A Receipt For Longevity.

Te Aroha News, Volume II, Issue 86, 24 January 1885, Page 5

A Receipt For Longevity.

The number of specifics for insuring lon gevity being without end, we f#cl no scruple in adding another to the lengthy list. Whether infallible or not, it has, at all events, the merit of being quite out of the common run. To begin with, you must discover some town where chemical works abound. Having found this paradise, the next thing is to take up residence as near as possible to the largest concern." That is all ; you may then look forward confidently to attain the yoars of the Hebrew patriarch whose centenary has just been celebrated. There is one proviso, however ; you must rarely, if ever, go beyond the area whose atmosphere is affected by the fumes from the works. We derive these simple rules for the guidanco of would-be centenarians from provincial comments on the recent death of an old lady at Runcorn. She was in her hundreth year, had enjoyed excellent health up to tho last, and retained her mental faculties unimpaired. Can it be doubted that these results were mainly owing to her having lived for the last sixty years " under the shadow of a chemical works' chimney"? At all events, even if the direct connection botweon cause and effect cannot be traced, it is a warrantable theory that chemical fumes suited her constitution. When people who are exposed to their influence die at an early age, it is assumed that the pollution of the atmosphere cut short their lives, and on the piiticiple of common fairness this cnae must be accepted as evidence of the contrary hypothesis.