WHY GROW OLD?

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 54, 5 March 1927, Page 29

WHY GROW OLD?

SENILITY A DISEASE

HOW TO CHEAT- THE YEARS "Outwitting Middle Ago." B y Dr ■Carlßamus. London: George Allen ; and Unwin, Ltd. '•The history of medicine and science teems with records of organised opposition, to new and revolutionary developments. Tho accepted medical and,......scientific ' : attitude towards such things has always had, and always, will -have, three stages—first it ignores;them; secondly, it becomes sarcastic and irritated Vut them *?Ir.dI?:'.;IMCCOPtB them and forgets that-it has not always dome so." In these woras.Dj-. qarl Eamus, who is a surgeon mthS Public Health Service of ..^he, V^ States, introduces his sub-' jeet of longevity. -He-refuses"^ oV heve that man's allotted span on this earth is limited, or that wo should normally grow old' or Gvcn«middlo-ased-he agrees with what Seneca said over two thousand years ago: "Man docs not die; he kills himself." Therefore it noeds but a little intelligent selfcontrol on the'part of tho human race to brmg about; not tho . abolition of death, but the abolition of-senility and decay; perpetual youth might be ours if we had the sense to grasp such a desirable heritage. ;o}d age, and middle age too, for that matter, is a preventable diseaso, and Dr. Eamus in non-technical language tells us what has been, done in tho past to fight this chronic 'complaint of the human race, what is being done now and'wha't will be done in tho future. •.? The best: way tq-cure a disease," the Irishman said, "is not to get it." Wo cannot help the passing of the years, says Dr, Kainus,. but we can help tho physical: and mental''effects of age; a man is roaily only as old as he thinks that ho is, Indeed, it is the psychology pl.tho matter which.cis of the greater importance; diet rind exercises, drugs and .operations, may bo all very well in certain cases with a!-viewHo affect-, ing -\ cure of the disease of ago; but prevention is better than cure always,, therefore do not grow old, and you need not if you make up your mind not, to.

Dr. Bamus has managed to crowd a vast amount of interesting information into his volume which makes available to the layman the great'advances made in recent years in the medical understanding of senility. Oniy comparatively recently has it come to bo recognised that the wearing out of the human body is largely unnecessary and avoidable, and "Outwitting Middle Age" brings this home very clearly. Dr. Ramus has no obnoxious theories to the effect that wo should all, for instance, have the glands of juvenile monkeys implanted in our tissues. Just tho reverse; his ideas for combating advancing years.may be summarised as common-sense and psychology. At times it may be necessary to aid with other methods, but only in cases that have been neglected too long. Everyone should find "Outwitting Middle Ago" of interest, at whatever point they are in life's journey, and not the least interesting chapter is that what gives an account of the authenticated cses of abnormal longevity. Perhaps Dr. Ramus would have it that pnople like-"Old Para" who lived over 150 years, wero normal; it is wo who usually shuffle off this mortal coil before three score years and ten are over who are abnormal.—H.W.M.