But no doubt there may be lower degrees due to the insufficient amount of vitamines, in which may simply show symptoms of neurasthenia with nervous heart troubles, as an expression of the craving of our system after these substances. Milk containing vitamines, and also containing a considerable amount of sugar and lime, it must be considered as the most valuable food for the heart. But only fresh milk, for by boiling it the vitamines are lost. Boiling above 100° C, and especially in large apparatus under high pressure like in the autoclave used in many of the large institutions and some of the big hotels, destroys the vitamines. I have already in my diet book, in the chapter on rational cooking, insisted upon the dangers of overcooking our food. Another rich source of vitamines, the bran of wheat and rye, is taken from us through another invention of our so-called modern civilization, the machine milling, simply for technical reasons. Forty or fifty years ago there was no cases of beriberi in the far east; the natives ate rice with its wholesome outer layers; then modern civilization introduced machine mills instead of the old hand mills, robbing the rice of the silver fleece rich in vitamines, and beriberi appeared. It is true that the bran presents obstacles to our intestinal juices, but there exist certain methods by which it can be ground to a fine flour and all its valuable parts assimilated and introduced in our body. We have quoted here several instances of the fateful influence of our modern progress upon our health. What is the good of the great progress of medicine if, on the other hand, our modern progress through reckless inventions separates us from Mother Nature and, inducing us to unnatural habits and ways, exposes us to disease and untimely death. No wonder, then, if arteriosclerosis and old age appear in relatively young people. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER I. ON THE APPEARANCE OF SYMPTOMS OF OLD AGE IN YOUNG PERSONS.