DO WE LIVE LONGER NOW?

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 194, 20 September 1909, Page 3

DO WE LIVE LONGER NOW?

When one considers the enormous strides which have ben made during the last half-century in science as applied to the maintenance and development of human life, it might naturally be supposed that our chances of living to a ripe old age are very much greater than were those of our parents and grandparents (says a Home paper). As a matter of het, people do live longer to-day than they did thirty, forty, or fifty years ago. The average | increase, • however, has not been five or ten years, as one might expect, but on'y six months. As "ClCaudius Clear," of the British Weekly, remarks, this result, which is based on reliable statistics, is undoubtedly very startling. In spite of the improvements made in sanitation and the general conditions of the masses, it appears that the dca>,h-1 rate of ifants of less than one year old has slightly increased, although when a child has once passed its first birthday it stands a better chance of increased length of life than it may have done two or three decades ago. Up to the age of fifty-five it seems that there is a decrease in the aver ige death-rate, but after that age, as in the ease of babies under twelve months, there is an increase as compared wth the rate of past years. The'conclusion arrived at is that a man whose age is anywhere between thirty-five and sixtyfive lias no better expectation of life than his father had at the same age. If thtre is any change his expectation has slightly diminished. And as with man so with woman, although, according to one authority, it seems that the improvement is slightly more marked in female than male mortality. The question naturally arises, "Is there any prospect of a furthe rimprovenient in the length of life?" Doctors are not very hopeful, although they point out that there can be no doubt that the child and the youth have a better chance. If one takes the figures of the Manchester Unity of Oddfellows, however, it would seem that all the improvements in social and hygienic conditions are of little avail in arresting ill-health. In the comparison between 1800-70 and 1893-97 it is shown that there is a marked increase in tho • rates of sickness from the age of twenty upwards, and also a steady increase in the range of mortality from the age of | sixty.