We Now Live Longer

New Zealand Listener, Volume 5, Issue 106, 4 July 1941, Page 5

We Now Live Longer

A? The risk of death has been very much reduced -through diseases, that is, I remember about 20 years ago hearing the great English surgeon, Lord Moynihan, say that, in 1821, in England, the expectation of life at birth for a female was 33 years-for

@ male, 31. Aé¥ that time, in 192%; He sald’ the expectation of life at birth for a female was 53 years, and for a male was 51 years. B: That is, in 100 years, the expectation of life has increased by 20 years, nearly 66 per cent. Have you any idea how far in advance of primitive man we are in this matter? A: I was reading an article last year which was written about the growth characters of the skulls of some neolithic adults, say, from five to ten thousand years ago, and the conclusion reached there was that none of the skulls was older than 25 years. So it does look as thought, in a few thousand years up to 1821, the span of life was increased about a third and in the next 100 years the span of life was increased about two-thirds. I believe that recently, since 1921, the increase in expectation is still greater in proportion. B: I expect it will become greater still, as methods of preventing diseases, as distinct from curing them, are further improved. That is, if we can produce a peaceful world and cut down the accident rate on the roads, One important aspect of prevention is the building up of the body’s resistance--("The Changing Bases of Society: Science and the Publie Health," 3YA, June 11.)