WHAT IS THE PRIME OF LIFE?

Cromwell Argus, Volume LXI, Issue 3166, 8 June 1931, Page 2

WHAT IS THE PRIME OF LIFE?

A good many years ago Osier, the famous doctor, made the statement that most men's powers for either brain work or manual work had begun to decline at the age of forty. Recent investigations seem to show that the majority of men are retaining their powers longer than they were. Sir Thomas Oliver, the physician, discussed the question in his presidential address before the Royal Institute of Public Health, in England. The position, he said, appeared to be that in the United States the physical condition of man was undoubtedly declining after he had reached forty; on the other hand, it was improving in great Britain. Possibly the American takes so much out of himself in his younger days in a strenuous pursuit of the dollar that he is too old at forty. "The way to look at the question," said Sir Thomas, "is from the side of values. Is a moderately long life, with its possibilities of contentment and leisure, to be the object aimed at, or is the life to be a shorter one, each day of which is to be lived to its fullest and with little pause for reflection?"

SYDNEY SMITH ON HANDSHAKING.

On meeting a young lady who had just entered the garden, and shaking hands with her, "I must," said Sydney Smith, "give you a lesson in shaking hands, I see. There is nothing more characteristic than shakes of the hand. I have classified them. Lister, when he was here, illustrated some of them.

"Ask Mrs. Sydney Smith to show you his sketches of them when you go in. "There is the high official —the body erect, and a rapid, short shake, near the chin. "There is the mortmain —the flat hand introduced into your palm, and hardly conscious of its contiguity. "The digital—one finger held out, much used by the high clergy. "There is the shakus rusticus. where your hand is seized in an iron grasp, betokening rude health, warm heart and distance from the metropolis; but producing a strong sense of relief on your part when you find your hand released and your fingers unbroken. "The next to this is the rententive shake —one which, beginning with vigor, pauses as it were to take breath, but without relinquishing its prey, and before you are aware begins again, till you feel anxious as to the result, and have no shake left in you. "There are other varieties, but this is enough for one lesson." ■ < IMPOSSIBLE. "You must give your husband five teaspoonfuls of this mixture every night before he goes to bed," ordered the doctor. The patient's wife looked a little disconcerted. "Five," she said. "I can't, doctor. I'm afraid that's quite impossible. The doctor frowned. "Impossible?" he asked. "Oh, nonsense! What on earth do you mean?" "Well, sir," explained the woman, "T don't think we've got more than three teaspoons in the house."

"Does your husband do anything to improve his hearing?" "No —he has postponed it until the children have finished taking their piano lessons."