112 
POPULAR SOiENCE NE.WS. 
[July, 1S90. 
mination of liCe. This is spoken of as "descend- 
ing" development, and normally consists in the 
preservation of tlie relative proportions of the sev- 
eral structures, under the influence of a well-adjusted 
diminution of material and of nutritive activity. 
The author cites as an example the increasing light- 
ness and britlleness of bone with age, proceeding 
paii passu with a narrowing range of muscular 
action, until a time comes wlien the machine stops, 
rather than is stopped by accident or disease, and 
old age terminates in natural or physiological death. 
The requisites for longevity are found to be an 
inherent quality of endurance, popularly known as a 
"good constitution," derived, as the statistics show, 
rather from maternal than paternal sources ; a 
steady, persistent, nutritive force, and a good pro- 
portion of balance between the several organs. 
More than fifty per cent, of the centenarians are 
women, and a greater number of the female sex 
attain an advanced age, notwithstanding the dan- 
gers inherent to the child-bearing period of life. 
The more pronounced healthiness of the female 
infant is not without its share in the production 
of longevity. 
Dr. Humphry says that the greater proportion 
of cases are reported to be of long-lived families, to 
have enjoyed good health throughout their lives, 
and to have been moderate or small eaters, especially 
in the matter of meat. They have generally been 
accustomed, too, to much out-door eij^rcise. Let 
those who are pent up in an office for nine or 
ten hours a day, and then only creep home to rest a 
brain wearied with a surfeit of badly oxygenated 
blood, remember this, and take a hint from the next 
point wherein our old friends excel, viz., early 
rising. Sleep should come early in the night, cer- 
tainly before midnight, and healthy people should 
be able to wake at six and rise at once. With 
regard to general circumstances, it seems that those 
who are accustomed to live in comfort rather than 
affluence attain old age. Moderate drinkers and 
abstainers are well to the front, although in one or 
two instances some "have drunk as much as they 
could get," but from the very fact of their reaching 
one hundred years of age we are not disposed to 
believe that they ever could get much. 
With regard to disposition, it is interesting to 
note how often the words "cheerful," "chatty," 
"amiable," "placid," "good tempered," "ener- 
getic" occur. Thus we find one dear old soul 
dancing on her loist birthday, and another, Peggy 
Walsh, reputed to be 124, retained perfect hearing 
and such good sight as to be able to thread a needle 
without glasses. Surely the length of their days 
was not full of sorrow and labor. Vfgorous mental 
labor appears, other things being equal, to predis- 
pose to length of da3s, a capacity for prolonged 
mental strain arguing great brain power. Happily 
old age is not often accompanied with dementia, 
although frequently some evidence of childishness 
appears. 
It is important to note that there is only one 
instance of death of a centenarian from cancer. It 
seems that the liability diminishes from about 45 to 
55 onwards, and that after 70 there is but little 
to fear in this direction. With reference to bladder 
trouble, arising from enlarged prostate, only seven 
per cent, were found afflicted, and it was found that 
after 65 was passed the liability becomes constantly 
less. 
The remarkable preservation of the teeth is an 
object of common remark when skeletons of our 
forefathers are brought to light, and the conclusion 
is hastily arrived at, that we of the present genera- 
tion have certainly degenerated in this respect. 
There may be some truth in this, but it must be 
remembered that such skeletons are those of people 
often cut oir in their prime by battle or disease, and 
that nowadays a larger proportion of people attain 
to old age than formerly, thus allowing time for 
dental decay and loss to occur. 
But after all, as the author says, " length of life is 
to be really estimated not by the number of years so. 
much as by good work done; not by the amount 
of time spent in the tame, fruitless manner indi- 
cated by the pithy lines of Cowper, 
' For fourscore years this life Cleora led, 
At morn she rose, at nij^ht She went to bed,' 
but by persevering efforts to promote the welfare 
and happiness of our fellow men." 
SACCHARIN IN BELGIUM. 
Some lime ago, a heavy import duty of 140 francs 
per kilogramme, practically amounting to prohibi- 
tion, was placed upon saccharin in Belgium, in the 
supposed interest of the sugar industry. It is now 
discovered, however, that this law is quite inopera- 
tive, the consumption of the sweetener being notice- 
ably on the increase and the article being freely 
obtainable from a number of dealers, while yet not 
a single ounce has passed the custcfm-houses since 
the promulgation of the new law, and no instances 
of smuggling have been traced. The explanation 
is now given, that in the preparation of commercial 
saccharin the process is one of seven distinct stages. 
The product of the sixth stage is quite different 
from saccharin in physical and chemical properties, 
and to it, consequently, the duty cannot be applied. 
In this state it is imported into Belgium, and across 
its frontier it is subjected to the final process — a 
simple treatment with an acid, which converts it 
into the commercial article. — Chemist and Druggist. 
MEDICAL MISCELLANY. 
Probably. — A new western post-office has been 
named Malaria, probably because the mail service 
of the place is intermittent. 
A Dangerous Tool. — M. de Freycinet, the 
French minister of war, has published a decree 
forbidding surgeons in the French army to make 
use of hypnotism in their practice, or to experiment 
with it. 
The Specialist and the Burglar: A Fable. 
— A burglar entered the office of- a specialist, bent 
on plunder. The specialist saw him, walked him to 
a chair, sprayed him, prodded him, sprayed him 
some more, had ten dollars out of him, and com- 
manded him to "call again tomorrow," before the 
burglar could formulate an excuse for his intrusion 
into the doctor's office. Moral : It is better to be a 
specialist than a burglar. 
The Physiology of a Knock-Out. — The death 
of a man in a "friendly" contest at sparring with 
gloves, is something unusual in the history of the 
manly art. Despite the terrific hitting often done 
in pugilistic encounters, a fatal accident rarely 
occurs. It is almost impossible .for one man to 
kill another with his fists, provided the other is in 
good health and his equal physically. The mor- 
tality from pugilism is less than from foot-ball. 
It often happens in boxing by professionals that a 
man is knocked "silly," in other words, is knocked 
down by a blow on the side of the neck, which 
stuns him. The probability is that this is due to 
the severe concussion and sudden compression 
of the soft parts of the neck, including the vagus 
nerve and the cervical fympathetic. Cardiac inhi- 
bition, or arythmia, and some degree of vaso-motor 
paralysis would naturally result. It was by a blow 
in this region that death was caustd in the exhibi- 
tion sparring contest above referred to. — Medical 
Record. 
published monthly by the 
Popular Science News Company, 
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Publisljers' Coliii^ri. 
KeceiI'TH should never be sij^ned with initials; the ii;ii 
should be always written with an Kstkkurook Stekl Pen. 
W'lULE Maltine contains the nutritive elements of in;ill, I 
is free from the objections which may be urged against the usi 
of hcer or ale. II is furnished either by itself or in combiiKi 
tion with standard therapeutical agents. 
TiiAYEn's Nutritive is a most excellent preparation for llu' 
purposes for which it is recommended. Combining the quali- 
ties of tonic, stimulant, and food, it is well adapted for strength- 
ening tlie assimilative functions of the body and restoring theiit 
to thefr natural condition. 
In the " battle of the baking powders," the Uoyal Bakin'. 
Powdek has always been victorious. Its success is notentin i\ 
due to the skill with which its merits liave been brought to tin 
public notice, but to the purity, reliability, and wholesomenes- 
of the ingredients entering into its composition. 
Among the various preparations of Cocoa, that manuHic 
tured by Van IIouten easil} holds the foremost place. A 
good article of cocoa — or cacao^ as it should be spelt— is nui 
only a delicious beverage for the well, but a nourishing ami 
soothing food and gentle stimuhrnt for invalids, free from the 
nerve-alVectmg principles of tea and cotfee. 
Even those cities which have a good supply of natural ice 
during the i>artial famine now prevailing, are benefitted by the 
invention of the Aktikicial Ice Machines, and the improve- 
ments made therein by David Ho'iLE, of Chicago, as otherwise 
the price of this necessity of life would be so high as to put it 
beyond the reach of those of moderate means. 
I have liad occasion to use, in my practice as physician, 
" Coi-oen's I.iQj.rib Beef Tonic," antl can fully recommend it 
as extremely useful in cases of debility and general dejiression. 
In the sick room.as an article of food, combining at the same 
time tonic properties, it is highly useful. In all cases re(piiriiig 
strengthening nourishment, such as aged persons of weak 
digestion, it may be given with advantage. (Signed) 
A. Iackson, M. p. ■ 
