Longevity: The Means of Prolonging Life After Middle Age

Dr. Gardner commences his book by the consideration of the question as to the natural or normal duration of human life, and he agrees with Flourens in fixing the period at from ninety to one hundred and five years. He then states that the purpose of his work is, not to trace human life from birth to old age, to point out the causes which cut it short, or to indicate the circumstances which tend to preserve it, but only to treat of one of its epochs, namely, "advanced age," or the "decline of life," and, in his own words, "to show what is the precise nature of the changes in the constitution which take place in that epoch, and constitute in the aggregate ageing, to point out the antidotes and means furnished by science and experience for ameliorating or avoiding those troubles, and for retarding the effects of time, and thus for prolonging life." (p. 7). He then argues that the duration of life is partly a matter within our own power, and he points to many well-known circumstances and conditions which seem in the present day to conduce to longevity, such as absence of care, sanitary improvements, provident and temperate habits, and the progress of the healing arts, medicine and surgery. After some general remarks on the physiology of advanced age, Dr. Gardner indicates the means he recommends for ameliorating and retarding the effects which age induces; but there is little need for specifying his directions, for they are such as any well-informed medical man would give if his advice were re. quested. Dr. Gardner evidently disbelieves the theory of the total abstainers, for he recommends the moderate use of wine and other fermented liquors as a necessary portion of the diet of advanced life, and he is also clearly favorable to the use of tobacco. As an habitual drink he recommends beer, either porter or ale, taken with the food, but not exceeding eight ounces in quantity, and if these fluids are replaced by wine, especial regard should be had to its quality; and if, as he says, "the pure blood of the grape can be obtained, the selection of the £ to be preferred is of less moment." He is, probably, right in stating that the light wines of France are suitable for six months of the year only in our climate, and that for the rest of the year good port is to be preferred. Of sherry he seems to entertain no favorable opinion, as he thinks it too often sophisticated, but he says that Marsala is "much recommended." In this part of his book, as indeed in almost all the others, the observations and directions are offered in a very loose and unsatisfactory manner. Beyond the mere statements, for instance, that port is a good wine for half an English year, that sherries are often sophisticated, and that Marsala is much recommended as "likely to be pure," no information whatever is given as to the preference to be shown for one wine above another, or as to the peculiarities of constitution for which each may be especially suitable. He only tells us that "the number and names of wines submitted to our choice is legion, and it should be a rule to avoid forever any wine found uncongenial to the stomach or to produce headache." --The British and Foreign Medico-chirurgical Review, Vol. 54