The modern civilised world has certainly made considerable progress. The old are no longer killed; they are tolerated, and accorded liberty to commit suicide. In many countries work is often refused to the old on the plea that they are not strong enough for it, and at the same time they are refused admission to almshouses on the pretext that they are not yet old enough. Dealing with the question of the average life and of the normal life, Paul Bert[156] expressed himself with regard to the aged as follows: “They deserve congratulations, care and consideration, _but the prolongation of their lives does not demand any special solicitude from society_.” However, in spite of the characters of old age which make it horrible and useless, and at best no more than to be tolerated, and in spite of the physical and intellectual weakness that accompany it, the instinctive love of life is preserved in the aged in its strongest form. To make quite certain about this I have visited almshouses for the aged, and it was easy to see that all the inmates hoped that their days might be prolonged. In a Home occupied by fairly well-educated persons, I discovered that one and all felt as if they were continually being threatened by death, as if they were convicts awaiting the day of execution. At the Salpêtrière, where there are a number of very old women, septuagenarians are regarded almost as young girls. The great ambition of women of eighty is to live to one hundred, and the desire to live is almost universal.