A CHAPTER FOR OLD MEN 



WHEN lias a man readied that age at which he 

 may be said to be an old man? There is a 

 wonderful difference in individuals relative 

 to the period at which symptoms of decline make their 

 appearance, much being due to previous habits of life, 

 as well as individual peculiarities and hereditary pre- 

 disposition. It may be said, however, that the aver- 

 age man enters upon that portion of his life usually 

 denominated as old age, at about the age of fifty years. 

 At this period his physical powers begin to show evi- 

 dence of decline. His reserve fund of vitality, which 

 is considerably less than at an earlier age, may still be 

 sufficient to enable his system to perform all the func- 

 tions of life with regularity, but he is unable to endure 

 hardships as in previous years, and suffers sensibly 

 whenever any extreme demand is made upon his 

 vitality. 



He is a wise man who at this period of life, while 

 his vital functions are still well performed, and the 

 system subject to no special disease or debility, recog- 

 nizes the fact that he is no longer young, and regulates 

 himself accordingly. Such a man will lay down as 

 his rule of life the greatest moderation in everything 

 demanding vital expenditure, and will resolutely set his 

 face against every form of unnecessary expenditure 

 of vitality. 



A Dangerous Waste.— As has been pointed out 

 elsewhere in this work, the exercise of the sexual func- 



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