The master tool of logic is the syllogism. If A> Band B> C, then it
must follow as the night the day that A > C. If the major and minor
premises are true or scientifically correct by current knowledge, the
conclusion is true or at least scientifically correct by current
knowledge. The demographer of today beams a clear message, which if not
true is at least scientifically correct by current knowledge. In the
first 80 years of the Twentieth Century, the 'over-65' population of
Americans increased eight- fold. By century's end it will have increased
12-fold and shortly thereafter will include one in five Americans. While
initially a fact of the developed world, the pace of similar graying is
accelerating even more rapidly in the Second and Third Worlds. This gray
delta constitutes about 35 million living Americans, who may use
one-half or more of the health care resources. A would have to be a lot
more foolish than B if they failed to recognize that in the coming
decade the causation, case-mix, and area of the gray delta demands a
change from early, mid-or even later-century medicine. If Homer Smith
was right in saying, "We are what we are because we have the kind of
kidneys we have" and "The kidneys make the stuff of philosophy", then
the who, what, where, when, and why the gray delta will be cared for
must focus on the stuff of geriatric nephrology.