The prolongation of life : optimistic studies / by Élie Metchnikoff ; English translation edited by P. Chalmers Mitchell.

  • Metchnikoff, Elie, 1845-1916.
Date:
1907
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The prolongation of life : optimistic studies / by Élie Metchnikoff ; English translation edited by P. Chalmers Mitchell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    CONTENTS PAGE Editor’s Introduction v PREFACE ix PART I THE INVESTIGATION OF OLD AGE I THE PROBLEMS OF SENILITY Treatinent of old people in uncivilised countries.—i\ssassination of old people in civilised countries.—Suicide of old people.— Public assistance in old âge.—Centenarians.—Mme. Robineau, a lady of io6 years of âge.—Principal characters of old dge.—Examples of old mammals.—Old bircls and tortoises.—Hypothesis of senile degeneration in the lower animais .......... i 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 âge.—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 âge 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