DURATION OF LIFE.
Old age today brings to mind a picture of decrepitude and decay. This is
because there is practically no natural old age. Those who live so that
they are unhealthy during the early years of life will not be well if
they reach advanced years. Old people can be well in body and sound in
mind. In order to attain this desirable end, it is necessary to live
properly during the first part of life. It is true that people may
dissipate and reform and then live long in comfort, but usually those
who spend too lavishly destroy their capital and go into physical or
mental bankruptcy.
There are many who during their prime say that they do not wish to grow
old. Their desire for a short life can easily be satisfied. All that is
necessary is to live in the conventional manner and the chance of dying
before reaching the age of fifty or sixty is good. A few live to be
seventy or more in spite of dissipation, but these are the exceptions.
They were endowed with excellent constitutions to begin with,
constitutions that were made to last over one hundred years. Where we
find one who has lived long in spite of intemperance, thousands have
died from it.
Most people desire to remain on earth long and they can have their wish.
They can advance in years healthy in body and with growing serenity of
mind. Physical and mental well-being are necessary to attain one's
life's expectancy. Old age should not be considered as apart from the
rest of life. It is but one of the natural phases. Those who do not live
to be old have failed to live completely.
Those who express their desire to die young generally change their mind
when they face death. Man clings to life.
Old age is a desirable condition. The physical tempests have been
subdued, if the life has been well spent. On the other hand, the faults
and foibles of the self-indulgent are accentuated and in such cases old
age is a misfortune.
No one knows what man's natural length of life is. Anatomists and
physiologists compare the human body with the bodies of various animals.
In this they are justified, for we all develop according to the same
laws. Most of the animals, when allowed to live as nature intended them
to live, reach an age of from five to six times the length of the period
of their growth. Human beings, with their ability to control their
environment, should be able to do even better than that. Man reaches
physical maturity between twenty and twenty-five years of age. This
would make his natural age one hundred and twenty-five to one hundred
and fifty years. There are cases on record that have lived longer and it
may be that if man would cease going in the way of self-destruction and
spend more thought and time on the welfare of the race, life would be
prolonged beyond even one hundred and fifty years. R. T. Trall, M. D.,
thought that man should live to be two hundred years old.
"What man has done man can do." If long life is worth while, doubtless a
time will come when long life will be enjoyed. The worry, fretting and
foolish haste of today will doubtless be partly done away with some
time. Then men and women will have time to live, instead of merely
existing, as most people do today. Men have lived long and found life
good. Long life for its own sake is perhaps not to be desired, but the
benefit that can be bestowed upon the race by those advanced in years is
desirable. Occasionally a brilliant individual appears on the scene,
doing superior work in life's morning, but most of the work that has
been found worthy of the consideration of the ages has been done by men
of mature years.
Galen, the famous physician, is said to have lived to a great age. It is
hard to tell exactly how old he was, but he was probably well past the
century mark at his death. His long life gave him time to do work that
is appreciated after the lapse of eighteen centuries. For many hundred
years after his death he dominated the practice of medicine and he is
today spoken of as often as any living medical man.
Thomas Parr, an Englishman, died at the age of one hundred and
fifty-two. He was hale and hearty to the very end. Unfortunately, his
reputation traveled far. He was brought to the English court, where he
was wined and dined, and as a consequence he died. Before this he had
always led the simple life. An autopsy was performed and the physicians
found his organs in excellent condition. The only reason they could give
for his death was his departure from the simple life which he had led in
his home.
Henry Jenkins, also an Englishman, lived to the age of one hundred and
sixty-nine years. He lived very frugally and was always on friendly
terms with nature. His favorite drink was water, though he partook in
moderation of "hop bitters." He was moderate in all things, and it is
said that he was never really ill until near the end of life. He was not
shriveled and shrunken, but a wholesome looking man. King Charles II.
sent a carriage to bring Mr. Jenkins to London, when he was one hundred
and sixty years old. The old gentleman declined to ride and walked the
two hundred miles to the metropolis. The king questioned him regarding
his life and desired to know the reason for his longevity. Mr. Jenkins
replied that he had always been sober and temperate and that this was
the reason for his many years. The Merry Monarch was neither sober nor
temperate, and you may be sure that this reply did not please him. Mr.
Jenkins was wiser than Mr. Parr had been, refusing to dissipate, even
though he was old. Consequently he returned to his home to enjoy life
nine years longer.
These two cases are authentic.
All are familiar with the records given in the Bible. Whether they are
figurative or not it is hard to tell. However, so many cases of
longevity are recorded that they in all probability have a basis in
fact. The Hebrews of old must have been a long-lived people. One hundred
and twenty years was not an extreme age. In Genesis is the record of
many over five hundred years old, and a few over nine hundred years of
age. At the time of the apostles the life span of the Hebrews had grown
shorter and hence the dictum of three score years and ten. Between the
time of Moses and that of the apostles the Hebrews had advanced--or
shall we say degenerated?--from a semi-barbarous people to one that had
the graces and also the vices of a higher civilization. The Hebrews of
old were husbandmen, who lived simply and got their vigor from the soil.
The cause of so much unnecessary suffering and of the premature deaths
has been discussed elsewhere in this book. In short, it is wrong living
and wrong thinking. Impure air and bad food kill no more surely than
does worry.
The bodies of children are composed largely of water. The structures are
flexible and elastic. The bones are made up mostly of cartilaginous
structure. As the children grow older more solids are deposited in the
body and the proportion of solid matter to water grows greater. Lime is
deposited in the bones. When they are limy throughout they are said to
be ossified. After this process is complete no more growth can take
place. Bone formation continues until about the age of twenty-five. At
this age the body is efficient. The fluids circulate without
obstruction. Could this condition be maintained, there would be no
decay.
During the early years of life the food intake in proportion to the
weight of the body is great. The child is active and uses much fuel to
produce power and to repair the waste. Considerable food is required for
body building. At this time a broken bone mends quickly and cuts heal in
a short time. With advancing years come slowness and sluggishness of the
various vital activities. The slowing up can be retarded almost
indefinitely by proper care of the body.
If the circulation could be maintained and the purity of the blood
stream guarded, old age would be warded off. A healthy body is able to
cleanse itself under favorable conditions and so long as the body is
clean through and through there is no opportunity for disease to take
place and there can be no aging. By aging I mean not so much the number
of years one has lived as the amount of hardening and degeneration of
the body that take place.
Some are as old at forty as others are at seventy.
When people have reached physical maturity they should begin to reduce
their food intake. There is no need for building material then. All that
is necessary is enough to repair the waste and to keep up the
temperature. The individual at twenty-seven should eat a little less
than when he was twenty and by the age of thirty-five he should have
reduced his food still more and made his meals very simple. Children
enjoy the gratification of the sense of taste, but at the age of
thirty-five a man has lived enough and experienced enough so that he
should know that the overgratification of appetites is an evanescent and
unprofitable pleasure, always costing more than it is worth. It is best
to grow into good habits while young, for it is difficult to do so after
one has grown old. The man who reforms after fifty is the exception.
Children are fond of cereal foods and sugars. They can eat these foods
two or three times a day and thrive. A man of thirty-five should make it
a general rule to limit his starch eating to once a day. Various
physiologists say that as much as sixteen ounces of dry starch
(equivalent to about thirty ounces of ordinary bread) are necessary each
day. This is entirely too much. Very few people can profitably eat more
than four ounces of dry starch a day, and for many this is too much.
Through eating as much as is popularly and professionally advocated,
early decay and death result.
The arteries are normally pliable and elastic. When too much food is
taken, the system is unable to cleanse itself. Debris is left at various
points. One of the favorite lodging places is in the coats of the
arteries. After considerable deposits have been formed the arteries lose
their elasticity. They become hard and unyielding. A normal radial
artery can easily be compressed with one finger. Sometimes the radial
artery becomes so hard that it is difficult to compress it with three
fingers. As the arteries grow harder they become more brittle and
sometimes they break, often a fatal accident.
This hardness of the arteries impedes the circulation, for the tone and
natural elasticity of the vessel walls is one of the aids to a normal
circulation.
So long as the arteries are normal all parts of the body are bathed in a
constantly changing stream of blood. The muscles, the nerves, the bones,
in fact all parts of the body, remove from the blood stream those
elements that are necessary for repairing or building the various
tissues. They also throw into the blood stream the refuse and waste due
to the constant repair and combustion going on all over the body. The
blood then leaves this refuse with the skin, lungs, kidneys and bowels,
which throw it out of the body.
So long as there are enough fuel and food, but not too much, and so long
as all the debris is carried away, there is health. But let this process
be thrown out of balance and there will be disease. The food intake is
seldom too small, though the digestion is frequently so poor that not
enough good food gets into the blood. Old age is largely due to
overeating and eating the wrong kinds of food. This is how overeating
causes premature aging, when it does not kill more quickly: When too
much food is taken, too much is absorbed into the blood, provided the
nutritive processes are active. Then all the food in the blood can not
be used for repair and fuel. The balance must either be excreted or
stored away in the body as deposits. If this storing takes place in the
joints, the result may be rheumatism or gout and at times even a
complete locking of the joints (anchylosis). If it is stored in the
walls of the blood-vessels they become hard and unyielding. No matter
where deposits take place, some of them will be found in the walls of
the blood-vessels. When these vessels grow hard they decrease in
caliber. The result is that the heart is compelled to work very hard,
but even then enough blood is not forced through the vessels. The
circulation becomes sluggish. The blood in the various parts becomes
stagnant.
Then insufficient good oxygen and first-class nourishment are brought to
the parts and not enough waste is carried away. Now the billions of
cells of which the body is composed are constantly bathed in poisonous
blood. The result is lowering of physical tone, or degeneration, of the
whole body. The hands and the feet suffer most at first from the poor
blood supply and become cold easily. Those who suffer constantly from
cold hands and feet should know that they are aging, although they may
be but twenty years old.
Such a condition as this often gives rise to varicose veins in the legs.
The feet are so far away from the heart, and it is such a long upgrade
return of the blood, that the circulation in the lower extremities
easily becomes sluggish. The flabby, relaxed tissues and the hardened
blood-vessels allow the blood to stagnate. This is why senile gangrene
is so common in the feet and so often fatal.
The brain gets a copious blood supply, yet the hardening of the arteries
often deprives this organ of its necessary nourishment. Then the higher
faculties begin to abdicate. If the hardening is extensive senile
softening of the brain may take place. This is always due to a lack of
pure blood. Sometimes the arteries are brittle enough to break. Baldness
is another symptom of physical decay. The hair follicles are not
properly nourished, for the arteries have become so contracted and the
tissues of the scalp so hardened that there is not enough blood to feed
the hair roots. Baldness begins on top of the head, generally the only
part affected, because it is farthest away from the blood supply.
Baldness is also partly due to man's headwear. Women are rarely bald.
There is a saying that there are no bald men in the poorhouse. Even if
this were true, it would not be very consoling, for the bald heads on
the street cleaning forces are numerous.
Overeating also causes premature aging because if results in
fermentation in the alimentary tract. The acids produced cause
degeneration of various tissues, having an especially bad effect on the
nervous system, which reflects the evil to other parts of the body.
It is well to bear in mind how this comes about: First there is
overeating; too much food improperly prepared is taken into the blood
stream; this makes the blood impure; deposits, causing hardening of the
tissues and reduction of the lumen of the vessels, are formed; the blood
grows more impure and the circulation sluggish; the tissues are
constantly bathed in impure blood, causing further degeneration. When a
certain point is reached nature can tolerate no more and life flits
away.
Those who wish to remain young must give some thought to the selection
of their food, especially if they are hearty eaters. If only sufficient
food is taken to keep the body well nourished it does not make much
difference what is eaten, provided it contains sufficient of fresh
foods, for when only enough food is taken to supply fuel and repairing
material, the food will all be used and none is left to ferment in the
digestive tract and form deposits in the body. The body will then keep
itself clean, or at least the formation of deposits takes place so
slowly that it is hardly perceptible. This can be compared with the
process taking place in the flues of a boiler. Stoke properly and they
remain clean. Choke the firebox with an excess of coal and the
combustion is so incomplete that the flues are soon filled up and the
grates are often burned out. Just so with the body: Feed too heavily and
the digestive organs are burned by the abnormal amount of acid produced
and the blood-vessels are filled with debris.
As most people lack the self-control to eat a normal amount of food,
they should select foods that are compatible and that are not too
concentrated. Too much meat causes degeneration of all parts of the body
and hardening. Too much starch causes acidity and hardening. The fruits
and the light vegetables have a tendency to overcome these degenerating
processes.
Starch is surely the chief offender in aging people. It is such a
concentrated food that overeating is easy, especially when it is taken
in the soft forms, such as mushes, fresh bread, griddle cakes and mashed
potatoes. If people would masticate their starchy foods thoroughly it
would greatly reduce the danger of overeating. It is common to eat bread
three times a day and in addition to take potatoes once or twice a day.
Those who consume so much starch carry into the system more food than
can be used and more of the mineral salts than can be excreted. The
result is the formation of deposits, chiefly of lime carbonate and lime
phosphate; fatty deposits are also common.
In order to live long and comfortably it would be well to reduce the
starch intake to once a day. The meats also are objectionable when taken
in excess. To them can be attributed the chief blame for the formation
of gelatinous deposits in the body. However, they do not carry so much
earthy matter into the blood stream as do the starches. It is best to
partake of meat but once a day, or even more seldom. Meat should
certainly not be taken more than twice a day even by those who are
advanced in years. People who care enough for starch to take it three
times a day, or are compelled to live chiefly upon it, grow old and
homely more quickly than do those who are able to partake more
plentifully of the more expensive proteins. The flesh obtained from
young animals and birds is not so heavily charged with earthy matters as
is that which is obtained from old animals and birds.
Fruits and nuts do not carry so much earthy matter as do the starches
and meats. The sweet fruits could with profit partly take the place of
the starchy foods. The sugar they contain, which has the same nutritive
value as starches, needs very little preparation before entering the
blood stream. Thus a large part of the energy required for starch
digestion is saved. On the other hand, the use of too much refined sugar
is even worse than an excessive intake of starch. Nuts are not difficult
to digest if they are well masticated..
The objection to acid fruits during the latter years of life is that
they thin the blood and cause chilliness. This is true if they are
partaken of too liberally. It is not necessary to refrain from eating
acid fruits, but they should be taken in moderation and the mild ones
should be selected. Pears, mild apples and grapes are better than
oranges, grapefruits and apricots. Those who have learned moderation can
eat all the fruit desired, for they will not be harmed by what a normal
appetite craves.
Vegetables carry considerable earthy matter, but on account of their
helpfulness in keeping the blood sweet they should be eaten several
times a week.
Those who think that overeating of starch is too harshly condemned are
referred to the horse. When he is allowed to roam about and partake of
his natural food, grass, he stays well and lives to be forty or more
years old. When compelled to eat great quantities of corn and oats,
which are very rich in starch, the horse becomes listless and slow at an
early age. He is old at fifteen and before twenty he is generally dead.
When horses suffer from stiffness in the joints a few weeks spent in
pasture, where they have nothing but green grass and water, remove the
stiffness and make them younger. This shows what partaking of nature's
green salad does for them. Any good stock man will tell you that feeding
too much grain "burns a cow out." It does exactly the same for a human
being, burns him out and fills him with clinkers. Many people think that
it is a hardship to be moderate in eating and drinking, but it is not.
It brings such a feeling of well-being and comfort that it is
unbelievable to those who have not experienced it.
Many envy the rich, thinking that they can and do live riotously. Rich
men must live as simply as though they were poor or else they soon lose
the mental efficiency that brought them their fortunes, for when health
is gone mental power is reduced.
According to information in the Saturday Evening Post, the eating habits
of many of our most influential business men are very simple and the
amount of food partaken of small. John D. Rockefeller could hardly live
more simply and plainly than he does. William Rockefeller, George F.
Baker, James Stillman, Otto H. Kahn, Thomas Fortune Ryan, George W.
Perkins, J. Ogden Armour, John H. Patterson, Jacob H. Schiff and Andrew
Carnegie, all business giants with money enough to subsist on the most
expensive delicacies, are said to live more plainly than does the
average American who is complaining of the high cost of living. It is
the price they have had to pay for success and it is the price that you
and I will have to pay to live successfully, though our success may not
take the form of financial power.
The one conspicuous exception among the financially great to the rule of
simplicity was J. P. Morgan. His eating habits were somewhat gross, but
on account of his rugged constitution he lived to be more than
seventy-five years old. If he had given himself just a little more care
he would be alive today. They say that his strong black cigars did him
no apparent harm, but those who read of his last illness understandingly
cannot agree to that statement. Mr. Morgan started with enough vitality
to live and work far beyond the century mark. John D. Rockefeller was
not physically strong when young. He has been compelled to take good
care of himself and to be moderate. Now he is past seventy and enjoying
good health.
John W. Gates died a martyr to excess, partly excess of food. He lacked
balance. His son followed in his footsteps and died young.
Frank A. Vanderlip, who is looming large on the financial horizon takes
but two meals a day, from which he gets enough sustenance to do good
work and he says that this plan makes for efficiency. Perhaps now that
such men as Mr. Vanderlip live well on two meals a day, it is time to
cease calling those who live thus faddists. Eating three meals a day is
a habit and many can and do get along very well on two meals, and a few
take only one meal daily.
E. H. Harriman also lived simply. He illustrates the evil of a poorly
controlled mind. He died when but little past sixty, probably because
his frail body was too weak to harbor his great ambition. He took his
business wherever he went. When ill and business was forbidden by his
physician, Mr. Harriman had a telephone concealed in his bedroom and as
soon as the doctor was gone, he was on the wire.
Another cause of premature aging is the drinking of very hard water. The
earthy matter is absorbed into the blood stream with the water, and a
part of it is deposited in the various tissues. People beyond middle age
should drink water containing only a small portion of salts. Those who
partake of fresh fruits or fresh vegetables daily get all the salts that
the system needs. Even the young should not drink water that is
exceedingly hard. We can well illustrate the harm that comes from the
excessively hard water by referring to the disease known as cretinism.
This disease is quite prevalent in some parts of Europe. They say that
the disease is hereditary, which is questionable. What is inherited is
the environment and the habits of the parents. The chief cause is
without doubt the superabundance of earthy matter in the drinking water.
The cretins are ill-favored in face and figure. They do not reach normal
mental or physical maturity. They are old long before the normal person
has reached his prime. They die young, rarely living to be over thirty
years old. The bones are completely ossified early, which is the cause
of their small stature and their stupidity. The bones of the skull
harden so early that the brain has no room to expand.
There is no need of suffering, even in a mild degree, from the disease
of cretinism. If the water is very hard it is easy to distill what is
needed for drinking purposes. Such water should at least be boiled. It
is much better to have a teakettle lined with earthy matters than to
have such a lining in our arteries.
The excessive use of table salt is another cause of early aging. It is a
good preservative and pickles meat very well. People have long used salt
as a preservative and perhaps they got the salt-eating habit in this
way, first using it on the foods to be preserved, and then on nearly all
foods. Salts to excess, especially table salt, help to mummify or pickle
those who partake of them too liberally. The addition of sodium chloride
to foods is unnecessary. We get all we need of this salt in our fruits,
vegetables and cereals. Salt should be used in moderation.
Alcohol, tobacco and coffee are harmful. However, it will be found that
most of the old people have used one or more of these drugs for many
years and this is often largely responsible for their reaching old age.
Overeating causes more deaths than any other single factor. The use of
tobacco, coffee or alcohol has a tendency to reduce the desire for food
and thus these drugs at times prove to be conservers of individual
lives, though they are undoubted racial evils. They never can or will
take the place of self-control. The senses were given us to use for our
protection, but most people abuse them for temporary gratification, and
thus they go in the way of self-destruction.
Other things being equal, a healthy child will live longer than a weakly
one. But other things are not equal, so it often happens that a weakling
has as much chance to survive as a healthy person. Strong people
frequently squander their inheritance by the time they are forty or
fifty years old. Healthy people are very imprudent. They are well so
they think they will always remain well. What a surprise it is when
after thirty they discover that they cannot do with impunity what they
could do before with apparently no bad results! When warned about their
eating habits they boast that they can "eat tacks". Smoking and drinking
are harmless, they say! But the day of reckoning always comes and the
account is often so great that under the conventional treatment of today
they die.
The weakling has been compelled to be careful. Habits of moderation grew
upon him in youth, and his health has improved as he has advanced in
years. He may never be strong, but great physical strength is not
essential to health. Thus the strong often perish and the weak survive.
If both classes lived with equal care the strong would outlive and
outwork the weak every time.
It is necessary to give the skin some care if continued good health is
desired during the latter part of life. The skin has a tendency to grow
hard, which should not be allowed. It will always remain soft if it is
properly cared for. When our ancestors roved forests and plains with
scarcely any attire, the skin exposed to the rain and the sunshine,
there was no need to give it special care. It served its purpose of
protecting their bodies and was exercised through its immediate contact
with the elements in all kinds of weather. Now the skin has little
opportunity to exercise its protective function and the result is that
it is not as active as it should be. The skin must be active to rid
itself of the waste that the blood-vessels leave with it. The best
exercise for this important organ is rubbing. The whole body should be
rubbed every day and it would be well to do this twice a day. An
occasional olive oil rub is also good. The rubbings make the body
hardier. They also help to keep the circulation active and the skin
smooth and soft. The blood is brought near the surface. The tendency as
we grow older is for the circulation to grow less and less near the
surface and in the extremities. This is slow death.
The daily rub is more important than the daily bath. If we have enough
rubbing very little bathing is necessary, for an active skin cleans
itself.
There are many men who have lived in the conventional way until the age
of forty, fifty or sixty. They have been healthy, which means that they
have been able to work most of the time, but have had their share of
ills, which have incapacitated them for work or business at various
times. They find after reaching a certain age that they are surely going
down hill physically and that they are not as active mentally as
previously. The question is, can anything be done under the
circumstances? Very few of these people are in such a bad physical state
that death is inevitable within the next few years. If they seek the
right advice and follow it, they can generally continue to live in
improved health for thirty to sixty years more.
A celebrated case in point is that of Louis Cornaro, an Italian, who
died in the year 1566 at the age of one hundred and two years. In his
youth he was very indiscreet and dissipated. He lived riotously until he
was forty years old, and then he found himself in such poor physical
condition that it was only a question of a few months until the end
would come. He had everything to make life worth living, except health,
so he decided to attempt to regain health and prolong his life. He quit
his old life, began to live simply and instead of being a waster he
became a useful citizen. We are unable to get much definite information
about his habits from what he wrote but we learn that he reduced the
quantity of food taken and used fewer varieties. Also, he drank
sparingly of wine. He did not have any definite ideas regarding diet
except that it is best to eat moderately and avoid the foods that
disagree with one. In his own words: "Little by little I began to draw
myself away from my disorderly life, and, little by little, to embrace
the orderly one. In this manner I gave myself up to the temperate life,
which has not since been wearisome to me; although, on account of the
weakness of my constitution, I was compelled to be extremely careful
with regard to the quality and quantity of my food and drink. However,
those persons who are blessed with strong constitutions may make use of
many other kinds and qualities of food and drink, and partake of them,
in greater quantities, than I do; so that, even though the life they
follow be the temperate one, it need not be as strict as mine, but much
freer."
These sentences were written fifty or sixty years after he changed his
mode of life, and show how well Mr. Cornaro realized the important fact
that all people need not be treated alike. They also show that after
making the change, Mr. Cornaro did not find it difficult to live simply
enough to enjoy health. In nearly every instance it is temporarily
disagreeable to forsake the path that is leading to death and take the
one that leads to life, but after one gets used to the new way, it
appears more beautiful and is more pleasant than the old.
If Cornaro had died at forty, as nearly every person situated as he was
would have done, his life would have been a total loss. A few of those
who were his boon companions and dissipated with him would have thought
of him for a few years and regretted his early passing, for "he was a
jolly good fellow." He lived a useful life, for over sixty years
thereafter, and has left us in his debt for his beautiful exhortations
to be temperate.
Many of the physical wrecks we meet, who will probably live from a few
months to a few years more, if they continue in the old way, are in the
same boat as Mr. Cornaro was at forty. They have had enough experience
to begin to do good work, to be of some benefit to humanity. Instead of
living and giving the world their best, they die. The world has had to
educate these people, and it is expensive. Instead of living on and
doing their work, they leave us when they ought to begin to repay us for
what we have done for them. They are quitters.
Suppose Andrew Carnegie had died at the time he sold out his steel
business. To most people he would have left an unsavory memory, for
though we should have considered him successful from the business
standpoint, many of us would say that the means were not justified by
the end. However, Mr. Carnegie has spent many years since in furthering
the cause of the spread of knowledge and in working for universal peace.
Perhaps when Carnegie, the man of business, is well nigh forgotten,
Carnegie, the educator, will be held in tender and thankful memory. He
is now influencing the times for good and this influence will go down
the ages.
A man has no right to say that he is weary of life and that he wants to
die. The race has a claim on him. We learn through our mistakes. The
race in general has to pay and suffer for every individual's education.
When a man has acquired a measure of wisdom through experience, we have
a right to claim it as our own.
Many men are wise in their own lines, but they have been so busy
attending to the affairs that brought them success that they have
omitted to learn how to have health. These people owe it to themselves
and to humanity to take enough time to learn how to live so that they
can work in health. The better the health the finer their product.
Health and efficiency go hand in hand.
What is a man to do when he has reached middle age and finds himself
degenerating? A man ought to know how to live at forty, but if he does
not he should immediately learn. It may be true that "a man is a fool or
a physician at forty," yet there is time and if a man lacks wisdom at
forty he should immediately acquire some. Such an individual should get
the best health adviser possible, avoiding any man who would have him
take drugs. What he needs is not medicine, but to learn how to live. I
am confident that the careful reader will find enough knowledge in this
book to give him the key to the situation.
If the sufferer uses narcotics and stimulants, they must be stopped
immediately. Even the least harmful of these, such as beer and light
wine, should be avoided until good health has been won. These beverages
need never be used. If they are taken rarely and in moderation they do
no harm.
In every case that has come under my observation it has been necessary
to simplify the food intake, that is, to reduce the quantity and the
number of articles of food taken at each meal, also to simplify the
cooking. The result is that the individual gets less food, but it is of
better quality, for the conventional cooking spoils much of the food.
Most of these men neglect to exercise. It is necessary to be active and
in the open, also to take good care of that important organ, the skin.
Constipation is common, and it is a very annoying symptom, which
disappears in time under proper living. The absorption of poisons from a
constipated lower bowel is one of the factors that causes premature
aging. When the constipation is overcome there are a feeling of physical
well-being and a mental clearness which are impossible in the presence
of constipation.
The treatment of such a condition is very much the same as the treatment
of catarrh or any other curable disease, that is, find the errors of
living and correct them.
It is really surprising how little food people need after they are fifty
or sixty years old. If such people eat enough to be well nourished, but
not enough to produce any bad feelings there will be no disease. People
who die from disease are physical failures, for the natural end does not
come in a physical upheaval. Those who live as they should will pass
away without any pain. The organism simply grows weary and goes into the
last sleep.
There are people who say that there needs be no physical death. Harry
Gaze wrote an entertaining book on the subject some years ago and gave
lectures in this country. It will not convince the average student of
nature that people can live forever, for in nature there is constant
change. The order of life is birth, development, reproduction, decline
and death. It is not likely that man is an exception.
It is believed that in olden times men were larger and lived longer than
they do today. There is not much foundation for such a belief to rest
upon, except in a few cases. The last census shows that there are
several thousand centennarians in the United States. In the Technical
World for March, 1914, appeared an article by Byron C. Utecht, entitled,
"When is Man Old?" This magazine is careful in gathering its facts. I
shall quote a few paragraphs:
"Abraham Wilcox, of Fort Worth, Texas, is one hundred and twelve years
old, but he takes keen enjoyment in life. He walks two miles or more
every day as a constitutional and, occasionally, he even takes a small
glass of beer. He looks forward with all the enthusiasm of a boy to a
visit to the Panama-Pacific Exposition in 1915. Mr. Wilcox reads the
newspapers every day and is interested in everything about him, from the
food being prepared for his dinner to the latest feats by aeroplanes.
This aged man looks forty or fifty years younger than he really is. His
skin is white but not deeply lined. His vision is excellent and he walks
nearly erect. Thirty years ago he gave up smoking, as his doctors warned
him he was near death from old age and that the use of tobacco would
only hasten the end."
"In the Ozark Mountains of Marion County, Arkansas, just across the
Missouri line, lives Mrs. Elmyra Wagoner. She, too, is one hundred and
twelve years old. There are a thousand wrinkles in her face and she
looks her age, but in her actions she is sixty. Up until a very few
years ago, when still past the hundred-year mark, Mrs. Wagoner kept a
large garden and was able to work in the fields. While she has given up
outdoor work, she is still active. On inclement days she sits by the
fireplace in her mountain home and spins. On pleasant days she may be
found walking about the yard. Recently her great-great-granddaughter was
married at Protein, Missouri, six miles from the Wagoner home. This
woman of one hundred and twelve years walked to the wedding, enjoyed it,
and then walked back home, a distance that would tire many persons half
that age. There are scores of persons at Protein who vouch for this and
they tell of similar feats by Mrs. Wagoner showing remarkable physical
power.
"Asked to give the causes of her longevity, the aged woman smiled and
said that she hated to admit she was getting old. 'Clean, honest living,
plenty of work, plenty of good food, and a desire to help others when
sick or in trouble, I think gave me my long lease of life. I was always
so busy caring for others and thinking of them that I never had time to
worry whether I was getting old or not.'"
"Asa Goodwin, of Serrett, Alabama, is one hundred and six years old. His
endurance powers are even more remarkable than those of Mrs. Wagoner or
Abraham Wilcox. He walks five miles every day. He works several hours
daily in his garden, eats anything he likes, and reads without glasses.
His family is probably the largest in the United States. A reunion
recently held in his honor was attended by eight hundred and fifty
persons, three hundred and fifty being blood relatives. Goodwin has been
a hunter all his life and he frequently takes down his rifle and proves
that his aim is still good. He ascribes his length of life and vitality
to his great interest in outdoor sport and hunting, when a young man,
developing a rugged constitution that lasted him many years after he was
forced to quit strenuous work because of 'old age.' He asserts that he
was so busy living that he reached one hundred and six years before he
realized it and wants to live fifty years more if possible. 'I feel as
if I could do it, too,' he declares. 'I now can take my ease and comfort
and the world looks good to me. I have always lived a temperate life,
never drank, never kept late hours, and still have had as much or more
fun than the average man, I think. It is only now when I have nothing to
do that I get to worrying and when I find myself in that condition I
take a walk or weed the garden and then feel better.'"
These people are not in what some call the higher walks of life, but
they have succeeded in living, where almost all fail. They have been
useful members of society, satisfied to take life as it comes, and thus
they have gathered much of the sweet. They have enjoyed life, and those
who enjoy give enjoyment to others. It takes an audience to make even
the best of plays.
Mrs. Wagoner is not rich, but she has a philosophy that is riches
enough. She knows that she receives through giving. She has lived this
knowledge, which has brought blessings upon her.
These people have all led simple lives and they have worked. There is no
secret about growing old gracefully. It means self-control, simple
living, work for body and mind, cleanliness of body and mind, and the
most important part of physical cleanliness is a clean colon. It is
necessary to have a tranquil mind most of the time, for anger and worry
are injurious to health.
The average span of life is lengthening. In the sixteenth century the
average European did not live to be twenty years old. Now he lives to be
about forty. The same increase has taken place in America. In India and
China the average of life is still below twenty-four years. As
civilization advances the tendency is for the average of life to
lengthen, provided life does not grow so complex that knowledge is
antidoted by too great artificiality.
However, it is well to note that it is not the last part of life that is
being lengthened. We are allowing less and less infants to die as the
years roll on. The proportion of the adult population that reaches
advanced age is no greater than in the past. Our mode of life is so
wrong that tuberculosis, typhoid fever, cancer, kidney diseases,
pneumonia and circulatory degeneration carry off immense numbers of
those whom we call middle aged, but who are really young people. These
are diseases of degeneration. It is to our interest to reduce these
diseases. Proper living will do it.
The life expectancy of people over fifty is even less than it was thirty
years ago. Middle aged people die from diseases caused by bad habits,
extended over a period of years. Therefore, these people should learn to
live well if they would live longer.
The diet of the old can be about the same as that of an adult in the
prime of life, except that less should be eaten. Those who live
correctly have no digestive disturbances. It will be noted by those who
are normal that there is not a desire for as much food as earlier in
life, and this should be a guide. Old people get all the nourishment
they need in two moderate meals a day. If the three-meal-a-day plan is
preferred, it is all right, but then less should be taken at each meal.
White flour products are easier to digest than the whole wheat products,
but normal people can digest the latter very well and it is a better
food than white flour. I know one gentleman in his eighth decade of life
who has grown stronger and younger by abandoning the conventional eating
habits and living mostly on moderate meals of milk and whole wheat
biscuits. As Cornaro said, some need more than others, but all should be
moderate.
One meal a day of milk and biscuits is all right. These biscuits should
be well baked and well masticated. The milk should be taken slowly.
Another meal can be meat or eggs or fish with some of the cooked and raw
succulent vegetables.
If a third meal is taken, it may consist of clabbered milk or
buttermilk; or of one of the sweet fruits, and the sweet fruits may be
used any time in place of bread or biscuits. Cottage cheese is a good
food at any time, and may be taken with fruits, either acid or sweet.
As often as desired, in summer, take fruit. Because the very acid, juicy
fruits have a tendency to cause chilliness and to thin the blood, it is
well to take them in moderation during advanced years, but that does not
mean that those who like them should avoid them. In winter time the
sweet fruit is best. Mild apples and bananas may be used as often as
there is a desire for them. Oranges should be taken more rarely, as well
as grapefruit, pineapples and other fruits that are heavily charged with
acid.
As a general rule, the starchy foods should be eaten but once a day, but
those who are very moderate may take them twice a day without bad
results. Vegetarians have eggs and milk to take the place of flesh
foods. They also have lentils, peas, beans and the protein in the whole
wheat and other cereals. Lentils, peas and beans must be taken in
moderation, for they are rich in nutriment and if too much is eaten they
soon cause disease. Nuts, if well masticated, are also all right.
The general basis of feeding should be starch once a day and protein
once a day in moderation. All kinds of starch and all kinds of protein
may be used. Fruits more moderately than during the earlier years of
life is best. All the succulent vegetables that are desired may be
partaken of. By cooking the foods simply, as recommended in this book,
they are rendered easier to digest than under the conventional manner of
cooking. Simple cooking will help to preserve health and prolong life.
Work is one of the greatest blessings of life. Those who would live long
and be useful must exercise both body and mind. Like all other
blessings, if it is carried to excess it is injurious. It is unfortunate
that some people must work too hard because there is a class of people
who do nothing useful, being content to be wasters.
Work has been looked upon as a curse. This is a mistake. Those who live
in the hope and expectation that they may some day cease working in
order to enjoy life, will find when they reach the goal that life
without work is not worth while. Those who can afford it can with
benefit lessen the amount of productive work they do and evolve more
into cultural lines, but it is dangerous to cease working. The human
being is so constituted that without activity of body and mind there is
degeneration. What is sadder than to see a capable individual who has
won a competence and then has retired to enjoy it! He does not enjoy it.
Either he has to get into some line of work, physical or mental, or he
soon dies. We must have a lively interest in something or there is
stagnation.
There are many beautiful things in life, and we should cultivate them
while we are young enough to be able to learn to enjoy them. The
loftiest spirits of the ages have left their inspirations and their
aspirations with us in poetry, prose, music, painting, statuary and in
other forms. We should try to cultivate understanding of these subjects,
not necessarily all of them, but of one or more, for with understanding
come the elevation and broadening of mind that are always present when
there is sympathy, and sympathy is closely related to understanding.
Culture along one or more lines broadens the mind and makes a person
more worth while not only to himself, but to others. We can not estimate
the value of the beauty in life in dollars and cents, but he is poor
indeed who is rich in worldly goods alone.
It is necessary to be interested in the activities about us. Those who
think of nothing or no one except themselves are almost dead to the
world, even though they go through the same physical activities as other
people. The tendency is to get into a rut with advancing years and
remain there. It is easy to keep both a pliable mind and a pliable body
in spite of age, and this can be done by intelligent use. A short time
daily should be spent in becoming informed of what is happening
throughout the world and thinking it over. A mental hobby is most
excellent. A garden or a few birds can furnish an almost inexhaustible
source of interest. Those who doubt this should read of the comedy and
tragedy among such humble beings as the spider, the fly and the beetle.
J. H. Fabre has written charmingly about these, investing them with an
interest rarely to be found in good fiction. This naturalist is a good
example of what can be accomplished when one has years to do it in and
is content to labor along from day to day without giving too much
thought for the morrow. At fifty Mr. Fabre was practically unknown. Now,
at about ninety, he is one of the most admired and best loved of men.
His recognition came late and he has done much of his best work during
his later years. If Mr. Fabre had died at the average age of forty, the
world would have been deprived of his beautiful insight.
Another cause of old age is getting mentally old. An individual begins
to grow old by dwelling on the subject. The girl of thirteen must cease
romping and racing about because it is not lady-like. At twenty-five it
is very, very undignified to run a little. At forty a woman must be
rather sedate, for being natural would mean frivolity. People are
continually growing too old to do this and that, not because they have
lost the desire and the ability, but because it is unbecoming at their
age. This is folly. Keep a young heart all through life. A heartfelt
laugh is one of nature's best tonics. There is no more harm in dancing
at fifty than at fifteen and not so much danger.
The relaxation of muscles and sagging of the face are as much the result
of mental attitude as of loss of tonicity. Thinking young and
associating with children are helpful and healthful. People who are very
stiff and dignified are mentally sterile. The charming people are the
ones who are willing and able to understand and sympathize with the aims
and aspirations of others, and in order to do so it is necessary to thaw
out.
The art of life is delightful if properly developed.
Worry is such a detriment that its victims can neither live nor work as
they should. It is necessary to overcome this bad habit. Most of the
worry is due to narrow selfishness. Much of it is caused by the fact
that others will not do as we do. To try to make others accept our
standards and then worry and fret because they will not is folly. When
force is employed to convert anyone the conversion is but superficial
and lasts only so long as the converted individual's hypocrisy holds
out. To get the best out of life we have to be broad, forbearing,
patient and forgiving.
A normal old age is beautiful. It is the privilege, nay more, the duty
of every intelligent being to attain it. When we adjust ourselves we
shall live longer.
It is with old age as it is with health. We can have it if we wish it.
Accidents alone can deprive us of either. Let us hope that the day will
come when men and women will not be satisfied to die as life is but
beginning, but that they will live as they should and could live, thus
proving a blessing to the race.