The Promise of Life.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 849, 8 June 1888, Page 9

The Promise of Life.

It was said of the late Emperor of Germany, who furnished an instance of aemarkable vigor and longevity, that he had so little apparent constitution at the start, and was so puny withal, that he was not expected to reach mature years. Iu the eyes of his attendants, he had no promise of life. But by careful physical training he became a robust man, with a capacity for great physical endurance. That is not a solitary instance where the early, promise was very poor, but the individual reached a vigorous old age ; Iu modern times the life of a generation has been extended for some years, and there is the best scientific evidence o£

steady progress in that direction, No one to-day can place anything like, an exact-limit on the average duration of h'urcian life. All we positively know is that there is a gradual gain in longevity. This is attributed to more rational systems of living and better scientific methods for the treatment of disease. What is called a luxurious life is not favorable to longevity. Those who live fast do not generally reach old age. A distinguished lawyer in this State—a bon vivant— odco consulted a physician about his health. He was told that living with his present indulgence he would have a short lease of liFe. But living abstemiously, cutting off this and that luxury, taking a great deal of exercise, avoiding late dinners, and social dissipation, he might count upon a pretty long lease jof life. He elected to take the good things and the short lease. He died as the physician predicted, id the very prime of his years. There has recently been some earnest discussion of the theoretical conditions of long life.. Hot much that is new has been brought to light. Dr Edmund’s theory that there is no physiological necessity for death,, has probably stimulated this discussion. If the theory iD not quite tenable it served a Tory good purpose in calling earnest attention to some of the conditions of longevity, as well as to the mortality which is everywhere overtaking men in the prime of their years. A few die from overwork—the many die from irrational living; A writer in the Quarterly Review recently expressed the opinion that brain work was not conducive to longevity. He found thaj;. engineers and artists were not long liven. But a writer in the Nineteenth Century fellows him up with the following facts : It is not difficult to give'numerous well known instances of brain workers who lived to a great age. Among artißts, Michael Angelo lived to be ninety, Sir Christopher Wren to be ninety one. Titian is said to have been engaged in painting a picture, now in the Academy.at Venice, when he was cut off by the plague at ninety.nine years of age! Conrad Roepel of The Hague, who lived to onehundred, and Ingres to eighty-six, Tintoretti eighty-two, Claud Lorraine eighty-two, Greu.e seventy-nine, David seventy.seven. Turner, seventy-six, Horace Veinet seventy, three, Lebrun sevent-one, Poussin seventyone, are instances not only of greatness in art, but greatness in enduring vitality. If we take poets we find that Rogers lived to be ninety-three, Sopbocleß ninety, Calderon eighty-seven, Juvenal ‘eighty six, Anacreon eighty-five, Voltaire eighty-four, Metastasio eighty-four, Euripides aevent; -eight, Goethe eighty-three, Klopstock seventy-nine, Wielond eighty, Lamartine seventy-eight Bdranger seventy-seven and Victor Hugo eighty-three. If we turn to philosophers and men of science we find among our contemporaries M Chevreul, the Prench philosopher and chemist, who on the evening of his one hundredth birthday, occupied the President’s box at the opera ; and if we look into the past we find the names of Fontenelle, who died at one hundred. Hoyle (who wrote the treatise on whist) at ninety.eight, Hobbs at ninetv-two, Morgagni at eighty-nine, Ried at eighty-six. Dr Heberden at ninety, Sir T. Watson at ninety (?), Sir William Lawrence at eighty-four, Royer-Collard at eighty-two, William Harvey at eighty, Schilling at seventy-nine, Cousin at seventy'six, and, greatest of all, Plato at eighty-two ; and among great composers, Anber died at eightyeight, Cherubini at eighty-two, Rossini at seventy-seven, Haydn eeventyseveD, Gluck, seventy-three, and Meyerbeer seventy-two. These men represent an immense amount of brain work.' Is it not a fair inference that this mental activity tends rather than otherwise to longevity ! One hundred Generals and Admirals of Great Britain, as appears from the ‘ Annual Register,’ died during the last fifteen years with ages ranging between eighty and ninety years. .In England clergymen have greater longevity than physicians. This may be accounted for by the different conditions of life. The physician is subject to more wear and tear. He is at everybjdy’s beck or call. - He is constantly battling with disease. His’ life cannot be wholly tranquil, methodical and orderly. The writer found that of forty-two Bishops and Deans who died during the last twenty years, the average life-time was seventy-two yearß and eight months. The Deans lived longer than the > Bishops. The Judges fell a li tie short: of the longevity attained by the clergymen. Forty-nine Judges, whose ages I have been able to ascertain, died at the average age of seventy-two years one mouth and fourteen Jays—an average somewhat less than that of the Bishops and Deans together, considerably less than the Bishops taken separately, and somewhat higher than the Deans taken alone. The: two oldest Judges were Lord St. Leonards, aged ninety-three years, and Ur Lushington, aged ninety, . No Judge rivals Dean Garnier’s ninety-eight years. The two youngest were Thesiger at forty-two and Jackson at forty-nine. Twelve of the Judges were over eighty, viz, Brougham, eighty-nine, Erie, Kindersley and Pollock eighty-seven, Coleridge and Wensleydale eighty-six, Chelmsford eighty-four, Fitzroy, Kelly, Stuart and Byleß eighty-three, Martin and Ryan eighty-two. It was fonnd, »lso, that of the 188 Peers who had deceased during the last twenty years, the average, life-time was seventy-two years and two months. Seven of these lived beyond the age of ninety years. Theoretically, there is a great deal of high living among the titled personages of England. Presuu ably, fihose who attained great longevity inherited good constitutions and took care of themselves. Tne facts, as far as they have been cited, support the theory that brain work is favourable to longevity. In the case of physicians and artists, it is not so much brain work which reduces the term of years as the worries of life. Physicians worry over critical cases. Artists fret and have over-much irritation because life does not in a majority of instances go well with them. They have, for the moet part, sensitive and emotional natures. The constant irritation and worry tell fearfully against long life. There are many occupations where these conditions can hardly be avoided. The theory of total abstinence is somewhat shaken by the following citation : The records of centenarians prove that many do well as total abstainers, but that many also do well who take a moderate quantity of alcohol in some form or other.; snd for tjie feeble type of constitution which

is never destined to such length of days a certain moderate amount of alcoholic stimulant is perhaps one of the greatest blessings they enjoy. Of centenarians who certainly were not abstainers the following instances niny be mentioned : Cardinal de Salis, Archbishop of Seville, died in his one hundred and tenth year in 1755, with every faculty except his hearing unimpaired. He imputed his green old age to a sober, studious lifo, * regular exercise and a good conscience, .as well as a pint of the best sherry at each meal, except in very cold weather, when he allowed himself a third more. Macklin, the actor, who lived one hundred and seven years two months and ten days, up to forty lived, his biographer states, very irregularly, drank hard, sat up late at night and-took violent exercise. Subsequent to that period ho proceeded by rule. He drank tea, porter, wine, punch, and ate fish, flesh, fowl, eto, til he was seventy, but he never dranK to excess. His usual quantity was seven or eight glasses of wine. But with all the exceptional instances the preponderance of authorities is on the side of sobriety, temperance and what may be called abstemious habits. Here and there an individual attains extreme longevity who never had any particular rules of living ; but even in a -majority of sucK-instanceß there was an exemption from rioting and excess. Another condition of loDg life is that the id dividual must be a good sleeper., The point is urged that there is not a single instance Where a bad sleeper ever attained more than a moderate old age. . There are no new conditions of long life. The promise is still in temperance, moderation, tranquility of mind, a good conscience, exercise and a reasonable amount of hard work.