Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1920-07-07
LIFE CHANCES
GROW BETTER
| YEAR BY YEAR
People Learning to Fight
Diseases by AntitOxins and
Like Methods.
CHRONIC ILLS INCREASE
BY FREDERIC ]. HAsKIN.

WASHINGTON, July You have a
better chance than your grandfather had
OF living your allotted three score years
and ten, because you live in a healthier
century.
Of course, you may depart this life
suddenly before your time by getting in
the way Of a rapidly travelling auto, or
as a result of an insignificant pin
scratch
But barring accident, the chances OF
living TO grow old gracefully are get
ting better every day.
Two hundred years ago the average
person lasted only twenty years on
this danger-infested globe.
Half century ago the average life
line had stretched TO forty years, and
now it is estimated to have reached
fifty years.
i ia true that in the days when
germs fourished unmOlested some folk
lived to be 100 years and more, but
babies died by the thousand, and sur
gerry was in the saw and hammer stage,
when to perform a major operation was
practically murder.
Today If you get stabbed in the heart
a surgeon coolly opens you up, takes
out your heart in his hand, repairs 1t
and sews it in as good as ever.
Improved sanitation and scientific war
or mosquitoes, lies and rats are recent
Developments which are making life
safer So are sntitoxins, vaccination,
snesthetics, antlseptics and public health
education.
But along With our firmer grip on
Father Times coattails we sre develop
ing an unprecedented amount Of old age
diseases. The public health service re-
ports that never before has there been
so much heart trouble, cancer, chronic
Brtght's disease and artery troubles,
largely because never before have there
been so many elderly people.
DISEASE STARTS
DURING YOUTH.
In time no doubt, we will attack these
diseases systematically in youth when
they start 1t was found recently, fol
instance, that 10000 school children in
New York City have evidences Of heart
disorder, and this knowledge has led to
special attention to their teeth and ton
sis, diet and exercise
Many Of these children live in five
story walk up" tenements, which &C
counts in some cases for symptoms Of
strain.
Il Is suggested that pupils with weak
hearts should be put in separate schools
where their health could be more care
fully watched than in the regular pub
lie school buildings.
One-ffth Of the deaths over 40 years
are due to heart failure, Though large
proportion Of heart trouble is prevent
able, or durable If taken IN time.
II old age is a disease, what causes It?
and finally and most important, is IL pre-
ventable? are questions which have been
answered in many ways. but to which
conclusive answers are still being sought
1t is well known fact that old age
IS usually accompanied by hardened
arteries, stiff joints loss of faculties, and
general debility. But these conditions do
not inevitably occur.
Thomas Edison, who is 30, and who
hopes TO live to see $50, says that because
he sticks to q spare diet his arteries are
as soft as in boyhOod.
Most Of US have known people Of more
than 50 years who were more spry and
mentally alert than others Of 60. These
people seem to offer greater resistance
to disease due to a strong constitution
and healthy habits Of life.
long LIFE Is
HEREDITARY.
DR.. Alexander Graham Bell, who has
collected data regarding 5000 persons who
lived to be so years or over, concludes
that these characteristics are often hand
ed down, so that longevity becomes a
family trait
He believes that longevity should be
cultivated as it has been in the Hyde
family noted for consistently long lives
through many generations.
Dr.. Bells plea, in short, is for health
Ter race, which will have long life as
one OF the signs of its vitality.
No practical method OF preventing
sehility has ever been discovered.
MetchnikOf's idea that If a mans long
intestine, which is a great collector Of
germs, were cut out he would stand
good chance of greatly extended youth
has lost favor.
Those who have attained to a vigorous
old age furnish theories that are at least
more practical, though less sensational.
Most very old people are proud Of their
antiquity and like to hand their recipe
on to posetrity.
Up 70 20, age is a thing to be concealed
if possible, but when the Bible limit Is
passed safely and the elderly person
feels as fit as ever he begins to take
pride in himself as a sort Of conqueror
Of time.
He develops a philosophy as a guide
for others, the only difficulty being that
few of the guides agree.
Thus, many centenarians advise those
who would emulate their achievement TO
get plenty OF sleep-meaning eight to
twelve hours at night, and a few maps in
your spare time in the day
But along come some other old age
authorities, Edison, for example. and hold
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