The question of the possible extension of human life has attracted considerable attention among medical men and scientists of Great Britain of recent years. Sir Henry Thompson's volume on Foods and Feeding and the later edition of his little book, Diet in Relation to Age and Activity, have doubtless set thousands to do some practical thinking on the subject of reforming their habits of life, especially as they relate to food and exercise.

During the past year, Sir Hermann Weber, M.D., who is eminent among British scientists, delivered a lecture before the Royal College of Physicians in London, in which he presented certain conclusions which he had reached as to the best means of producing healthful conditions and thereby extending the duration of life. Sir Hermann is a sprightly octogenarian. He is a member of several medical and scientific societies on the continent and in North America, and has given the laws of health special attention during his wonderfully successful professional career. Some points he made in his recent address are worth repeating: "After having carefully entered into the records of more than one hundred cases of very long lived persons, I have reason to say that by far the majority of them were temperate, were small meat eaters, lived much in the open air, and led an active life. Many of them lived a life of toil with great restrictions as to food and comforts, while most of them were early risers, and a great number of them had a joyful disposition and performed their work cheerfully.

"We must endeavor to produce a healthy state of the blood and to maintain the blood vessels and lymphatics in a sound and vigorous condition. Life, we may say, depends to a great extent on the state of the organs of circulation. If we review the different means in our power to prevent early decay and to keep the circulatory system in a healthy condition we find that the most efficacious are given by the different forms of exercise.

"Walking is the most natural form of exercise. The action of the heart and the breathing are accelerated thereby and more blood is passed into the blood vessels, which are obliged to contract more frequently and carry it with greater energy to the different organs and tissues. At the same time, the number and depth of inspirations are increased, more oxygen is taken up and more carbonic acid is given out. Walking, however, does not only act directly on the heart, but by the action of the muscles of the legs more blood is attracted to them and all afferent vessels of the lower extremities carry away more blood from the heart, and the afferent vessels, the veins and lymphatics carry more blood back to the heart and force it to contract more energetically.

"Great moderation in the amount of food, especially of the most nourishing articles (flesh and pulses) ought to be practised by everybody, particularly by old people, and is a great aid to longevity. Almost all authorities are agreed on the subject that in old age the amount of food ought to be very limited. Dr. George Cheyne, for instance, says in one of his rules: 'The aged should lessen the quantity and lower the quality of their food gradually as they grow older, even before a manifest decay of appetite forces them to it.' An important subject constantly preached but almost as constantly neglected is thorough mastication. Many forms of indigestion, many states of imperfect nutrition, of the whole body, are caused by bolting the food. Nothing ought to be swallowed until it has been perfectly comminuted by mastication and by the admixture of saliva. Combined with the fault of bolting, is often that of washing down the food before it is properly masticated. This is likewise a grave mistake, committed frequently by great eaters and by those who take much fluid during meals, which is in itself a bad habit."

Dr. Weber says the idea that alcohol does for old people what milk does for children, is erroneous. He declares that it is not in any sense one of the agents that prolong human life. The main points of his advice are comprised in the following sentences:

Moderation in eating, drinking, and physical indulgence.

The keeping of every organ of the body, as far as possible, in constant working order.

Regular exercise every day, in all weathers, supplemented in many cases by breathing movements, and by walking and climbing tours.

Going to bed early and rising early and restricting the hours of sleep to six or seven.

Daily baths or ablutions, according to individual conditions, cold or warm, or warm followed by cold.

Regular work and mental occupation.

The reader will be interested in the information that Dr. Weber, who is past eighty-two, and is one of the busiest men in his profession, finds recreation in the study of Greek numismatics, a branch of knowledge in which he is eminent.

If the average class of men and women who are approaching old age will make it part of their daily duty to observe the important rules of health given by Sir Hermann, they will have little difficulty in convicting the Psalmist of error when he limited human life to three-score and ten years.

It may be further said that the secret of living long lies in the attainment of a natural life to be brought to an end by natural death. And nearly every man, says Richard Anthony Proctor, did he but give his vital powers fair chance, would find that, like:

"The wonderful one-hoss shay,

He was built in such a logical way,

(As to run) a hundred years to a day,

And then of a sudden (to pass away)

Speaking of the conditions for longevity and man's usefulness in old age, Dr. Harvey Washington Wiley, chief of the Government Bureau of Chemistry, has recently published what may be called an answer to the declaration of a former Johns Hopkins professor, that a man's value to his community or to the world ends at sixty. What the doctor says is well worth studying.

To live long, one must live moderately both as to eating and drinking. It is not necessary to be a prohibitionist, but one must not dissipate. Age hardens the veins. Tissue is not built up then as in youth. Starting with a strong, healthy body, and living temperately, the next requisite is work. Idlers rust out. Workers should exercise their talents in a way to prolong life, by following great endeavors by periods devoted to play. Recreation is an essential part of the recipe for old age. Amusement is as necessary as is sustained endeavor if one looks for mentality and health in old age. To achieve this desired end, science is working hard. It is exposing the "fake" medicines, which do harm and no good; it is discovering new means of preventing diseases and advanced methods of checking such ravages. Science is winning out against such scourges as diphtheria, consumption and contagious diseases. These scientific facts and developments give assurance that the average human life of usefulness will be increased to seventy years instead of forty, and that the maximum of ordinary activity will be increased from the present three-score years and ten to ninety years. Then there will be more examples of men who have lived properly who will reach a century of life. What used to be regarded as a generation was thirty-three and a third years, but now it is more than forty years.