The Prolongation of Life: Optimistic Studies (Annotated)
Enriched Edition. Optimistic Essays on Aging, Microbes, Immunity, Nutrition, and the Early Science of LongevityBy Elie Metchnikoff
Length10h 24m
About this audiobook
In The Prolongation of Life: Optimistic Studies, Elie Metchnikoff examines aging not as an inevitable tragedy but as a biological problem open to rational inquiry. Combining experimental science, medical speculation, and philosophical reflection, the book ranges from senescence and "intestinal putrefaction" to diet, hygiene, and the possibility of a healthier old age. Its lucid, essayistic style places it within the early twentieth-century tradition of popular scientific humanism, where evolutionary theory and laboratory medicine promised new interpretations of human destiny. Metchnikoff, a Russian-born zoologist and immunologist who shared the 1908 Nobel Prize for his work on phagocytosis, wrote from the authority of the Pasteur Institute and from a lifelong concern with the body's defenses. His investigations into microbes, immunity, and inflammation shaped his belief that many afflictions of aging arose from modifiable physiological processes. His advocacy of fermented milk and lactic bacteria, though historically dated, reflects a pioneering attempt to connect microbiology with longevity. This book is recommended to readers interested in the origins of gerontology, the history of medicine, and the intellectual optimism of modern science. It remains compelling as a landmark of scientific imagination, revealing how one major thinker sought to transform aging from fate into inquiry.
This enriched edition has been carefully crafted to add value to your reading experience.
- Hand‐picked Memorable Quotes shine a spotlight on moments of literary brilliance.
- Interactive footnotes clarify unusual references, historical allusions, and archaic phrases for an effortless, more informed read.
Audiobook details
GenreHealth and Wellness
Length10 hrs 24 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateNov 25, 2023
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1Introduction
24I RUDIMENTARY ORGANS IN MAN
2PREFACE
25II HUMAN TRAITS OF CHARACTER INHERITED FROM APES
3PART I THE INVESTIGATION OF OLD AGE
26III SOMNAMBULISM AND HYSTERIA AS MENTAL RELICS
4I THE PROBLEMS OF SENILITY
27PART VI SOME POINTS IN THE HISTORY OF SOCIAL ANIMALS
5II THEORIES OF CAUSATION OF SENILITY
28I THE INDIVIDUAL AND THE RACE
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6III MECHANISM OF SENILITY
29II INSECT SOCIETIES
7PART II LONGEVITY IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM
30III SOCIETY AND THE INDIVIDUAL IN THE HUMAN RACE
8I THEORIES OF LONGEVITY
31PART VII PESSIMISM AND OPTIMISM
9II. LONGEVITY IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM
32I PREVALENCE OF PESSIMISM
10III THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM AND SENILITY
33II ANALYSIS OF PESSIMISM
11IV MICROBES AS THE CAUSE OF SENILITY
34III PESSIMISM IN ITS RELATION TO HEALTH AND AGE
12V DURATION OF HUMAN LIFE
35PART VIII GOETHE AND FAUST
13PART III INVESTIGATIONS ON NATURAL DEATH
36I GOETHE’S YOUTH
14I NATURAL DEATH AMONG PLANTS
37II GOETHE AND OPTIMISM
15II NATURAL DEATH IN THE ANIMAL WORLD
38III GOETHE’S OLD AGE
16III NATURAL DEATH AMONGST HUMAN BEINGS
39IV GOETHE AND “FAUST”
17PART IV SHOULD WE TRY TO PROLONG HUMAN LIFE?
40V THE OLD AGE OF FAUST
18I THE BENEFIT TO HUMANITY
41PART IX SCIENCE AND MORALITY
19II SUGGESTIONS FOR THE PROLONGATION OF LIFE
42I UTILITARIAN AND INTUITIVE MORALITY
20III DISEASES THAT SHORTEN LIFE
43II MORALITY AND HUMAN NATURE
21IV INTESTINAL PUTREFACTION SHORTENS LIFE
44III INDIVIDUALISM
22V LACTIC ACID AS INHIBITING INTESTINAL PUTREFACTION
45IV ORTHOBIOSIS
23PART V PSYCHICAL RUDIMENTS IN MAN
46Memorable Quotes
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