PROLONGING LIFE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXX, Issue 3613, 28 August 1912, Page 8

PROLONGING LIFE.

A TALK WITH METCHXIKOFF. “Professor Metelmikoff receives one with the simplicity of true greatness,” saj T s the Paris correspondent of tho “Pall Mall.” “ ‘Come at half-past two,’ said the voice in the telephone, and up there, in a top room of the Pasteur insirtute, where sat the savant, there was not the least formality. ’When i told him that England had accepted in ia larger spirit than France his discovery, ho smiled and said:

STORY OF THE DISCOVERY. “ ‘A prophet is not without honor. Though I am a Russian, I have been more than twenty-five years in France, and, therefore, am accounted French.’ Then ho began to give mo'the personal side of his discovery. When I was thirty-five I was neurasthenic. I bad pains in my bead that prevented' me from working properly. My doctors told mo I had cerebral anaemia, and doctors gave me beef steaks, which made me worse. I had something wrong with my heart, too. At the ago of fifty-three I consulted a. specialist in Germany. He diagnosed arterio sclerosis and chronic nephritis. That was when I began to take myself in hand.-My ambition became to change my intestinal flora from a natural or wild flora into a cultivated one. Only the other day, before my lecture at the Academic des Sciences, in which I announced my discovery of glyco-baeteria for prolonging life, I was able to prove by analysis that my system contains practicaly no poison. “‘Old age is a disease —a poison caused by the putrefaction in tho digestive tract. We have been able to establish this by artificially producing

ago in animals. As you know, my dietary includes curdled milk. My point do depart in this case was the longevity of the Bulgarians, who are accustomed to take this milk. There are many centenarians among them.’ “ ‘'liras, by eliminating poison, through the combative microbe, one eliminates old age?’ “ ‘Yes, to a large extent. One should be able to live to a hundred — to a hundred and twenty, perhaps—without wishing to die. And when I say “live,” please do not misunderstand me; I mean life with enjoyment of all the faculties and with sensations of pleasure, for, without that, mere existence is nothing. lam sixty-sev-en. Of course, that is not a great age, but I assure you I am more active for my years than' most men of my metier. , A bacteriologist’s life is very exhausting, making great demands upon his vitality. Most of us- are used Up before my time. “ ‘ln many active professions one is forced to retire at sixty-five. One cannot continue to bo an army doctor after that time, and men like myself, engaged in close laboratory work. requiring deep concentration and experiments of an exacting character, rarely outlast that time. Now, personally, I do not think I am ready yet to be thrown on one side.’ And the savant lauglited in his delightful way, and shook his leonine inane, still free from grey. SECRETS OF HARD WORK.

“ ‘I find I can work longer and harder than many of my younger colleagues. The assistants here all require holidays—a month at least. After throe days I want to start work again! I attribute my energy to my diet, because, as I tell you, between think a little meat is necessary. My of sustained work without feeling malaise. If I should die suddenly tomorrow it would not disprove my theories, because I began late in lire. But the man who has barely reached middle life might very properly begin with every hope of arriving at the host results.

“ ‘My dietary is not purely vegetarian or fruitarian, but is a mixed diet, composed partly of meat. I thing a little meat is necessary. My wife, who is mu"h younger than I. cannot support as great a fatigue. She follows a strictly vegetarian regime. Intestinal poisons atrophy the brain.’ ”