THE CONSERVATION OF ENERGY. 347 



has been claimed by some, that this can be done by choice of foods. 

 The use of some articles of diet tends to encourage the deposit of 

 lime salts or to discourage elimination. It may be that by a care- 

 ful review of the experiences of certain aged folk, we might find 

 a guide to the line of diet by which these good effects can be se- 

 cured. Old age may not be altogether due to accident in the choice, 

 nor selection of conditions, in the avoidance of accidental damage 

 or trauma. Time will not permit enlargement on this subject now, 

 but there is interesting and instructive reading to be found here 

 and there for those who desire to know. The most notable book de- 

 voted to this subject is the 'Autobiography of Louis Cornaro,' whose 

 life was prolonged far beyond that age which is ordinarily thought to 

 be possible, by extreme care chiefly as to choice of diet, and he has set 

 it forth in a most entertaining volume. It is only a partial guide, 

 because temperamental differences must be considered, in the light of 

 the experience of each person, race and community. Families and 

 individuals and nations have different habits of diet. That which 

 might suit one group of cases would not be an exact guide for an- 

 other, but in the main the principles are the same. 



These principles in brief consist in a choice of vegetable and semi- 

 animal foods in preference to red meats. I took a course in physical 

 training long ago under a man who possessed phenomenal vigor, much 

 older than he looked, and he declared that bread, by this is meant 

 leavened bread chiefly, was the most pernicious agent in producing the 

 stiffness of the tissues. This is merely instanced to show how strong 

 convictions are at times, and how they differ from customary beliefs. 

 I do not know how much truth is in this thought, but am of the opin- 

 ion it is worth attention. Again, the question of the use or non-use 

 of alcohol must be settled for each one. For myself I believe alcohol 

 to be almost altogether bad, although prepared to admit that there 

 may be instances where its use is to be recommended. Some years 

 since there was a popular agitation on the subject of the use of opium. 

 The outgrowth of the opium traffic sanctioned by the British govern- 

 ment gave rise to much discussion, which if I have been rightly in- 

 formed was carried on both by the government in India and by expor- 

 tation to China. The contention waxed hot and almost all the testi- 

 mony was against the traffic and encouragement of the use of this 

 baneful drug. In the midst of this, however. Sir Joseph Fayrar, at 

 that time the one chief in authority in medical politics in the govern- 

 ment of India, wrote a most powerful and able defence of the use of 

 opium, particularly its habitual use, in which he showed that among 

 certain races, especially those of the Orient, opium was not followed 

 by the destruction of mind and body which it is our custom to consider 

 inevitable. He gave instances, numerous and convincing, that by the 

 use of this drug or food, as it might possibly be called, a large num- 



