THE FOLLY OF GROWING OLD.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVI, Issue 10066, 6 February 1909, Page 3 (Supplement)

THE FOLLY OF GROWING OLD.

IBy Samuel C. Tracy, C.Se., M.D.)

One great idea that has animated medical science of late until it has becumo an established truth has produced a significant and hopeful ccjio in the minds of the thoughtful public. Intelligent people now are convinced that nature cannot ho blamed for the many manifestations, in the case of individuals, that the physical and mental usefulness of men and women ends at middle age. They are realising that nature gifts us with a long period of maximum vigor, which should extend from maturity to the age of seventy or eighty years: "that the organically perfect man or woman whose powers of mind and bodv visibly decline before the age of seventy-live'.has only himself or herself to blame for neglecting or combating nature's designs. Nature is not responsible for the theory that men are useless in the world's work after thev are forty-live, or that tlney should be''•chloroformed at sixty." Nature recognises the value of unimpaired powers in which to utilise experience after we have gained it. What we have to do is, to live naturally and wholesomely; and, second, to repair the injuries already wrought bv unnatural living, and regain our full powers. Ihe biter part of this proposition is what most appeals to the man or woman who has reached middle age and feels tin: passionate conviction that the best, most useful and longest period of life should lie still before them. Arc they growing senile so long before senility is due? Formerly the -physician could "not be sure. Now he can tell with certainty The arteries tell the story. And now we can not only read I lie story the arteries tell, but restore them to a condition where they tell quite another story—a prophecy, in fact, of a general restoration to nature's . oiirse: the continuance of normal, natural powers; the deferring of ,-r.nilitv until it is naturally due. We read Ibis story of the arteries with the aid of a recently perfected instrument called the sphygmomanometer. For purposes of diagnosis this insnunent is so valuable that it has just now become a factor in the acceptance or rejection of life insurance risks. ' You may appear, from all other tests, a "good risk"; but if the. sphygmomanometer reveals the secret of hardening arteries that dangerously increase the work of the heart, with the hazard of a ruptured blood-vessel itl the brain, and apoplexy, you must find some other form, of protection .for you,family—or have your arteries restored to their ' natural, elastic condition. . The existence of a radical cure for hardening of the arteries—arteric. sclerosis —is a very recent discovery. The name of D'Avsoiival. of France, will always be associated with it. for it was D'Arsonvu! who first demonstrated that a form of high frequency electric current could safely be applied at a potency .sullicient for the desired physiological action. A high frequency electric current is an electrical discharge producing qualities of current which are characteristic. The distinctive feature is the oscillations, with tremendous rapidity of vibrations, extending into the millions. Some forma of high-frequency apparatus will give an oscillatory current, as hiuh as 100,000,000 vibrations per s.cond, making a voltage as high as 10.000 available. The mechanism has been improved in this country. More recently 1 have been using for this purpose a new apparatus called the hyfror. coil, with which the high-frequency current may be applied. The patient "may he treated by a vacuum tube with the high-frequency current in it. or may be placed in an electro-magnetic field. ' The latter may be done by having the patient lie. on a eondenser couch and connected with one polo of the machine, the other pole and the electric generator being held in tho hand ; or the patient liiiv be "placed in an clcctomagnetie field by'silting or standing in a large solenoid cane. this characteristic current can be made to penetrate the patient and applied with sullicient p&wer to light up an electric lamp, the patient's body acting as a conductor for one oi the wires. Jn;tliis e.\neriment the patient feels no- sensation ot pain, although he is receiving enormous oscillations at a high voltage. -Other experiments have shown that by the latest development oi tho high-frequency apparatus we can give a patient, trom. one hundred to one thousand milli-amperes oi electric current without pain. If this was "iven by the ordinary constant current ft would'be exeeedinglpy painful, and even dangerous. , However the effect upon the tissues ol the bodv is very great. There is greater absorption of oxygen and increased elimination of carbonic acid gas-two results which are essential in restoring ■ natural conditions. Further, the blood vesse s aie dilateo bv the action ot tho. high-fre-quency current, causing a resumption ot their normal elasticity. When as a result or other disease conditions, hardening o, the arteries has begun, with its mam testations of vrematuro senility—which luay occtir in youth as well as in the .middle aee—it must not be supposed that a lew application* ,nf high-frequency currents stop the mischief. There must be physiological changes as well as mechanical action to etfeet a cure. This form of electrical treatment acts as an energiser to the. system, equalises the circulation, restores tone and elasticity to the ar-eries. improves the general _ nutrition bv establishing a, proper relationship between waste-and repair, and further helns in tho elimination of poisonous oroducts of the system and stimulation ot all the crUmds oi'secretion and excretion. Soon benefits become outwardly visible, owing to improvements in circulation, in the improved complexion, and in higher spirits, with greater physical animation. Persons with an inherited tendency to scrofula, tuberculosis, rheumatism, and nout, or the uric acid tendency, - are predisposed to senescence, more than those who have had no such inheritance. Under the influence of these inherited conditions -he human machine will wear out more quickly than it can bo repaired; nevertheless these persons mav live, to ciuito a respectable age if they take care of themselves. .' Proper care—meaning diet, exercise, and hygiene—begun in youth and continued without- intermission, usually will keep manifestations of old age where they belong—toward the end of tho natural span of life. This ideal, however, is realised by such a small percentage of humanity that sooner or later the average-, man or woman must invoke the- aid 1 of medical science in order to enjoy their natural powers throughout the full period allotted by nature. The invention of ther sphygmomanometer with which to infallibly determine the condition of the arteries, and the- development of the high-frequency electric current apparatus to a point where it > furnishes a cure for arterio-sclarosis and morbid-body conditions which accompany that disease, mako it folly on the nart of persons not organically in a hopeless state to permit themselves to become old before they are eighty.