LONG-LIVED MEN.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXV, Issue 4749, 10 September 1924, Page 4

LONG-LIVED MEN.

WHERE ACTIVITY SCORES. When Bernard Shaw, in “Back to Methuselah,” startled the bourgeoisie by declaring that anybody could live on indefinitely if only he had the will to do so, his suggestion was accepted as merely another extravagant Shawian fantasy. Curiously enough, some longevity figures have just been published which lend a certain degree of confirmation to Shaw’s contention. Not by Coue-ing ourselves, according to Shaw, can we prolong our lives, but by entering with such zest in this world’s activities that our sub-con-scious will-tb-live will carry ug on and on through the decades and the centuries. Following the same line of reasoning, W. Wyatt Tilby, writing in the "Nineteenth Century,” presents interesting evidence showing that worldlings outlive those who give themselves up to unworldly pursuits. The longevity of different classes of great and distinguished men are compared. Popes’, and-, archbishops are found to have lived pm an average to the advanced-age of 73 years, whereas saints have died at 59, even when martyrs who. met violent deaths are excluded from the - computation. Mr Tilby asks whether this striking discrepancy ig not due to the fact that the princes and potentates of the Church concern themselves largely with; mundane affairs, whereas saints live truly on another spiritual plane. Corroboration of this view is found in the longevity records of other classes. Scientists die at an average age of 74, ;but, philosophers succumb at 66.7 yeans. Here again the same distinction occurs : scientists ars absorbed in earthly phenomena, whereas philosophers: spin a web of intellectualism. Finally, and perhaps most curiously of all, musicians die at 59, but great, painters have lived to 66. It is pointed out that painters are engaged with the concrete world, whereas the musician gives himself up to the invisible and spiritual medium of sound 1 7Mer. of action —ecclesiastics, statesmen, soldiers—as a class live longer that those given to contemplative pursuits. The former, grouped together, live to the age of. 74, whereas the latter hardly pass 64. This, however, is probably due to the fact that the leader among men is usually endowed with a powerful physique to begin with. To achieve eminence he must be robust. After surveying the longevity of more than 500 of the world’.; greatest men, the writer comes to the conclusion that they; outlive the ordinary run or humanity. The average length of life for persons who reach maturity is 62 years, but for men of eminence it is 67.5 years, and for those of remarkable genius 69.1 years. This figure closely approaches the threescore years and ten of the psalmist, and Mr Tilby wonders whether the Hebrew poet consulted an actuary before writing his verse. The proverbial worries of the highstrung business man do not, apparently, bring him to an early grave. Merchant magnates, according to this tabulator, live usually to 70 years. Saints and poets are the only types who succumb at an earlier age than the average for humanity at large. The longest livers of all are seemingly the Speakers of .the House of Commons, who have averaged 80 years, despite the fact (ats Mr Tilby remarks) that-of all men in the modern world they must be the ones who on occasions long most devoutly for release.