HYGIENE OF THE AGED. 389 



knee and with one blow of his paw broke the butterfly. To the old 

 gentleman it was as to Sir Isaac Newton the loss was great, and the 

 shock must have been intense. Although I had hardly seen the speci- 

 men, I was profoundly affected by the mischance. But he neither 

 struck the dog nor spoke loudly. With a trembling hand and flushed 

 face he set to work at once to gather up carefully the disjointed wings 

 of his specimen, which was happily accomplished, and, with a little 

 gum and much patient dexterity, the damage which seemed at first 

 irreparable was remedied. It taught me a lesson I have never since 

 forgotten. The butterfly was the rare Papilio Calverleyi, of which 

 up to the present time but one other specimen has been found. I have 

 now new faith in that old story, from having witnessed a similar oc- 

 currence, and fresh belief in the goodness of that human nature which 

 science and its pursuit often tend to strengthen and confirm. 



-+*+- 



HYGIENE OF THE AGED. 



By L. H. WATSON, M. D. 



DIFFERENT epochs in life are marked by the frequency or in- 

 frequency of certain morbid phenomena constituting that depart- 

 ure from the normal standard of health which we denominate disease. 



What is life ? is the unanswerable question the human race has 

 ever sought to solve. Bichat called it "the sum of the functions by 

 which death is resisted." Physiologists of the present day offer little 

 more that is satisfactory in their definitions, calling it " the aggregate 

 of the phenomena peculiar to living organisms." The inscrutable 

 mystery which surrounds the principle of vitality renders any attempt 

 at definition illogical and unsatisfactory. We have to deal with the 

 phenomena of life, and the functions through which these phenomena 

 are manifested. In the child we have an exuberance of life. Man- 

 hood is the period of repose ; waste and repair seem to neutralize each 

 other ; and calmness, deliberation, and quietude prevail. 



With old age come disturbance, waste without repair, destruction 

 without building up, action without reaction, decay and death. These 

 phases of animal life are constantly repeating themselves. In discussing 

 the diseases of old age, we have to deal with the phenomena of life, 

 the perversion of functions which have hitherto counterbalanced each 

 other. The prime of manhood and stability is passed ; internal resist- 

 ance now fails to maintain itself against external force. Nutritive 

 action does not respond to the demand to renew effete material. The 

 equilibrium being destroyed, decay and the products of decomposition 

 become the most important factors in the study of the diseases which 

 now threaten to disintegrate this hitherto self-sustaining system. 



