Blish's antiagathics

From: Damien Broderick (d.broderick@english.unimelb.edu.au)
Date: Mon Dec 20 1999 - 13:02:41 MST


At 10:06 AM 19/12/99 -0800, Robert Bradbury wrote:

>> antiagathic treatment?

>I've been through
>3 dictionaries including Dorland's Medical and haven't the foggiest
>what "antiagathic treatment" is.

Sorry, I kinda thought everyone here would be familiar with James Blish's
wonderful classic sf sequence CITIES IN FLIGHT (1950-58), in which an
immortal humanity roams the galaxy in flying cities driven by superluminal
`spin-dizzies' (another term not in the scientific lexicons).
`Anti-agathic' or `antiagathic' was Blish's term for medical treatments
that prevented ageing; it's been in use as sf shorthand since the 1950s.

Damien Broderick (fond of neologisms)



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