8 



B. Benjamin 



age 55 and all deaths after age 76 are senescent. It is hoped 

 that this brash sweeping aside of the honest testimonies of 

 millions of medical practitioners which are recorded in the 

 vaults of Somerset House wdll not give offence. It is of course 

 a moot point as to whether any death after age 76, even 



Fig. 2. Curve of deaths. English Life-Table No. 8. 1910-1912. Males. 



total deaths 



senescent deaths 



_ — ._._ — — ._. anticipated deaths 



allegedly due to some accident, is other than of senile origin, 

 but some deaths before age 55 are of degenerative origin and 

 at age 55 Clarke assumed that 20 per cent of them were 

 "senescent". Whether this degeneration is senescent in the 

 sense of the completion of a genetically endowed lifespan or 

 whether it is the cutting short of the span by departure from 

 optimum environmental conditions and behaviour is at least 



