HYGIENE OF OLD AGE.

New Zealand Times, Volume XLVIII, Issue 7995, 28 January 1887, Page 4

HYGIENE OF OLD AGE.

The teeth in old age are, «f coarse, lost, and they should, unless under exceptional circumstances, be replaced by artificial teeth, for the thorough chewing of the food is even more necessary .in the old than in the young, because in the bid the powers are apt to fail. With the best artificial teeth mastication is apt to be imjpcrfectly peri formed ; hence the food of the aged should be soft and readily comminuted, and especially should it be pf easy digestion. Very few old people need stimulating diet; very many are injured by an excess of nitrogenous food, The kidneys, like all other organa, are feeble, and if meats and other rich foods are used in excess, they greatly increase the strain upon these organa. Milk and milk products or preparations of breadstuff's cooked with milk should form a very large proportion of the food of the ordinary aged individual, but individual peculiarities differ bo .much that . personal medical counsel should in all cases be taken so that the diet may be regulated to the needs of the individual case. Very many old people are hurt by the use of food in excessive quantity; but little exercise can be taken • all growth iias ceased, and the bodily furnaces which make heat are able to destroy but very little of food fuel. Some little time since I had occasion to lecture on this subject at the Philadelphia Hospital, and an assertion I then made that most old people are more comfortable, enjoy better health, and probably live longer for the use of wine, has met with,.very severe disapprobation at the hands of some of the profession, whose strong sympathy with the temperance movement dominates their judgment. No valid reasons have, however, so far as my judgment goes, been brought forward to lead me to change my opinion. In the overfed American people the habitual use of wine during youthful or middle age and vigorous health is, we think, an injury than a good ; but when the powers of life are failing) When digestion is weak) and the multitudinous small ills of feebleness perplex and annoy, otte Or two glasses Of generous wine at ner aid digestion, quiet for the tiine being much nervous 'irritation, dud in ho wtty do harm. The slim total of ruin wrought by alcohol in tlie wbrld is appalling, but it is hot lessened by our shutting our eyes to the good that wine properly used may achieve. When in the aged there is a distinct failure of vital power, and especially of digestive power, the call for the habitual use Of alcoholic liquors is, in my bpidiOn, imperative. The dangfer bl the formation of any evil habits when a. man has crossed the line of seventy is so slight that the moat tious physician need not hesitate in recommending the daily use of alcoholic beverages to his patient.—Hr, H. Ot Wood, iri Annals of Hygiene.