The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1919-11-20
DR., MAYO TELLS HOW
PROLONG HUMAN LIFE
SAYS FIFTEEN YEARS GAINED IN
LONGEVITY SINCE THE
CIVIL WAR.

average length Of human life in these
limited States since the civil war.
This striking statement regarding
American longevity vas made by DIR.
William ]. Mayo OF Rochester, Mimi,
in his opening address as president of
the American College of Surgeons,
which has just concluded its clinical
congress in New York.
He spoke most Of the great menace
which is in the way OF every man or
woman in this continent, who has
passed the meridian of life, and what
preceded his warnings was remarkably
significant as showing how preventive
medicine has enabled US to flee from
many ills from which it was very diff
6cult for man to escape less than two
centuries ago. Most of the material
herewith given was taken from two
addresses delivered by the distin-
guished surgeon before his fellow
knights of the scalpel.
Hope in Medicine.
In the medical profession" said
DR.. Mayo, Lies the best hope for the
future"
He referred then to the increase Of
a decade and a half of years in human
life since the close of the great strug-
gle between the north and the south.
with our present knowledge and
under present conditions" he contin-
ued, '15 years more might be added to
the life of a man in this country with
in the next 20 years. lit is certain
that 10 years will be added at the
most productive age from the stand
point Of industry and will greatly aid
in maintaining our position as the
most productive nation"
DIR. Mayo considers this especially
important inasmuch as a stronger de-
mand will be made in the United
States for the men who can produce
and thus aid in bringing about that
efficient production which makes for
successful competition. The existence
of a parasitic class he regards as a
great SOuTC0 VI SOCldl al Cot' ihoo I
is that as the years increase 1t will be
required of all men to aid in produc-
ing for the common good.
when I was a boy" said the doc
tor, lit was difficult for a man OF 40
to find "a new job, and for a man of
50 it was practically impossible. To-
day the older men are great assets to
the country. In the ~prolongation of
their lives their skill and experience
in their particular work count for
much. They are less inflammable;
they have family ties and RESPONSE
bilities; they have something to lose;
so that they are less under the influ-
ence of the violent agitator. If, as a
nation, we advance the time of pro-
duction for each person 10 years we
can well afford to shorten hours OF
work and improve living conditions.
'We shall be able to compete with
those countries in which long u
and poor living conditions shorten hui
man life and eventually decrease pro-
UuCClOl dHQ lHCIcdSC SoSF" ~
Disease Overtakes Man.
DR.. Mayo said at the conclusion OF
his address that the average life OF
man in this country had been ex-
tended through preventive measures
taken in youth. The solution OF the
riddle of life these days, according to
his view, has much to do with the
plans undertaken for building up the
constitution of the child.
As a man advances toward middle
life he is overtaken by diseases OF
the blood vessels and the heart and
kidneys which are often traced to
the sowing of wild oats when he was
young. The youthful constitution was
strong enough t that time to v
repealed these inroads, but at TWO
score and ten the resistance Is broker
down and various LESSONS are liable &c
assert themselves.
Children, for the last Is years, nave
been warned of the dangers OF doca
infections such as come from diseases
conditions of the teeth and tonsiis
Within the last two or three years
and especially since the war, the pat
effects which decayed teeth are ike
ly to have upon the body have peel
especially guarded against by nos
who conserve the health OF the young
err generation. Very often a center o
focus of disease may develop In SOM
remote part of the body and yet ma
be due to decay or disorder IN Ill
dental apparatus. In the opinion U
physicians close attention to the con
dition of the teeth in early life, In tn
light of this new knowledge, Will al
materially to length of years as Uni
century advances.
'The physician of the old scnoo
with his top hat and double-breaste
frock coat" continued DR.. Mayo, WI
practiced as an individual IN a
branches of medicine and surgery, ma
virtually disappeared. He has give
place to a new type of physician, WI
works not as an Individual. but
part of an organization in which IL
state in one way or another has pf
ILL., htcN IN m