The Taoists represent their saints, in the shade of willows, seeking the elixir of life, and in Chinese Buddhist temples there are placed votive cakes shaped like the tortoise, a sacred animal and the symbol of long life. Worshippers let stones of divination fall on these cakes and so ascertained if their lives were to be prolonged, promising for each subsequent year as many cakes as the divinity might demand.
The mysticism of the East reached Europe in the Middle Ages, and then, and even in modern times, drugs were used to prolong life. Cagliostro, the celebrated quack of the eighteenth century, boasted that he had discovered an elixir of life by the use of which he had survived for many thousand years.
There still exists, in some modern pharmacopœias, an “elixir ad longam vitam” compounded of aloes and other purgatives. Analogous preparations are known, such as the “vital essence of Augsburg” which is a mixture of purgatives and resins.
Serious physicians have rejected such preparations of the quacks. They have abandoned the search for a specific, and, in their efforts to prolong human life, have relied on common rules of hygiene, such as cleanliness, exercise, fresh air, and general sobriety. In our own days, Brown-Séquard is an isolated instance of a seeker for a specific against senescence. This distinguished physiologist, setting out from the view that the weakness of old men is due partly to diminution of the secretions of the testes, hoped to find a remedy in the employment of subcutaneous injections of emulsions of the testes of animals (dogs and guinea-pigs). Brown-Séquard,[110] then aged 72 years, gave himself several such injections, and declared that he found himself reinforced and rejuvenated. Since then, numbers of persons have undergone the treatment which for a time was in vogue. The observations of physicians, made on old men and sick persons, have not justified the hopes which were entertained of the mode of treatment. Fürbringer,[111] in particular, working in Germany, has discredited the injections of Brown-Séquard. However, instead of following exactly the original prescription, Fürbringer employed a testicular emulsion which had been previously raised to the boiling-point. Brown-Séquard’s method has not resisted scientific investigation, and although it is still occasionally employed in France, it has been given up in many countries.
Brown-Séquard laid stress on the efficacy of emulsions of testis as opposed to chemical substances prepared from the gland. Other scientific men, on the other hand, have attached value to such substances and in particular to an organic alkali the salt of which is known as spermine. That salt, made by Poehl of St. Petersburg, has been largely used. Several observers declare that its employment, injected in solution or even absorbed directly as a powder, has been followed by a strengthening of bodily power enfeebled by age or labour.
As I have no personal experience of spermine, I shall quote from Professor Poehl[112] some indications of its efficacy. Several physicians (Drs. Maximovitch, Bukojemsky, Krieger and Postoeff) have given injections of spermine to enfeebled old men who had lost appetite and sleep, and have noted improvement lasting for months. From the instances given, I have selected that of an old lady of ninety-five years, afflicted with severe sclerosis of the arteries, with no appetite, a bad digestion and constipation. This patient had complained for several years of sacral pains, and moreover was nearly quite deaf and suffered from periodic attacks of malarial fever. The injections of spermine, given for a period of fifteen months, restored the old lady to such an extent that she recovered her power of hearing and felt the sacral pains only slightly and after a long walk. Her general condition was highly satisfactory.
Spermine, as it has been used medically, is prepared not only from the testes of animals but from the prostate gland, ovary, pancreas, thyroid gland and spleen. The substance is not specially associated with spermatozoa but has a wide distribution in the mammalian body.
In the medical treatment of the evils of old age, testicular emulsions or spermine have not been so favoured as general hygienic measures. Dr. Weber,[113] a London medical man, has recently summarised more general measures, and his evidence is the more important as he has been able to test the efficacy of his precepts in his own case. Dr. Weber is 83 years old, and in his practice has cared for many other old men.
The following are the precepts which Dr. Weber formulated: All the organs must be preserved in a condition of vigour. It is necessary to recognise and subdue any morbid tendencies whether these be hereditary or have been acquired during life. It is necessary to be moderate in food and drink, and in all other physical pleasures. The air should be pure in the dwelling and in the vicinity. It is necessary to take exercise daily, whatever be the weather. In many cases the respiratory movements must be specially exercised, and exercise on level ground and up-hill should be taken. The persons should go to bed early and rise early, and not sleep for more than six or seven hours. A bath should be taken daily and the skin should be well rubbed, the water used being hot or cold, according to taste. Sometimes it is advantageous to use hot and cold water. Regular work and mental occupation are indispensable. It is useful to stimulate the enjoyment of life so that the mind may be tranquil and full of hope. On the other hand, the passions must be controlled and the nervous sensations of grief avoided. Finally, there must be a resolute intention to preserve the health, to avoid alcohol and other stimulants as well as narcotics and soothing drugs.
By following his own precepts, Dr. Weber has enjoyed a vigorous and happy old age. A Mde. Nausenne, who died on March 12th, 1756, at the age of 125 years, in the Dinay Infirmary (Côtes-du-Nord) explained the secret of her still greater longevity as follows: “Extreme sobriety, no worry, body and mind quite calm” (Chemin, op. cit., p. 101).