Licence: In copyright
Credit: On means for the prolongation of life. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.
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![further reduced if it had been necessary ; but as they enjoyed perfect health and strength, there was no necessity for trying an experiment. It is scarcely necessary to add that I do not ascribe the prolongation of life in these cases to the reduction of food alone, but that I attribute also a share to the breathing and other exercises. Almost all authorities are agreed on the sub- ject that in old age the amount of food ought to be very limited; Dr. George Cheyne, for instance, says in one of his rules : The aged should lessen the quantity and lower the quality of their food gradually as they grow older— even before a manifest decay of appetite forces them to it [22]. Sir Henry Thompson says : Less nutriment must be taken in proportion as age advances, or rather as activity diminishes, or the individual will suffer [122]. With advancing years the tendency to arterio-sclerosis and other degenerations of the small blood- vessels frequently shows itself. One of the prominent signs is increased blood-pressure, to which Sir Clifford Allbutt has recently directed attention [i, 2, 3]. This symptom, combined with others, ought to be a warning that the amount of food and alcohol ought to be re- duced, sometimes even restricted to milk and](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b2398465x_0105.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
