The Prolongation of Life: Optimistic Studies

Name: The Prolongation of Life: Optimistic Studies
Author: Metchnikoff, Elie

Metchnikoff, Elie

Aging; Hygiene; Longevity; Older people -- Social conditions

Finally, my special thanks are due to Drs. Em. Roux and Burnet, and
M. Mesnil, who have been so good as to correct my manuscript and the
proofs of this volume.

  É. M.

  PARIS, _Feb. 7, 1907_.




CONTENTS


        PAGE

  EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION                                         v

  PREFACE                                                      ix


  PART I

  THE INVESTIGATION OF OLD AGE


  I

  THE PROBLEMS OF SENILITY

  Treatment of old people in uncivilised
  countries.—Assassination of old people in civilised
  countries.—Suicide of old people.—Public assistance in
  old age.—Centenarians.—Mme. Robineau, a lady of 106
  years of age.—Principal characters of old age.—Examples
  of old mammals.—Old birds and tortoises.—Hypothesis of
  senile degeneration in the lower animals                      1


  II

  THEORIES OF THE CAUSATION OF SENILITY

  Hypothesis of the causation of senility.—Senility
  cannot be attributed to the cessation of the power of
  reproduction of the cells of the body.—Growth of the
  hair and the nails in old age.—Inner mechanism of
  the senescence of the tissues.—Notwithstanding the
  criticisms of M. Marinesco, the neuronophags are true
  phagocytes.—The whitening of hair, and the destruction
  of nerve cells as arguments against a theory of old age
  based on the failure of the reproductive powers of the
  cells                                                        15


  III

  MECHANISM OF SENILITY

  Action of the macrophags in destroying the higher
  cells.—Senile degeneration of the muscular
  fibres.—Atrophy of the skeleton.—Atheroma and arterial
  sclerosis.—Theory that Old Age is due to alteration
  in the vascular glands.—Organic tissues that resist
  phagocytosis.                                                25


  PART II

  LONGEVITY IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM


  I

  THEORIES OF LONGEVITY

  Relation between longevity and size.—Longevity and
  the period of growth.—Longevity and the doubling
  in weight after birth.—Longevity and rate of
  reproduction.—Probable relations between longevity and
  the nature of the food                                       39


  II

  LONGEVITY IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM

  Longevity in the lower animals.—Instances of long life
  in sea-anemones and other vertebrates.—Duration of
  life of insects.—Duration of life of “cold-blooded”
  vertebrates.—Duration of life of birds.—Duration of
  life of mammals.—Inequality of the duration of life
  in males and females.—Relations between longevity and
  fertility of the organism                                    47


  III

  THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM AND SENILITY

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The Prolongation of Life: Optimistic Studies

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