The Prolongation of Life: Optimistic Studies

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Élie Metchnikoff. The Prolongation of Life: Optimistic Studies

The Prolongation of Life: Optimistic Studies

Table of Contents

PART I. THE INVESTIGATION OF OLD AGE

I. THE PROBLEMS OF SENILITY

II. THEORIES OF CAUSATION OF SENILITY

III. MECHANISM OF SENILITY

PART II. LONGEVITY IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM

I. THEORIES OF LONGEVITY

II. LONGEVITY IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM

III. THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM AND SENILITY

IV. MICROBES AS THE CAUSE OF SENILITY

V. DURATION OF HUMAN LIFE

PART III. INVESTIGATIONS ON NATURAL DEATH

I. NATURAL DEATH AMONG PLANTS

II. NATURAL DEATH IN THE ANIMAL WORLD

III. NATURAL DEATH AMONGST HUMAN BEINGS

PART IV. SHOULD WE TRY TO PROLONG HUMAN LIFE?

I. THE BENEFIT TO HUMANITY

II. SUGGESTIONS FOR THE PROLONGATION OF LIFE

III. DISEASES THAT SHORTEN LIFE

IV. INTESTINAL PUTREFACTION SHORTENS LIFE

V. LACTIC ACID AS INHIBITING INTESTINAL PUTREFACTION

PART V. PSYCHICAL RUDIMENTS IN MAN

I. RUDIMENTARY ORGANS IN MAN

II. HUMAN TRAITS OF CHARACTER INHERITED FROM APES

III. SOMNAMBULISM AND HYSTERIA AS MENTAL RELICS

PART VI. SOME POINTS IN THE HISTORY OF SOCIAL ANIMALS

I. THE INDIVIDUAL AND THE RACE

II. INSECT SOCIETIES

III. SOCIETY AND THE INDIVIDUAL IN THE HUMAN RACE

PART VII. PESSIMISM AND OPTIMISM

I. PREVALENCE OF PESSIMISM

II. ANALYSIS OF PESSIMISM

III. PESSIMISM IN ITS RELATION TO HEALTH AND AGE

PART VIII. GOETHE AND FAUST

I. GOETHE’S YOUTH

II. GOETHE AND OPTIMISM

III. GOETHE’S OLD AGE

IV. GOETHE AND “FAUST”

V. THE OLD AGE OF FAUST

PART IX. SCIENCE AND MORALITY

I. UTILITARIAN AND INTUITIVE MORALITY

II. MORALITY AND HUMAN NATURE

III. INDIVIDUALISM

IV. ORTHOBIOSIS

FOOTNOTES:

INDEX

Отрывок из книги

Elie Metchnikoff

Published by Good Press, 2019

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There is no disharmony in the nature of old people so striking as this transference of the lime salts from the skeleton to the blood-vessels, producing as it does a dangerous softening of the former, and a hardening of the latter that interferes with their function of carrying nutrition to the organs. It is the manifestation of an extraordinary disturbance of the properties of the cells that compose the body. The atheromatous condition of the arteries is closely linked with arterial sclerosis, an affection which is very common, although not constant, in the aged. The whole question of these vascular alterations is extremely complex, and before it can be cleared up, a number of special investigations must be made.

Probably diseases of the arteries of different kinds, and arising from different causes, are grouped under the terms atheroma and sclerosis. In some cases the lesions are inflammatory and are due to the poisons of microbes. An example of such an origin is the case of syphilitic sclerosis, in which the specific microbes (spirilla of Schaudinn) lead to precocious senescence. In other cases the arteries show phenomena of degeneration resulting in the formation of calcareous platelets which interfere with the circulation of the blood.

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