The word gerocomy, attributed to Galen, was used for the medical care of the elderly and was adapted to geroncology for their sociological aspects. In 1903, Metchnikoff invented the word gerontology for the biological study of the ageing process. Nascher is generally credited with coining the word geriatrics.32 ‘The term was … derived from the Greek, geron, old man and iatrikos, medical treatment. The etymological construction is faulty but euphony and mnemonic expediency were considered of more importance than correct grammatical construction’. Howell pointed out at least one author who had confused gerontology (the science of old age) and geriatrics (the care of the aged). The word gerontology has been attacked as a barbarous misspelling, and the word geratology, the study of old age, has been suggested instead. The founders of the Medical Society for the Care of the Elderly did not use the word geriatrics since it was, in the 1940s, almost unknown. Many UK hospital geriatric units, aware of the public’s perception of geriatrics as being apparently synonymous with senility, now call themselves ‘Department for the Medical Care of the Elderly’ or ‘Care of the Elderly Department’.
Key points
In spite of interest in old age, enlightened medical treatment of the elderly sick patient did not start until the twentieth century.
Classification of patients and better treatment methods showed that the majority of those admitted to elderly care wards could be discharged.
Community studies found unreported minor illness in older people, which could have a major impact on the quality of life if left untreated.
University authorities were slow to implement the education of medical students about the medical and social aspects of illness in the older person.
Powerful charitable foundations supported research into the causes of ageing.
References
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CHAPTER 1 A biological perspective of ageing
Florent Guerville1,2 and Maël Lemoine2
1 Clinical Gerontology Department, Bordeaux University Hospital, Bordeaux, France
2 ImmunoConcept Lab, CNRS UMR5164, University of Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France
Introduction
Ageing is not a technical word introduced recently into biology to refer to a well‐circumscribed, specific phenomenon. It comes from common language. In the last century, biologists tried to give the word a precise biological translation. Yet it still has a vague biological meaning, despite all the progress accomplished in discovering the mechanisms of ageing. Indeed, so‐called ‘mechanisms of ageing’ are generally mechanisms involved in the average acceleration or retardation of death in a population or the manifestation of signs usually attached to ageing. This is the best proxy we have, but the results should always be viewed with care. On the one hand, manipulating certain mechanisms (e.g. of metabolism) may advance or retard the average age of death without those mechanisms being necessarily involved in ‘ageing’ in the first place. On the other hand, some syndromes or diseases, like progeria, may mimic ageing without much of a link between the pathological process at hand and physiological, normal ageing. Such are the consequences of having to use a vague word in biology. However, the importance of this process to the understanding of human health is such that this concept