New-York tribune., 1922-11-12

several modern Ponce de Icons in
| Europe to-day looking for the fount
of longer youth armed with faith IN
the hypodermic needle or the trans
plantation Of glands.
History repeats the experience Of
Ponce dc Leon.
Some Of the greatest scientists Of
Europe have been asked TO give their
cold. hard verdict on this new craze
for reiuvenation.
"Can life be prolonged 2" is the blunt
question put to such men as Professor
Bouvicr, Of the Academy of Sciences;
the well-known DR.. variot, Professor
Richee, member of the Institute and
Academy Of Medicine; DR.. Fiessinger,
of the Academy, and Camille Flana-
marion--aii savants in this land of
science, which produced Pasteur, Cure
and others, now dead. The verdict is
that life can be prolonged, but not to
any extent by needle pricks and opera
tions.
The opinion OF the group of savants
presented in the popular Paris maga-
zine Lecture Pour Tous" is unani-
nous that life is subnormal, and rather
than look TO surgical means for lon
gevity this accomplishment lies in
simpler things: hygeine. diet, philoso-
ply and other precautions against pre-
mature weakening of the tissues and.
possibly more important, the fight
cf science against decimating diseases.
DIR. Variot, who is himself not
young, has this to say to septuage-
narians and oceogenarians:
"To the man who has, despite many
obstacles, reached old age, the proIonga-
tion of life can only be limited. All
living things, animals as we'll as vege.
tables, have an evolution of which death
ie the inevitable. However, longevity
may be hereditary in more robust races
whose cellular elements suffer senile
degeneration more slowly and whose
nutrition is more active and regular
Some men OF fifty, however, have an
organic wear and tear greater than
some Of seventy. Each individual
grows old in his own way and follow
ing predispositions in which heredity
plays big role. Such and such an
organ suffers an initial and predomi-
mating degeneration, with the result
that it affects all the others more or
less rapidly.
Medical Science Is Able to
To Guard Life for Time
Doubtless medical science is not
disarmed," the savant admits, "and can
combat symptoms of organic lesion for
q time; but no medicine can attack the
cause Of accidents, that is the nutrivity
troubles which are of slow, relentless
evolutionary character"
Taking monkey gland and trans-
planting into man is not substitute,
this scientist thinks. The human body
is not an automobile which can be
driven UP TO service station and
proceed normally after a defective part
has been unscrewed, thrown aside and
another put in it's place. In scientific /
language Professor ysriot goes into
this phase as follows:
"ln the present state OF our knowl- !
sdge of physiology it is impossible
% replace an organ as one substitutes
\ part in motor; it would therefore
BE chimeric to pursue an indefinite
ongeyity. Our pretensiona should be
more moderate--by alimentary and hy-
yenic regimes adjusted TO the condi-
ions OF the organs one can gain time,
and by inoffensive stumlants one can
slso give whiplash to the organisms:
,ut, unfortunately, we lack resources
% repair the cellular structures, whose
'uin is irreparsble."
In this the French scientist ignores
,or humans the theory Of DR.. Alexis
Carrel, of Rockefeller Institute. who
aas kept tissues of embryo chicken
1earts in constant proliferation for
more than eight years; constantly re-
producing cellular life, in test tubes,
@ariot's theory that human cells burn
slowly out and while the fires can be
made to burn perhaps more slowly this
DEVASTATING force brings the body each
lay nearer its transition to dust is
Wholly supported by the famous Pro-
'essor Richet, who. some time ago,
gave weight to Sir A. Conan Doyle's !
Lain that ghosts or what seem to be
ghosts emanate from the mysterious
'ubstance called ectoplasm. Discussing
lie more material side of life, how
'yer. Professor Richet says that every
'uman effort must remain powerless
o modify the inevitable exhaustion of
cellular lise.
One thing is certain" says Pro-
'essor Richet, "the wastage of our or
ans is closely tied to intensity
II body combustion-,hms if, by any
process, body Temperature could be
owered, life would be prolonged"
This savant points out that animals
iying in glacial seas live longer than
he same species inhabiting the hot
ropical waters.
"bnt," he asks, ''is it possible TO
mango the organic temperature of the
uman body! ] do not think SO, and
n any event, this would not be desir-
BILE, because it could not be except at
he price of diminishing physical &C.