Evening star., 1934-04-24
BY THOMAS r. HENRY,

The secret Of youth in old age-a
slow fire.
This, at least, was the outstanding
departure from normal found by DR..
Francis G. Benedict of the Carnegie
Institution Of Washington in a series
of physiological studies of a Massa-
chusetts man of 9l, who still retains
much Of the activity and good health
of young man. He reported his
findings before the National Academy
of Sciences here today.
When this old gentleman is at rest,
DR.. Benedict said. he has the lowest
body surface yet reported. The heat
producing mechanism of his body
seems to function much like the motor
of a perfect automobile when it is
allowed to idle" When he rests he
rests all over.
Yet, still like the high-claSs auto,
he has a quick pickup" When he
is in action he acts intensively. At
81, and employed by New England
publishing house, he has excellent
hearing, a regular heart beat. prac-
tically no Qualification of the arteries,
which is the outstanding character
istic of age: good blood circulation
and an extraordinary balance Of the
enoocrine glands" which is revealed
in the texture of his skin and hair.
Ideal of Extreme Age.
This old gentleman was studied by
Dr. Benedict as almost an ideal of
extreme old age. While his extremely
lowheat production at rest was his
outstanding popularity, it has not
been duplicated in other old men of
whom less intensive physiological
studies have been made.
How to attain such a state is quite
another problem, DR.. Benedict said.
The first requirement probably is a
long Lived ancestry. accompanied by
temperate living. The old New Eng
lander never has used liquor or to-
bacco.
But perhaps the greatest need Of
all. DR.. Benedict said, is freedom from
worry. Here" he said, "the psycholo-
gist has a great field for training in
mental poise. He must show people
how to cultivate an embarrassed mind.
In the attainment of longer life. the
aid of the psychologist may be as
important as that Of the physician,
for old age is a mental as well as
physical phenomenon"
Discovery of third major me-
chanical factor in the circulation of
the blood was announced before the
National Academy of Sciences here
today by DR.. Yandell Henderson, pro-
fessor of physiology at Yale University.
Clears Up Old Problem.
This clears up problem which has
vexed Psychologists and physicians for
years. The force that sends the blood
back to the heart through the veins,
without which it would staenate in
the tissues, has been unknown. DR..
Henderson and his colleagues found
this force Is the tonus of the muscle.
Hitherto it has been thought that low
cred bodily tone was due to poor
circulation, but this discovery puts it
the other way around.
1T is well known" he said, that in
health. even during complete bodily
rest, every muscle in the body has
tonus-that is, 1t eXerts slight pull.
1t is also well known that in physical
such as occurs after an
attack of influenza, the tonus of the
muscles is lessened. simultaneously
the circulation is weakened. We have
reached the conclusion that the tonus
of the muscles of the body is the prin-
nirN1a f0rrn 5yu s-. -
We have determined experimentally
that muscle in a state of tonus has
ar internal pressure, even during COM
plete rest.
These mechanical relations are
best understood by comparing them to
the circulation of water in the atmos-
phere. The sun lifts water from the
sea into the clouds. 1t supplies the
energy, as the heart does in pumping
blood from the low pressure in the
veins up to the high pressure in the
arteries. Meteorological conditions de-
termine where the rain shall fall,
much as the vasomotor system con-
trolls the distribution of the arterial
blood to the various organs. If the
rain falls on mountains or a high
plateau, the water runs back to the
sea with force that can be used to
turn mill wheels. Such streams from
high levels are analogous to the venous
blood streams, from muscles in good
tonus.
IF, on the contrary. the rain falls
on swamp at sea level the stream
back to the sea is sluggish. Similarly,
han fhn 1f oil hn d.,
the body is low, the venous system to
the heart is sluggish, the volume
by the heart into the arteries
is diminished, and the entire circula-
ton is depressed.
This conception of the influence of
bodily tonus upon the venous return
affords a clear picture also of the re-
lation Of heat production and meta
bolism to respiration and circulation.
Basal metabolism is largely deter
mined by the tonicity of the muscular
tissues of the body. The amounts of
oxygen consumed and carbon dioxide
produced determine the volume OF, the
circulation needed to transport these
gases between the tissues and the
lungs, as well as the volume Of respi-
ration needed to exchange them with
the atmosphere"
DR.. Robert A. Millikan told the
academy of the success Of two of his
colleagues at the California Institute
of Technology-C. C. Laurissen and
H. r. Crane-in making radium rays
far more powerful and penetrating
than those of natural radium. They
accomplished the result, he said. with
the aid of actual transmutation of the
elements.
Although these rays are not yet
under good enough control to be used
for treatment Of cancer and other
diseases, they are believed to be a