DURATION OF LIFE.

Bruce Herald, Volume L, Issue 57, 27 July 1914, Page 6

DURATION OF LIFE.

NOMINALLY 100 YEARS.

BEST YVOIIK Al'Tlidl 40

"Don't stop work at 70: do more of it," remarked Sir Gubeit JL'arker (the coiebiaiea author) surue timo ago, aud bu- J times Ci iuiiT'Cii-iiruwiie, an aciinowledgeu aiiuixivy 011 longevity, agrees witn Sir Uilbait tlu/ioughiy: "il you want a ieebiU and miserable old age, give up walking," said fen James, win, although boin as long ago as 1840, is one ol the busiest men m ibhe kingdom to-day. "The most cigorous peiicd ol liuman hie in its entirety is obviously between 25 and <0 years ol age," he added, "but to say that men aO'jve the latter age aie compaiatively useless is to hy iu the iace 01 tne biographical dictionary. Much. 01 the best work of the world has been done by men over 40, and we should by 110 means stand where we are but be back m the twilight ages -it berelt ol what these men have accomplished.

Reason Late in Lite. "Musical expression, lake speech, reaches its acme in iate middle lire. But higher in the cerebral hierachy than speech or music centres aro others concerned in the manifestation of put 6ly intellectual poweis, such as reason aoid judgment, which come to perlection late, and may long preserve their integrity. A preponderance! iof the wcik involving cann and powerful reason is done by men from 5o to 70 yearsof age. Our judicial system m this country has been built up mainly by judges from 55 to 85 years of age, and in almost all countries the most momentous affairs of State have been reserved for the decision of men at this time of hfe. „ , , "And even memory, so often treacherous in old age, inay be preserved intact*. Dr Bollinger, then 70 years odd .and cursed by insomnia, learned by heart three books and the 'Odyssey in order that he might be able to repeat Ihem to himself in the silent watches of the night, ii-enry Dandolo, Gibbon tells us, wa» elected Doge of V onice when 84, and lived till 97, shining in his last years as one of the most illustrious men of his time.

100 Years Gaol of All. way to make ,old age peevish and repulsive io to rob it of tlio hopes •by which, it is sustained and tranquillized. Depend on it, the best antiseptic against senile decay is an active interest in human allairs, and those keep young longest who love most. It is a cogent argument against celibacy and tho luni" tation or families that they deprive old age of those vernal influences in which parents renew their youth. "We are justified in holding that, given favorable conditions and barring accident's-, 100 years is the normal duration of inan : s hie. the goal which we should hold in view and. at which, :1 we guide our footsteps aright, aa increasing number of men and t -■> should arrive." Sir James added that very often old age was' made feeble and decrepit because of the maladies of early life. All ■these maladies leave their footprints behind them, and in aged men were often found the tracks of measles or the marks of whooping-cough.