THE AGE LIMIT

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVII, Issue XLVII, 20 April 1912, Page 6

THE AGE LIMIT

Dr. Wiley, chief of the United States Chemistry Bureau at Washington, has been studying hygiene with a view to discovering the "ag e limit" of the human race. apd he has told a gathering of health seekers that it is possible to raise the averse, longevity of"the race to 95 years. He says that most diseases are' avoidable now, and before long men will be safeguarded against every form of disease.-. "Twenty-five years hence," he declared:'emphaticallv, "we shall be able to fight-cancer intelligently, as we now fight fever." It is said that physicians and scientists'- are adopting the view- : held by Dr. Wiley. Haller, the famous ■authoritv of the eighteenth century, believed that men ought to live to be 200 years old. and Buffon formed the opinion that a man could live to 90 or 100 years if his life were not cut short, by accidental disease; An eminent physiologist who has commented on Dr. AYilej's statement says that the whole question of the limits of life bristles with difficulties. "Man," he stated, "has inherited from his ancestors among the mammals his organism and qualities. "His life is shorter than that of certain reptiles and longer than that of most birds. His growth is slow. Statistics show that mortality is greatest at a tender age, and nearly one : fourth of the children die before they are two years old. After that age mortality decreases until the age of 20. Between 70 and 75 it reaches ■Jts highest point." Many men, of course, have retained their mental and physical strength until the age that marks the limit of most lives. " Plato, . Geothe. Titian. Victor Hugo and other famous men produced masterpieces in their old age. There are people nowadays who live to be more than 100 years "of age, but the isolated cases of long life furnish little evidence on which satisfactory- theories as to the causes of these phenomena can be built up. Abstinence, rr.-»«n«-nfc bathing, regularity of diet and ■ •♦Tvr bnve be°n suggested. Th° »ii.'«,rv *hr,i rrrn rnvhf t« live Imrior liK.n they 'o Ttow f>rp/»ars *••> b<?_ ?nnnd. ;:•:■><» prub.-ihlv :',.• r.i•.".--ni?r. n r-f d^^as^