THE CONDITION OF OLD AGE 5 



age. The gait becomes shuffling, the foot is no 

 longer lifted free from the ground, as the old man 

 walks along. He does not rise upon his toes, but 

 the sole of the foot is kept nearly flat and as he drags 

 it cumbrously forward it is apt to strike upon the 

 sidewalk. This indicates to the physiologist a less- 

 ened power in the muscles, a lessened control over 

 the action of these muscles, an inferior co-ordination 

 of the movements, so that there has been in the old 

 man, judged by his gait alone, a physiological deteri- 

 oration as well as an anatomical atrophy. We notice 

 too his slow speech, often difficult hearing, and im- 

 perfect sight. 



All of these qualities show a loss, and we commonly 

 think of the old as those who have lost most, who 

 have passed beyond the maximum of development 

 and are now upon the path of decline, going down 

 ever more rapidly. One of the chief objects at which 

 I shall aim in this course of lectures will be to explain 

 to you that that notion is erroneous, and that the 

 period of old age, so far from being the chief period 

 of decline, is in reality essentially the period in which 

 the actual decline going on in each of us will be least. 

 Old age is the period of slowest decline a strange, 

 paradoxical statement, but one which I hope to jus- 

 tify fully by the facts I shall present to you in this 

 course. 



In the old person you note that there is in the 

 mind some failure and also loss of memory less 

 mental activity, greater difficulty in grasping new 



