There is a firmly rooted belief on which people in general are almost unanimous: that old age and death are one and the same; indeed, most people would rather have their lives end early than suffer the pains and afflictions of old age...

Yet this dread of old age has, in most cases, no justification, for in believing this, people take it as settled that the loss of the thinking faculties, the decline of the personal powers, and the aggravation of accumulated bodily pains are inevitable matters from which there is no escape...

But "Basilevich," on the basis of wide and comprehensive studies, was able to conclude that natural old age, though there is no avoiding it, can come unaccompanied by any bodily pains or morbid developments...

These conclusions were the result of the researches and experiments which "Basilevich" carried out on 72 villagers and farmers in Ukraine, and 38 (14 men and 24 women), and 34 who had reached the age of one hundred (32 men and two women) — Basilevich uses the term Macrobiates for these people