OLD AGE. 51 



masterpiece has been speedily followed by the death of the 

 master. The late gifted Hugh Miller is one of the many 

 examples of this fact. It is to be lamented, that those who 

 " intermeddle with all knowledge," and who are the appointed 

 instructors of mankind, should so often neglect that knowledge 

 with which their own mental and physical comfort is closely 

 connected, and the acquisition of which would multiply their 

 capabilities of usefulness to the race. 



If prophylactic measures have an important bearing upon 

 the subject of the prolongation of life, not less important is 

 the proper treatment of advancing age. Although an individual 

 may escape destruction from causes that are accidental and ex- 

 traneous, he nevertheless bears about him natural and internal 

 causes of decay, inevitable in their progress, and leading to one 

 certain result. With the germs of life are intermixed the 

 seeds of death ; and, however vigorous the growth of the 

 bodily frame, however energetic the endowments of its maturity, 

 we know that its days are numbered. To mark the gradual 

 succession of the phenomena which attend these changes is 

 deeply interesting. In youth, all the powers of the system 

 are in excess of its demands, and the body increases in bulk. 

 In course of time, the processes of reparation and decay 

 approach nearer to an equality, and at length are exactly 

 balanced. By a wonderful system of adjustments the balance 

 is kept perfect, often for many years, until, at last, old age 

 steals on by slow and imperceptible degrees. The relative 

 proportions of the fluids and solids are altered, the solid tissues 

 become condensed, muscular substance appears almost 

 changed into tendon, fibrous structures either lose their flexi- 

 bility and become too rigid for use, or are changed into bone. 



