Hufeland's Art of prolonging life / edited by Erasmus Wilson.

  • Christoph Wilhelm Hufeland
Date:
1859
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Hufeland's Art of prolonging life / edited by Erasmus Wilson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    of Nature. Whatever is done must be effected by proper at- • tention to the above four points, on which the duration of : life properly depends; by strengthening the vital power and i the organs; by retarding consumption, and by promotingt or facilitating renovation or regeneration. The more food,C clothing, manner of living, climate, and even artificial meansi \ are favourable to these requisites, the more influence they will have in the prolongation of life; the more they coun- • teract these, the more will they shorten the duration of; existence. What I call retardation of vital consumption, as being, in . my opinion, the most important means of prolonging life, den serves here, in a particular manner, to be considered. If we suppose that each body is possessed of a certain quantity of ' vital power, and certain organs which make as it were ourl stock of life, and that life consists in a consumption of them, it must be allowed that this stock maybe naturally consumed] by a stronger exertion of the organs, and by the speedier wasting which is connected with it. He who in a day con-] sumes twice as much of the vital power as another, will exhaust his stock sooner; and organs used with double forcej will in half the time be worn out and become useless. Thai energy of life, therefore, will be in an inverse ratio with itsj duration; or the more intensively a being lives, the more' will its life lose in extension. The expression fast living, which, as well as the thing itself, is at jiresent so common, is not then altogether improper. One may certainly make the process of vital consumption, whether it consists in labour or , enjoyment, more or less rapid, and thus live either fast or I slowly. In future I shall distinguish the one by the expres- sion intensive life, and the other by that of extensive life. This truth is confirmed, not only among men, but also, throuffbout all Nature. The less intensive the life of a beiner is, the longer will be its duration. If the intensive life of a ■. plant be increased by heat, manure, and artificial means, it | will expand itself to perfection more rapidly, but it will alsoj ‘ soon decay. Even a being which naturally possesses an ’