relations with Miss Marianne Young, and was then, to a certain extent, consoled for his disappointment over Miss Lewetzow. He preserved his admiration for the fair sex until his death, and even in the closing day of his life in his delirium he called out, “Look at that beautiful woman’s head with dark curls on a black background!”[110] Footnote 109: Eckermann: Quoted after Metschnikoff. Footnote 110: Lewes: Vol. ii., p. 372; quoted from Metschnikoff. A similar retention of the sexual sense we see in the advanced years of Victor Hugo, whose admiration of the opposite sex continued till his death. Ibsen, the celebrated Norwegian dramatist, kept up a well-known correspondence with a young lady whom he met at Marienbad a short time before he died in advanced old age. Sometimes in women of extreme age instances are quoted that would seem to indicate that in them also the activity of the sexual glands may not have been extinct. It is stated that Ninon de l’Enclos[111] was in her 90th year still so beautiful that a young abbé fell desperately in love with her. We know an Italian lady of 69 who is still good-looking, presenting the appearance of 45, and she still menstruates. That she was sexually active is shown by the fact that she has 12 children. There is more fire in the eyes of this Italian matron than in many women of half her age. That the possession of active sexual glands influences the looks very much can also be proved by the pale, yellow-gray and aged looks of even young women suffering from serious chronic diseases of the sexual glands, and also of women who have caused these organs to degenerate owing to sexual excesses. Footnote 111: Quoted from Professor Kisch. The fact that persons who have attained advanced old age in robust health and perfect intellect often show signs of preservation of the sexual glands, permits the inference, especially considering the foregoing examples, that a perfect condition of these glands is an important factor toward vitality and long life, for which reason we devote a long chapter to the best hygiene of the sexual glands (see Chapter XLIX). ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER VI. ON HEREDITY AND LONGEVITY.