The Intimate Causes of Old Age. 213 



from the brain and spinal cord is necessary to the life and 

 function of all the associate tracts of cells. These live 

 only from their connection with the brain and are depen- 

 dent on it for motif to live and work. It is this pre- 

 eminent brain colony of cells which not only controls and 

 dominates, but continuously furnishes the stimulus — the 

 tide of corpuscles — that impel the servile tracts of cells 

 to activity in their appointed ways. Severed from the 

 brain they turn idle, run riot, or lapse into desuetude. 



Moreover, there is the vast array of observed phenomena 

 where fixed beliefs and the mental state, known as expecta- 

 tion, are seen to have profoundly affected the operations 

 of the human body, even to producing the semblance of 

 virulent diseases and death itself ; of scar, stigmata, and 

 all the strange phenomena that ensue from religious 

 exaltation. In fact, the evidence is complete as to the 

 brain's dominancy over the organism. 



Of the hypnotic theory, however, it must be observed 

 that it fails to account for the old-aging of animals, insects, 

 and plant life. 



A celebrated physician was accustomed to say, that " a 

 man is as old as his arteries ; " and from this dictum, 

 which has its grain of truth, has come what may be 

 termed the blood-circulatory theory of old age. Succinctly, 

 that excluding what may be classed as accidental deaths 



