The Prevention of Senility. By Sir James Crichton-Browne. (Macmillan and
Co. 2s. 6d. net.)—Our author emphasises the pitiable difference between the conditions of manual and in- tellectual labour. A sawyer who can earn 45s. a week at forty falls to 20s. at sixty-five. He knows his work as well as ever, but his fingers have lost their nimbleness. On the other hand, there are brain centres which develop much more slowly. The writer, for instance, loses something, doubtless, as years go on, but he gains also; anyhow, if the balance is not kept quite even, it is not seriously depressed. Sir J. Crichton-Browne does not tell us exactly how to prevent senility. To do that effectually one must begin with one's grandfather at the very least. Still, the old may learn something and may get much comfort from his pages. The second essay, "A Sanitary Outlook," contains both warning and encouragement. It points out evils, but it opens a view of mitigations, and even remedies.
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