forty. This is the gland which in the calf is known as the sweetbread
and is a delicious and valued article of food. The tonsils, which in
the child may be so large as to interfere with breathing and
swallowing, have almost disappeared in the adult; and there are other
such examples.

In age atrophy is a prominent change. It is seen in the loss of the
teeth, in the whitening and loss of the hair, in the thinning of the
skin so that it more easily wrinkles, in the thinning and weakening of
the muscles so that there is not only diminished force of muscular
contraction, but weakening of the muscles of support. The back curves
from the action of gravity, the strength of the support of the muscles
at the back not counteracting the pull of the weight of the abdominal
viscera in front. The bones become more porous and more brittle.

The effect of atrophy is also seen in the diminution of all functions,
and in loss of weight in individual organs. That the brain shares in
the general atrophy is evident both anatomically and in function.
Mental activity is more sluggish, impressions are received with more
difficulty, their accuracy may be impaired by accompanying changes in
the sense organs, and the concepts formed from the impressions may
differ from the usual. The slowness of mental action and the
diminution in the range of mental activity excited by impressions, and
the slowness of expression, may give a false idea of the value of the
judgment expressed. The expression changes, the face becomes more
impassive because the facial muscles no longer reflect the constant
and ever changing impressions which the youthful sense organs convey
to a youthful and active brain. That the young should ape the old,
should seek to acquire the gravity of demeanor, to restrain the quick
impulse, is not of advantage. Loss of weight of the body as a whole is