Aging Riddle

Despite the Bible and Bernard Shaw, most doctors think that no human being can hope to live much more than 100 years. The ripest old age ever verified was that of a Canadian who lived to be 113.* But according to Dr. V. G. Korenchevsky of Oxford University, an authority on longevity, more & more people are crowding the Canadian's record. Dr. Korenchevsky, reporting last week on a census of Britain's centenarians (oldest: 112), found that, percentagewise, the number of people over 100 is rising faster than the population. Between 1938 and 1945 Britain had 873 centenarians, a gain of 145 over the preceding eight-year period. Women now outnumber male centenarians five to one.

At Oxford's Gerontological Research Unit, Dr. Korenchevsky is working tirelessly on the problem of extending man's life span. Says he: "Science and medicine will not rest until they solve the riddle of what is normal aging . . . and the normal span of life." Last week the doctor told an international conference of physiologists at Oxford that he had thoroughly explored, and exploded, one highly touted hope against old age: the male hormone, testosterone. Giving testosterone to an old man, he said, is like whipping a tired horse; it may lash him to a quick and fatal collapse.

*Methuselah, the ancient of ancients, lived 969 years, according to the Bible. Modern Bible scholars estimate that he actually lived 192. But, according to Bernard Shaw, "the legend of Methuselah is neither incredible nor unscientific." In a postscript to Back to Methuselah, Shaw contended that death is "unnatural" and that man may some day achieve immortality.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.