LONGEVITY

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 274, 20 June 1888, Page 4

LONGEVITY

Uxm, u the heading ' Long Life, and How to Attain it,' the ' Nineteenth Century ' for March publishes «m aiticle by Dr. -I Burney Yeo of more than ordinal y interest. lie commences with a lefeieneo to the instances ol longevity on loeoid, mentioning among the (lieekh the ineiedible case of Epaminondas ot Crete. \s ho is said to have li\ed to the miraculous aye ot 157 yoars. Thon come < looriria.s ot Leontium, 103 : Dtiinocritiis, 109: /enon, 100 ; Zcnophon. 90 ; and Plato, 81. Among the Koiuaus, Teientia, i.he wife of Cieeio, is said to hu\o lived to 103; Wiloi in-. Cm Mini" and Ot bilius to 100; and a niunbu ot other*, to o\er 90. in England, setting aside the ca.se ot old I 'air, we have a rematkable in.stanco of Km^e\it\ m the Counter- ot Desmond, who i-* - (i<J to li.ue h\e.l to 160 or 165 yeai-. \uolhet instance is t hat of Hem y .lenkin-, who is said to ha\o been 162 j tui s old at his death, but this is 'not siippoitod by an\ t ru»tw oi thy evidence ' The negioes in Jamaica appeal to alloid <i nunibei 1 of remjuk.ibte instances ot longe\ Uy, t-ome ot them being ci edited with lues piolonged to 125 and even 140 >cai- Ot ionise the authenticity ot man} ot these cases is extiemeh doubtful, but l)i. Wo eoiii-ideis that i hoi c* is vci v deal e\ idenee ot a considerable nunibt i ot pet-ons hawng b\ed two or thiee, and mm tour yeaif, over a cent my. One mstaiu c is that of Lady Smith, widow ot Su .lames Edwaid Smith, M.1., founder and lust pi evident ot the Linn. i an Soeiet\. Sin- died m 1877, being then in her 104 th year, a tact puned b\ the legislation of hei baptism in 1773. Dr. Wo says oi hci : 'To the vei\ end her intellect was unimpaued Mie had haidl\ e\ei known what lllne-s w,i^ Slie preserved all hei teeth, and her eyesight was good. On her eeutenaiN the < t )ueen -ent her a copy ot 'Our Lite in the Highlands' with these woids wiitten b> Her Maje-t\'s own hand : 'Fiom Victoua 15 to hei fi lend Lady Smith on hei bii thday. ' ' A l cmark.iblc tact in connection with wellauthentieated eases of longeutx is that, almost imanably pei*ons .ittaiuinj- \eiy ad\anced iioes lia\'e tlnou^tiout their live^ been tiee horn any disease calculated to weaken oi distuib the functions oi lessen the resist mu power of theii organs. Helen in^r to the habits of the maionty of persons who have attained very old atre-s, Dr Yeo n'i\.»' 'In both eating and diiuking moderation has beentheiule. Tlie majoiity were «mall or motlerato eater c . Of animal food (he majoiitN took but little. Of tluity-se\en, three took none, foui took very little, twenty took little, ten took a moderate amount and only one took much. . . . Fifteen weie either all their lives or in their old ageor\outh total abstainers : twenty-two took but little alcohol, two \ery little, and ten a moderate amount. Their were, howe\cr, exception? to thia'most. uimei'sal temperance One, ayed 103, who had been a soldier, was a "tiee' neer drinker, though ne\ei 'ilrunk:' an othci, aged 100, a colbei, took beer lathei ficcly : anothei, aged 100, a gamekeeper, was tond oi diink : anothei , aued 105. a Limeiiek faimei, 'often dumk to cmc-* on te.»ti\o o( easioiH :' anothei, ayed 103. a Keny farmer, ' diank like a lish dumig his whole lifetime;' and one other is said to have taken ' a fjood deal ot beer.' With legal d to sleep, ietmn-ha\c been obtained as to the habit- of tifty - four centi naiian.s. Xeail> all had alwa>.s been good -Icefieis and eai 1} ri^eis most ot them a\er.iuinu a little over ei^ht houis in bed. A Fieneh lady, howe\er, who lr-ed to 108, alway- spent twelve houis m bed Most of the centenaiians took a good deal of outdoor exetcisc Of one old woman it is lopoiled that 'she danced and sang on hei 101 st biilhd«i\ ;' and ot anothei, that ' ,sho va- in chuicii and i eeoh ed the Hol^ ( ommuuion on li"i IOOMi l)ii t hda\ ; ' of anothu. th.it 'on her 100 th bii thday she walked into the ha\ held and amu-ed her*?cH making Inn ;' and ol a farm labourer aued 101 the icpoit eta led that ' he walked at least, four miles tin day befoie the letum was made up.' In lad, physical actnif) and an out of-dooi lite were the eharaeteii&iiesot the great ma|oiityof the cent enaiiaiifc whose cases were reported upon. The influence of man ied lite appeals to be favourable to longevity, espeeiall> with leuaid to i-he male sb\. Out ot si\t.\ si\ return^ of eentenaii. ins t, hei e was only one bachelor to t.wcnty-two in.de>. who liarl been married ; he wa 4 - a Limenck t.umei who li\ed to be 105, though 'he diank to excels on festi\e occasions/ Ot forty-tin ee centenarian female--, howevoi, Iheieweieas many as twehc .spinster-,. A iking eireumstance is t,hc excels of temale over male centenarian^ For this Dr. Yeo gi\es several leasons. 'Women, 1 he say.-, ' enjoy a tar greater protection tiom exposure to ad \ o-r.-p ntmo.s{)heiic inlluenecs and other accidental eau.>es of death than men do. Women are neither -oldieis, noi wiilor.s, nor engineers', nor mineis, nor coachmen, etc. ; their occupations rarely ox rposc them to accident -il causes ot death. Their more secluded domestic 'ile .shields them from many influences unfa\ourable to health. They are tor the mosl part greatly \c-<t exposed to the an\ieties and worries of business and public life, while no doubt their greater moderation and sobiiety in eating and drinking contribute greatly to the result observed.' Professor Humphrey -from whose report on the subject Dr. Yeo quotes—maintains, however, that apart from the conbideiation? mentioned by the doctor, women possess a stronger or moio enduring inherent, vitality; and he cites in support of his view the fact that even in the lirst year of life, when the conditions and exposure of male and female infants are the same, the mortality of srh'l.s is less than that of boys. A somewhat larger number of boys are born, but they are more difficult to retu, so that the females soon train the numerical lead, and main)) tain it with almost steadily increasing ratio to the end. In concluding his article Dr. Yeo says : ' The influence of modern medical science in prolonging life at itaad\anced periods cannot now be precisely estimated. Tfc is yet young, scarcely half a century old. That ifc will be great Ido not doubt. Tt has already almost abolished pain, and by that fact alone lias ministered to the prolongation of life.'