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

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The fact that persons who have attained advanced old age in robust health and perfect intellect often show signs of preservation of the sexual glands, permits the inference, especially considering the foregoing examples, that a perfect condition of these glands is an important factor toward vitality and long life, for which reason we devote a long chapter to the best hygiene of the sexual glands (see ssss1).

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We occasionally witness the peculiar fact that persons who live very moderately and eat very sparingly, and who totally abstain from alcohol, nevertheless become old before their time, while, on the other hand, there are those who, in spite of having been addicted all their lives to the pleasures of a bounteous table and unstinted quantity of wine or spirits, yet enjoy a green old age. We had an opportunity of observing an old gentleman of 76 (some say he was really older) belonging to our own profession, with whom we had the pleasure of traveling from Lisbon to Paris in the same small railway compartment. This gentleman, notwithstanding his age, was in full possession of all his mental powers, of which he has given remarkable proofs in his recent publications which might have well been written by a man younger by some scores of years, and which, in fact, convey that impression. This gentleman’s age cannot be gauged by his words, neither was it shown by the hearty appetite with which he partook of the six courses of the dinner, nor by the enjoyment with which he disposed of his bottle of claret; and he smoked a large cigar afterward with such appreciation that we began to envy the old man. We almost believe that he stood the long-continuous journey of thirty-seven hours much better than we did, and we were surprised at his fresh appearance the following morning after the discomforts of a night in a small berth of the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-lits, half the size of the ordinary American Pullman car berth. We must remark, however, at once, that such instances as these are exceptional. Nature is always just, and even here we have an illustration of the Golden Rule, for such persons inherit the health of their fathers.