Transcriber’s notes:
The text of this eBook has been preserved as in the original. Italic
text is denoted by _underscores_ and bold text by *asterisks*.
New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the
public domain.
WHY DO WE DIE?
THE ROAD TO A HEALTHY OLD AGE
BY T. BODLEY SCOTT, M.R.C.S. (Eng.).
_Author of “The Religion of a Doctor.”_
SECOND EDITION.
Crown 8vo, cloth, *5/-* net.
Third Impression.
“In this book an attempt is made
to demonstrate both to the medical
profession and the laity that premature
decay, physical and mental, may within
limits be prevented.... We have perused
the book with pleasure, and cordially
recommend it to our readers.”--_Medical
Times._
“We can cordially commend this work to
readers of advancing years, whether
medical or lay. To the former it
presents an old subject in a new
way, and to the latter will convey
some very wholesome material for
thought.”--_Lancet._
T. Fisher Unwin Ltd. London.
WHY DO WE DIE?
BY
T. BODLEY SCOTT
M.R.C.S. Eng., L.R.C.P. Ed.
T. FISHER UNWIN LTD.
LONDON: ADELPHI TERRACE
_First published in 1921_
(_All rights reserved_)
PREFACE
The attitude and the pretensions of the “medicine man” may perhaps have
had some value in the days when the multitude was full of superstition
and had no scientific knowledge, but we hope those days of ignorance
have passed, though we fear superstition remains. The “medicine
man” was a more or less clever poseur, who used his small amount of
knowledge to conceal his very large amount of ignorance. The medical
profession, till the more recent years, cannot be entirely acquitted
of the same sort of dishonesty, but a new era of open-mindedness and
honesty has, I think, begun.
To get any real success in the treatment of disease, we must get
confidences, not one-sided, but on both sides, between ourselves and
our patients, and so alone shall we get that co-operation without which
there can be little expectation of success. At present we see this
success more in the wonderful results of psychotherapy than in the
treatment of objective disease, but I firmly maintain that mutual trust
will prove its great value in this also. Is it reasonable to expect
that men of equal learning and intelligence as ourselves will accept
our treatment and advice without knowing the rationale of them? Should
we do it in the case of legal or religious matters? Our patients know
as well as we do that medical knowledge is in a continuous state of
flux and that as yet we are nowhere near finality. The dazzling garment
of omniscience will be discovered to be the somewhat shop-worn cloak of
ignorance. A wise and observant patient can help us enormously in the
investigation of a difficult problem in disease, for the subjective
symptoms are often as important as the objective. What the eye does not
see may be there all the time.
The history of the world right up to the present time has shown the
futility of dividuality as against individuality both in politics
and religion. The greater part of our Christian teaching is against
separateness, and towards mutual love, consideration, and help. For
this reason I have tried to write so that all may grasp the hope and
possibility of a longer and more effectual life. Co-operation is the
watchword of the future, isolation the disease and explanation of the
past.
GLOSSARY OF MEDICAL TERMS
There are parts of this book that can only be fully grasped by a
physician, but I have tried to write it so that any intelligent reader
may be able to see not only the drift of the argument, but may be
able to make a personal application of it. To this end I am giving a
glossary with definitions of the more abstruse scientific words.
*Pathological.*--The branch of medical science that treats of diseased
conditions, their nature and causes.
*Ventricle.*--The left ventricle is the chief pump of the heart which
by its powerful contraction forces the blood forward into the aorta,
the first part of the arterial system. It is the initial motor of the
circulation.
*Systole.*--The contraction of the heart that drives the blood onward.
*Diastole.*--The dilating time of the ventricle in which the blood
flows in to fill it for its next contraction.
*Sphygmomanometer.*--The name of the instrument that measures the
blood pressure.
*Peripheral.*--The parts farthest from the centre.
*Tinnitus.*--A singing or ringing in the ears.
*Hyperpiesis.*--Abnormal increase of blood pressure.
*Atheroma.*--A form of fatty degeneration with hardening of the inner
coats of the arteries.
*Endocrine.*--A name given to certain glands of the body which have no
external outlet or secretion (ἐνδον, within, and κρίνω, to separate),
such as the thyroid.
*Protein.*--The entire amount of nitrogenous material in organic
substances.
*Hypophysis.*--The pituitary gland situated at the base of the brain.
CONTENTS
PAGE
PREFACE 5
GLOSSARY OF MEDICAL TERMS 9
CHAPTER I
THE CHOICE OF WAYS 15
CHAPTER II
ARTERIO-SCLEROSIS: ITS NATURE AND ITS CAUSES 27
CHAPTER III
THE WAY OF SAFETY 65
CHAPTER IV
THE MEDICINAL TREATMENT OF SCLEROSIS 101
CHAPTER I
THE CHOICE OF WAYS
Why do we die so long before our time? And what do we die of? These are
the two most crucial questions, as far as this life is concerned, that
affects us all, but which most of us seem content to ignore.
Putting on one side the accidents of life--and among the accidents I
include the acute diseases, such as pneumonia, rheumatic fever, and
the infectious diseases, which attack from without, and the so far
unexplained cancer--we must allow that our lives and our health are to
a great extent in our own keeping, and of our own making. Three score
years and ten was David’s estimate of the working years of a man’s
life, but under modern conditions of improved sanitation the term of
life should be at least four score years and ten, and this extra 20 per
cent. should not be a time of pain and sorrow, but of peace and rest,
with still some capacity for work.
Many of us used to be content to answer the first question, “Why do
we die?” by saying our time had come. The unreflecting but so-called
religious person seemed to think that God had placed a time limit
against each individual when he came into the world. This is pure
fatalism, and unworthy of the name of reason or of faith in the Divine
justice. “Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die” is almost the
logical position of such minds. We cannot hope to solve individually or
in detail the mysteries of life and death, why one is cut off in the
full tide of his energy, and another, who seems to be going out on the
ebb, remaineth. But we must put these following questions honestly to
ourselves--Are free will, scientific work, knowledge, self-restraint,
and self-denial to be so much wasted powder? Are we to work out our
destiny, the sport of chance, hopelessly, illogically, without ambition
and without a healthy pride in our work? Is the man who spends his
life in riotous living, in over-eating and drinking, and in committing
every physiological sin that he can think of, to live as long and as
healthily as the wise and sober man? Has the great Father of us all
given us no motive for life, no work to do for Him or for our brothers?
Must not we, as separate sections of the Divine image and of His
all-pervading spiritual force, endeavour with all our strength and
knowledge to prolong the life given us to the utmost limit? Surely
the fact of our life, the gift of our life, becomes a great personal
responsibility, an acknowledged debt to our Maker that we can only
repay by regarding it as a treasure to be daily cared for and
cherished. Thus the promotion of health and the prevention of disease
must manifestly be our first considerations, for without health our
output of work ceases, or becomes both in quantity and character a poor
thing.
The despairing cry of “Why was I born?” comes to most of us in the
sorrows and tragedies of life, but it is the cry of faithlessness, of
relativity, of blindness to the sure, but half-seen purposes of the
Absolute God.
That which we in our presumption are pleased to call civilization,
should certainly further such aims for health, but the whole story
of the world, of past and gone kingdoms, and of our own times also,
show that civilization works up to a point of luxury that defeats
and destroys itself. Babylon, Egypt, and Rome all testify to this
end. These old civilizations perished, perhaps, more from enervating
luxury and dissipation than from violence; though some of them gave way
through feebleness, physical and mental, to a stronger, hardier race
from without. In our own times there seems to loom the same danger,
but the attack comes from another side. We neither eat nor drink to
such excess as our forefathers, and we are not grossly luxurious
or debauched, but the strain and the competition of life, both in
professions and in business, has become so intense that our nervous
systems break down long before their time. This produces rather a new
type of an old disease. What is this disease but arterio-sclerosis?--a
word which means only thickening of the arteries, but which, after
fifty, in its far-reaching results destroys life and working capacity
far more than cancer or any other disease. And this disease is, in the
great majority of people, the result of the almost incessant nervous
strain that seldom allows our hearts and our arteries, and especially
the arteries of our brains, to get their proper quota of rest.
Though the average duration of life has increased during the last
fifty years, much of this is due to a lower mortality in infancy and
childhood. There has been an actual increase in the mortality rate
among males between the ages of fifty-five and sixty-five. One-third
of the total deaths in this period are due to diseases of the heart
and blood vessels. In America it is stated to be 10 per cent. higher.
If the causes of death in certificates were given more exactly, this
proportion would be without doubt still greater. These deaths cannot
be fairly brought under the heading “Old age.” This is what we die
of! According to our death certificates we die of paralysis, of
strokes, of Bright’s disease, of softening of the brain, of cardiac
degeneration, of angina pectoris, but in nearly every case the
foundation, the _causa causans_ is arterial disease.
Sir Clifford Allbutt, in his distinctive way, says:--
“We recognize now, all of us, that, in the lapse of men’s years,
one long reckoning of his mortality is, and from all known ages has
been, written on the walls of his vessels. We may suppose that in the
primitive man, by external conditions if not by innate capacity, life
was of comparatively brief duration. Domestic animals seem, as a rule,
not to live long enough to use up their arteries or not to live ill
enough to abuse them, and amongst these creatures atheroma, though not
unknown, has not been commonly observed. We may reasonably conjecture
that, as in Stable Societies human life became protracted, the
arteries got time to wear out.”
There is plenty of evidence from the mummies of Egypt that atheroma
and sclerosis were common, not only in advanced age, but in the middle
years of life. We cannot know intimately the life that these old
people lived, but we can pretty well picture from history both the
height of luxury and the nervous strain. Civilization brings without
doubt more comfort, more luxury, and more scientific knowledge, but
it seldom brings more true personal wisdom. The philosophical calm
and contentment with simple pleasures, and wise simplicity of life,
are still the exception. To use a slang expression, we are nearly all
of us “on the make,” stretching forth eager hands and hearts towards
the will-o’-the-wisp of wealth and advancement, while we let the real
values and beauties of life pass us by and so we continually miss our
markets. The great war has taught us one good lesson, viz., that we
can live and be well--nay, better--on much less food and on simpler
than was our former custom; but it has increased, at any rate for the
present, the struggle for and the pain of mere existence.
We must nevertheless be optimistic, and hope that the great advance
in science may soon make life easier, and the food of the world once
again sufficient for its inhabitants; then, please God, materialism may
shrink into the background and things spiritual come into their own.
Not, however, by a reformed and wiser life alone do I hope to show the
more excellent way, but to show that modern science has placed in our
hands a preventer of decay and a prolonger of life and energy. I cannot
promise that this discovery will take twenty years off a woman’s life
and put twenty years on to her beauty, but I know that it will give
many more years of fruitful and enjoyable work, with greater strength
and better health.