WHY GROW OLD? 235 



would the average life be, and how much more pleasant would 

 life become! One of the greatest barriers to the enjoyment of 

 life in old age is the condition that this young man dreaded ; and 

 my experience is that the food of old people is by no means 

 always what it is wise for them to take. It seems to be the gen- 

 eral opinion that old people should be always eating, that they 

 should be stuffed, and that farinaceous food is what they should 

 principally take. This, every one knows, tends to develop corpu- 

 lency, which is, as I have explained, a most undesirable con- 

 dition. 



I find that if old people are put on a good meat diet in the way 

 of strong soup, beef tea, and animal food, and only just sufficient 

 farinaceous food and fats and sugar to maintain the heat of the 

 body, they increase wonderfully in energy and, as they often ex- 

 press it, feel twenty years younger. This is only natural ; it is a 

 food of energy ; the food that builds up muscle, nerve, and con- 

 stitutional stamina. 



The requirements of the system in old age, as a rule, are not 

 very great, and more harm is done by taking too much food than 

 by taking too little. I have known people considerably over 

 seventy derive the greatest benefit from a thorough change in 

 diet. It seems to rejuvenate them. Of course, in old age care 

 should be taken that the body is not subjected to rapid changes 

 of temperature. When the nervous power is decreasing as the 

 result of age, and the system is losing the power of combating 

 cold and strain upon its energy, a stimulating diet invigorates, 

 and is conducive to maintaining constitutional stamina better 

 than any other. 



Any natural death but from old age and general decay is an 

 accidental death; that is, it is due to causes which might, and 

 even perhaps could, have been entirely avoided and remedied in 

 earlier years. But, of course, all the secrets of attaining extreme 

 age are not even now within our reach, and the few that I have 

 pointed out are but a very few, and those of the commonest. It 

 is the inevitable law of Nature that we must die. The vital en- 

 ergy that is implanted in the body at birth is only meant to sus- 

 tain it for a certain number of years. It may be husbanded or 

 wasted, made to burn slowly or rapidly. It is like the oil in a 

 lamp, and may be burned out to little effect in a little time, or 

 carefully husbanded and preserved, and thus made to last longer 

 and burn brighter. It is a moot question whether every indi- 

 vidual is not at birth gifted with the same amount of vital energy 

 and of life-sustaining power. The probability is that each is. 

 The circumstances of the environment from the cradle to the 

 grave determine its future destiny. 



It is a well-known fact that half of the infants born in certain 



