dust,
comes just a time when the
worlds attention is forcibly call
ed, In a field of more violent &C
tivity, to the enduring vigor of
old age. AS every reader knows,
it was under the leadership of
gray-haired men, like Joffre and
Foch, of about the same age as
that of Sylow when lie was APP
pointed professor, that the armies
of the Allies were led to victory,
while their enemies also found
that the "o]d heads" were the
best they could get.
DR.. osLER AGAIN REFUTED.
These things come as tri-
umpllaut viudication of human
nature against the detractlon as
cfibed to DR.. Osler, who, it is
now said on his behalf, intended
to be humorous when he practic-
ally told people lowering around
sixty that the world had no use
for them.
There is something here of su-
preme interest for every thought
full person. The body is the in
s rument, as well as the tempo
rary home, of the soul. The
soul, whatever its real nature OF
future destiny may be, is limited
i'll its activities here below by
the capacity of the brain cells to
receive its impressions and give
them outward form or material
TheSlimbs obey the brain as
the brain obeys the soul. But
the limbs, and other parts of the |
body which are not directly con-
trolled by the soul, wear out, or
deteriorate, faster than do the
brain cells. This is proved bv
the fact that the intelligence Of I
aged persons who have lived |
temperate and reasonable lives !
r ,ulains bright after their bodily |
powers have failed. Decay of !
the body does not necessarily i'm
ply corresponding decay of the
Central organ, the brain.
Everybody cannot devote his /
life to such labors as those OF !
Professor :, low, or of Humboldt, i,
who lived TO be ninety, after
travelling all over the world and
studying and writing about al
most every subject of human in
terest, or of John Adams, who
attained the age of ninety-one,
after being President of the
United States (surely a wearing
,f6ce), or of Cato the Censor,
who Learned Greek at eighty,"l
,ut in their examples everybody |
IAN find, If he will, the secret Of
extending his life and its useful.