Читать книгу Old Age Deferred. The causes of old age and its postponement by hygienic and therapeutic measures онлайн

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The chances of a bachelor or spinster for a long life are always less than those of a married person. Single people are more subject to nervous change and digestive troubles, and have a greater tendency to become despondent and melancholic. In bachelors, also, the acquisition of contagious diseases is a continual danger, and when they get older after their former merry lives, if merry it was, gloom invariably follows. Married life is the best guarantee for a long life and happy old age (see Chapter XLVIII).

Before closing this chapter we would state that it was not our intention to give a description of the physical examination of a patient from the point of view of life insurance, but to indicate certain points which must guide us in forming an opinion on a person’s chance of longevity. All vital phenomena are under the influence of the internal secretions of the ductless glands, which govern every organ of our bodies. Therefore everything depends upon finding out the condition of these glands. Any well instructed physician can make a thorough examination of the different organs of the body for the purposes of life insurance; therefore we did not think it necessary to describe here the examination of the heart or lungs, etc.