Human Life and Row it may be Prolonged to 120
Years. Ey Colonel F. F. McCabe, M.B., S.I.H. (Grant Richards. 6s. net.) —After perusal of Colonel McCabe's book one wonders not so much why it was ever written, but rather why it was given so pretentious a title. The author has had large experience among our soldiers, both the healthy and the sick, and claims that he has been very successful in his dealings with them. One may therefore concede to him a knowledge of the extent of the normal man's ignorance of his bodily functions, and one feels after reading his address to soldiers, who had been wounded and were about to return to the front, that he knows how to impart a large amount of useful knowledge to such men in words that they can appreciate and in a form that fixes their attention. It is thus quite possible that there may be a field of usefulness for this book, although we must candidly confess that, bearing in mind the large number of popular books that have already been written on the subject of health, we should not have thought so. As a guide to the prolongation of life to 120 years--well, if the book fulfils this purpose we are more able to appreciate Naaman's feelings when bidden by the prophet Elisha "go and wash in Jordan seven times." Seeing that most animals live five or more times the period required by them to reach full development, and seeing that man reaches full development in twenty-five years, Colonel McCabe feels confident that, were life properly conducted, man should normally live at least 120 years, and that is about all there is to it.
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