THE TEST OF AGE 



penetrating mind may "die at top" while his years are 

 not yet lengthened beyond the normal span. 



Obviously, then, the picture presented in our text 

 has a reverse side. But indeed I have more than once 

 suggested that the perennially progressive man is the 

 exception, not the rule. We may go further and admit 

 that even the most progressive mind must compass a 

 pretty definite cycle of evolution and devolution. 

 Absolute stasis is inconceivable, and we must suppose 

 that every human organism is either progressing or 

 retrograding every hour of its life. In the history of 

 every man and woman, there must be one hour, one 

 instant, when the mind is at its very best; one apical 

 moment when it reaches its highest height. Beyond 

 that moment lies the long decline. But in practice, 

 as I have pointed out, no man can say just when that 

 moment comes. 



Considering the known interdependence of mind 

 and body, it might at first thought appear that the 

 moment of a man's mental prime might be determined 

 by tests applied to this physical organism. But further 

 consideration shows the fallacy of such a supposition. 

 The big brain upon which man's intellectual status 

 depends is the very latest product of evolution ; whereas 

 the muscular system in its full development belongs to> 

 the childhood of the race. It is then but the normal 

 expression of the laws of heredity that each individual 

 should reach his physical prime long before he reaches 

 the climax of his mental powers. The champion 

 athlete is at his best in the twenties, or at latest in the 

 early part of his fourth decade. By thirty-five, as a 



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