All told, the most important feature in the progress of medicine during the century has been the discovery of new methods of scientific investigation, more especially in the fields of bacteriology and pathology. These methods have been as yet only partially applied, and great results are to be hoped from their extension in the near future. They will not lead to the discovery of an elixir of life, and the increasing feebleness of old age will continue to be the certain result of living a long time, for the tissues and organs of each man have a definitely limited term of duration peculiar to himself; but many of the disorders which make life a burden in advancing years can now be palliated, or so dealt with as to secure comparative comfort to the patient, so that "if by reason of strength" life can be prolonged beyond threescore years and ten it no longer necessarily involves labour and sorrow.
Punctuation and hyphenated and accented words have been standardized. All else remains as in the original.
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