WOMEN LIVE LONGER THAN MEN.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 1 May 1914, Page 8

WOMEN LIVE LONGER THAN MEN.

1 _ THEIR VITAL TENACITY IS A MYSTERY NOT YET SOLVED BY SCIENCE. Women are called the weaker sex ; but the fact is that when tasted by ' the strength of their life, and by [ their power to endure sunering and to resist disease they are, according i to-a writer in the " Medical Record" physically superior to men. An English statistician has calcula- ■ ted that of two children, a boy and a ! g^rl, born on the same day, the boj j will have only 17 chances against 11 j of living one year, whilst the girl ! will have 21 chances against 11. ; From 5 to 15 there appears to be ! little difference, but from 15 to 19 j the boy will have 269 chances and ! the girl 277 chances of living against ' one of death. This advantage in favour of the female increases, especially from 35 to 75, when the ratio drops slightly till after 80, when the man will have only three chances of life against one of death, while the woman's chances will be much greater. The report of the United States Census Bureau on the vital statistics | of this country for the year 1890 i shows that for ever\ five year Period I from birth up to 78 years of age the death-rate is much greater among males than among females. From 70 to 80 the death-rate is about equal between the sexes, but from 80 to 90 there are about five women living to four men ; from 90 to 100' there are two women to one man, and after 100 the proportion of women is still much greater. " The fact that woman lives a more I protected life, avoids the stresses and j strains that favour senility, may be ! a factor, but it can hardly be the ! only factor in her superior tenacity of life," the writer says, " But lives a more protected life than man because she is differently constituted. "If a thousand able-bodied men and a thousand able-bodied women j be uniformed, armed and equipped j for battle, and ordered on a long and I weary march to the front, more men ' would piobably reach their destina- i tion, whilst more women would be found exhausted, but more men dead j on the roadside. Owing to thnir peculiar psycho-physical organisation women heed the warnings of fatigue and avoid the fatal crash, while man, with his iron will, after complete ! exhaustion, resolves to ta.ke another i step if he dies in the attempt. | " So, after making all due allow- j ances for tne greater mortality of: man in war and from accidents from I dangerous occupations and from masculine excesses, th'-re arc good rea- ! sons for believing that nothing short i of a constitutional difference can ac- ' count for the greater tenacity of life | in women. Woman is a T>hvsioloEi-I cal mi-er—she accumulates energy without expending it ; while man is a physiological prodigal—he spends ; more energy than he accumulates."