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RE-INCARNATION.
859
and even untimely death, every one of which arises from avoidable causes, can be made to fly away to a great distance from the body. The recuperative powers of the will have never failed to manifest themselves wherever the unnatural strain, to which the body and mind are subjected, in the prime of youth, has been lessened in the more advanced, and therefore the less active, i.e., the more restful, period of life. Third dentition is known to have occurred in several cases after 80. M. Jean Finot reports* a number of cases where eye-sight, a new set of teeth, and even the natural colour of hair have been regained and acquired at the remarkably advanced ages of 110 and 117.
“The forces of the mind," says the Philosophy of Long Life,“ well utilized, may render us most important services from the point of view of the prolongation of life, as we have demonstrated elsewhere. ... When we think of our manner of life, which seems only calculated to upset, from our earliest infancy, the thousand whcels of the human machine, we are filled with wonder at its resistance. And not content with disorganizing it, we endlessly calumniate it besides, After having used and abused our body during a certain number of years, we are pleased thereupon to declare it old, decrepit, and worn out. We then neglect it with a carelessness which completes its ruin. After having suffered for long years from our excesses and our follies, it succumbs under the weight of our gratuitous contempt. And even if the insult did not come from its immediate proprietor, be sure that our neighbours, relations, or friends woulil not spare to throw it in its face. Poor human body! Source of so many joys which embellish, nourish, and sustain our life, it is nonetheless reduced to the post of simple whipping-boy. The reproach that our mind or conscience is senile or worn ont rouses in us a sentiment of revolt. We allow no one to doubt their power or their youthfulness. And yet how many are there who would dare to rebut the accusation of senility unjustly addressed to them? Worse
* See The philosophy of Long Life.!
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