Notwithstanding that an inherited strong constitution is the foundation of a long life, exposure to inclement weather, or an unhealthful climate, or various hardships and privations, with violations of hygienic laws, may produce decay of the physical powers and degeneracy in two or three generations the strong tendency to the recurrence of the original type of constitution will, under favorable circumstances, cause a regenera tion of stock. It is also probable that continued breeding under favoiable circum stances of stock not in the highest physical condition, will tend to its improvement. To what degree hnprovement of the human race might be carried, it is impossible to say with confidence. We do not know our physical history with sufficient exactness to venture far upon such speculatious, but, if we take the opinions of a majority of the scientifie world of the present day, the race has been constantly improvin.--in fact, has been developing from some form much inferior. There are many, fiowever, who believe that the Bible account, though perhaps too fragmentary for a scientific basis, is a revelation, and that we were created physically perfect. ACcepting this view, to what age did our earliest progenitors survive? This is a question that has not been settled, even by theologians, and therefore will not be discussed here; but, if greater than at present, it might perhaps be recovered by an observance of mental, moral, and physical laws, as tending to the recovery of the normal type of constitution. It is pos sible that, under any view of the creation of man, human life might be made to increase in length of days, although history shows that its duration has varied but little in 4,000 years.
Moderation and regularity in eating, drinking, and sleeping are conducive t,o longevity, and those who observe proper habits may accomplish immense labors with no apparent injury to themselves. Scientific studies and philosophical contemplation, if not pursued with too much ardor, do not tend to shorten life. Clergymen are said to be the longest-lived, as a class, of any in England. Poets, as a rule, are not as long lived as philosophers, although Sophoeles is said to have lived 90 years. Goethe WaS in his 84th year when he died, and Wordsworth was 80; but these two poets were also philosophers, and spent much time in calm thought. Of the old philosophers, Zeno died at 98, Demosthenes at 99, Isocrates at 98, while Hippocrates, the father of medi cine, lived to upwards of 100. Many medical men have lived to an advanced age, but it appears from statistics that physicians are, as a class, shorter-lived than menibers of other professions. 3loses lived to the age of 120, and Joshua to that of 110, and their lives were lives of great activity. As an instance of hereditary longevity, may- be men tioned that of Abraham, who lived to 175, Isaac to 180, Jacob to 147, and Joseph to 110. Soule physiologists do not place reliance on records of longevity much beyond 100 years. Many instances, however, seem to be too well attested to admit of much doubt that individuals have lived to more than 140 years of age, and one of the cases given in some of the records which follow, that of Henry Jenkins, who is said to have lived to the acre of 169, rests on evidence which many intelligent men do not feel justified in rejecting. The cases of the three Hungarians may be regarded as doubtful, but they are accepted by the author of the article " Age" in the American Cydopadia,, and they are given here, at all events, as interesting records. It must be admitted that there arc no valid reasons for denying that life may be prolonged to the extent there claimed. Much of the evidence regarding the age to which individuals attain would, in most instances, be deemed insufficient in a court of law, and, if absolute proof be required, the collection of instances of great age would be small.
Buffon says that every anunal lives six or seven times as long as the period of its growth, and Flourens remarks that this is very near the truth, lie placing the relative terms of growth and perfected growth as 1 to 5. Both Buffon and Haller placed the normal terra of life between 90 and 100 years. They afterwards, by the collection of instances, placed its extreme limit at a little less than two centuries, and Flourens adopts the idea that extraordinary extension of the term of life may go on to one-half more than the ordinary term. The late sir Henry Holland believed that there was suffi cient proof of the frequent prolongation of human life to 110 and 140 years; but a recent writer, Mr. Thorns, maintains that any evidence that any hunaan being ever attained the age, not of 140, but of 110 years, will be found upon examination to be untrust worthy, and there are others who to a certain extent share this opinion.
In a work called The Code of Health, and Longevity, by sir John Sinclair (6th ed., Lond., 1844), and which contains much interesting matter, there is the following: " In a Dutch dictionary entitled Het Algemeen Woonderbok, there is an account of which the following- is a translation. Petratsch (Peter) Czartan was horn in 1537 at Kofrok, a villag,e 4 m. from Temeswaer, in Hungary. When the Turks took Temeswaer from the Christians, he kept his father's cattle. A few days before his death he walked with the assistance of a stick to Kofrok. He had but little sight, and his beard was of a greenish white color, like moldy bread, and but few of his teeth remained. His son, 97 years of age, was born of his father's third wife. Being a Greek in religion, the old man was a strict observer of fasts, and never used any- food but milk and cakes. He had de,cendants in the fifth generation, with whom he sometimes sported, carrying them in his arms. He died in 1724, at the age of 184 years. Count Wallis had a portrait taken of this old man when he fell in with lihn previous to his death. The Dutch envoy, then at Vienna, transmitted this account to the states-gen eral." There is a picture of the old man in sir John's book, probably a copy of the portrait of him which count Wallis had taken. The same book alito contains portraits of an old married pair, also natives of Hungary. The following is a transla tion of the inscription on the picture: " John Rovin in the 172d year of his age, and. Sarah, his wife, in the 164th year of her age. They have been married 147 years, and both born and died at Stadova. in the directory of Casanseber, in Tenteswaer; their chil dren, two sons and two daughters, are yet alive. The youngest son is 116 years of age, and has two great grandsons, the one in the 35th and the other in the 27th year of his age." Henry Jenkinq, of Elberton, in Yorkshire, Eng., lived to the age of 169 years. At the age of between 10 and 12 he was sent to North Allerton with a horse load of arrows previous to the battle of Flodden, which was fought Sept. 9, 1513, and as he died Dec. 8, 1670, he must have been of the age reputed. " He had often been sworn in chancery and in the courts to above 140 years of memory." Sir John further remarks, "Little is known of his mode of life, excepting that towards the last century of it he was a fisherman, and not only used to wade the streams, but actually swam rivers after he was past the age of 100 years." Thomas Parr was born in the parish of Allierbury, in Shropshire, in 148.3, in the reign of Edward IV., and died in London in 1635. " Ile lived in the reign of ten kings and queens, and was buried in Westminster abbey." He is said to have been a man of very different stamina from the rest of mankind, for a person who had seen ltim describes him thus: "From head to heel of his body he had, all over, a quick-set, thick-set, nat'ral hairy cover" (Sinclair). Sir John's book also contains portraits of the countess of Desmond, as well as of Jenkins and Parr. The countess of Desmond lived to the age of 140 years. Sir John says "she was daughter of the Fitzgeralds of Drummond, in the county of Waterford, and in the reign of Edward IV. married James, 14th earl of Desmond." After his death, sir Walter Raleigh says, she held her jointure from all the earls of Desmond during her life. It is also said, on the authority of lord Bacon, that she twice renewed her teeth. In Bailey's Records of Longevity (Lond. 1747), there are, among others, the following records: " Thomas IIill, of Flitton, Staffordshire, died in 1601, aged 128. He was bead steward to three successive earls of Kent. On the floor of the chancel, near the altar, is an effigy in brass of this patriarch. The rev. Mr. Braithwaite, of Carlisle, died in 1754, aged 110 years. He had been in the cathedral 102 years, having commenced as a singing boy in 1652, when eight years old." In a work entitled Human Longevity, by James Easton, published at Salisbury, Eng., in 1799, there are recorded the ages of 1712 persons who were said to have lived upwards of 100 years. Easton quotes a table from Ilufeland, in which that author says that of 100 human beings who are born, 50 die before the 10th year, 20 between the 10th and 20th, 10 between the 20th and nth, 6 between the 30th and 40th, 5 between the 40th and 50th, and 3 between the 50th and 60th, leaving only 6 to live above the 60th year. He says, " Haller, who collected the greatest number of instances respecting the age of man, found the relative duration of life to be in the fol lowing proportion: Of men who lived from 100 to 110 years, the instances have been 1000; from 110 to 120 there have been 60; from 120 to 130 there have been 29; front 130 to 140 there have been 15; from 140 to 150 there have been 6; and as high as 169, there has been 1 instance. But as this volume probably contains a much more extensive
collection of long livers than any preceding work on the subject, I cannot deny myself the sathsfaction of compiling from it the following table, similar to Haller's. Of males and females who lived from 100 to 110 years, both inclusive, the instances have been 1310, from 110 to 120 there have been 277; from 120 to 130 there have been 84; from 130 to 140 there have been 26; from 140 to 150 there have been 7; from 150 to 160 there have been 3; from 160 to 170 there have been 2; and from 170 to 185 then.. have been 8 instances= 1712." The following are among the names and ages mentioned by F.aston: St. Patrick, 122; Attila, 124; Lywarch 150; St. Cocmgene, commonly called St. Keiven, the founder, bishop, and abbot of Grandalock, or the seven churches in Wicklow, Ireland, 120; Piastus, king of Poland, 120; Lewis Cornaro, 104; St. Anthony the great, of Coma, in Egypt, 105; Jane Scrimshaw of the parish of Bow, 127; Alexander Ste phens of Banffshire, 108; Donald Cameron of Kinnichlftbar in Rannach, Scotland, 130, and who married at the age of 100; Mrs. Carter, of Waltham abbey, Essex, 101, who could walk five or six miles a day with ease till within a few months of her death; Dr. William Broughridge of Charles Strect,Westminster, formerly one of the masters of the Charter house school, 112; Mrs. Keithe, of Newnham, Gloucestershire, "who lived mod erately, and retained her senses till within fourteen d tys of her death, at 133 years, and who left three daughters, the eldest aged 111, the second 110, and the youngest 109; Peter McDonald lived to the age of 109 (his father died at 116, and his grandfather at 107 years); Thomas 1Vinslow, aged 146, of the county of Tipperary, Ireland, a colonel in the army and had held the rank of captain in the reign of Charles I.; he also accompamed Olbi:er Cromwell into Ireland; Mr. Dobson, of Hatfield, a farmer, who by much exercise and temperate living prolonged his life to the age of 139 years: ninety-one children and grandchildren attended his funeral; Elanor Spicer, of Accomac, Virginia, lived to the age of 121 and worked at sewing till within six months of her death; Andrew Vidal, a native of 13razil, lived to the age of 124; he had 30 sons and 5 daughters, and in 1773 was living in the same house with his children and grandchildren, vvho numbered 149; John Weeks, of New London, Conn.. died at the age of 114; married his tenth wife when he was 106 years old, she being only 16, it is said that his hair and teeth were partially renewed." Easton also includes the 'mines taken from Sinclair's book above mentioned. There died at Scottsville, Monroe county, N.Y. in the autumn of 1878, Mrs. Melissa Ganier, whose age is probably correctly given. She' was married in 1789 at the age of 14, and removed in 1801 to the place -where she died. She was, consequently, about 104 years old. Her husband survived her, at the age of 107. They had 95 descendants. At Norristown, Penn., Dec. 28, 1878, Mrs. Elizabeth Thomas died in her 102d year. At West Gloucester, Essex county, Mass., Oct. 26,1878, Miss Mehitable Haskell died at the age of 89 3-ears. She was the last of nine children who lived beyond fourscore years, one sister attaining the age of 96. The father, grand father, great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather, all lived beyond 80 years. The influences affecting the longevity of men appear to have been so balanced that the aver nge age of the.human race has remained about the sarne for more than 4,000 years. But in this balancmg process there is a depressing and life-shortening influence which neces sarily reduces the natural average. It must, therefore, be concluded that a removal of all physically depressing and 1302UOUS influences would increase the longevity of the human race. The degenerating influences appear to exist in the cities, chiefly in consequence of the production of poisonous malaria and of infectious diseases, and if it were not for the constant regeneration of the population of cities by accessions from the country the age to which men usually live would be soon greatly shortened and there would be degeneration of race unless considerable reforms were made in sanitary affairs. The registrar-general of Great Britain in a recent report, in alluding to the saniary condition of that country, says, " Within the shores of these islands 28,000,000 of people dwell who have not only supplied her (Eugland's) armies and set her fleets in motion, but have manufactured innumerable products and are ernployed in the investigation of scientific truths and the creation of works of inestimable value to the human race. These people do not live out half their days. A hundred and forty thousand of them die every year unnatural deaths; two hundred and eighty thousand are constantly suffering from dis eases which may be prevented. Their strength is impaired in a thousand ways; their affections 9.nd intellects are disturbed, deran,ged, and dimmed. Who will deliver the nation from these terrible enemies? Who will confer on the inhabitants of the United Kingdom the blessings of health and long life?" We will conclude this article with a condensed statement of the opinions of Dr. Benjamin Rush (q.v.), surgeon-general of the American army of the revolution, contained in his 3fedical Ingutries and °beer zations, several editions of which were published at the commencement of this century. He reviews the circumstances which favor longevity, tlie condition of body and mind which attends it, and the peculiar diseases of old age, and their remedies. The most important circumstance is descent from long-lived ancestois. He says, "I have not found a single instance of a person who has lived to be 80 years old in whom this was not the case. In some instances I have found the descent was only from one, but in general it was from both parents. Dr. Franklin, who died in his 84th year, was descended from long-lived parents. His father died at 89 and his mother at 87. His father had seventeen children by two wives." Intemperance in eating, Dr. Rush found in his experience, was even more prejudicial to longevity than intemperance in drinking, for he met only one man 84 years of age who had been intemperate in eating, but four or five who had been intemperate in the use of ardent spirits. Ile considers that literary pursuits are favorable to long life. " BUSiness, politics, and religion, which are the objects of attention of men of all classes, impart a vigor to the understanding which by being conveyed to every part of the body tends to produce health and long life." In regard to the married state he met with only one person over 80 years of age who had never been married. He makes particular mention of a woman, a native of Herefordshire in England, who was in the 100th year of her age, and who had born a child at 60. She had suckled successive children at the same time. Dr. Rush reinarked that immigrants from Europe often acquired fresh vigor from change of climate and occupation, and probably a prolongation of life. His observations did not indicate that acute or chronic diseases shortened life, and mentions the fact that "Dr. Franklin had two successive vomicas (cavities containing purulent matter) in his lungs before he was 40 years old." It is not improbable, however, that his lung difficulty did shorten his life. He met with one man 86 years old who had suffered all his life from syncope, but he met with but one person beyond the age of 80 who bad ever had a disease of the stomach. 31r. John Strangeways Hutton, who died in Philadelphia, in the 109th year of his age, informed Dr. Rush that lie had never vomited in his life. "He was born," says Dr. Rush, "In New York city in the year 1664. His grandfather lived to be 101, but was unable to walk for 30 years before he died, from excessive corpulence. His mother died at 91. He had a fixed dislike of ardent spirits of all kinds; his appetite was good, and he ate plentifully during the last years of his life, but rarely dnnking between meals. He rnarried twice, having eight children by his first, and seventeen by his second wife. Be was about 5 ft. 9 in. in stature, slender, and carried an erect head to the last yenrs of his life. He says, " I have not found the loss of teeth to affect the duration of life so much as might be expected. Edward Drinker, who lived to be 103 years old, lost his teeth thirty years before he 'died, from drawing the hot smoke of tobacco into his mouth through a short pipe." Ile makes the observation that "more women live to be ?iq than men, but more men live to be very old than women. In regard to the characteristics of the body and mind of old people lie mentions their great sensitivenees to cold, and says, "I met with an old woman who slept continually under three blankets and a coverlet during the hottest summer months. The servant of prince de Beaufremont, who came from Mont Jura to Paris at the age of 121 to pay his respects to the first national assembly of France, shivered with cold in the middle of the dog-days when he was not near a good fire. The late Dr. Chovet, of this city (Philadelphia), who lived to be 85, slept in a baize night-gown under eight blankets and a coverlet, in a stove room many years before he died." He remarks that death from old age is the effect of a gradual palsy, showing itself first in the eyes and ears, then in other parts of the body, reaching the brain the last.