MARRY AND SO LIVE LONG

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 7110, 23 April 1910, Page 11

MARRY AND SO LIVE LONG

BE BE'ETILLON’S ADVICE. On the subjest of matrimony, Dr Jacques Bortil'lon, the .French statistician, differs in his atlvico with “Punch, which summed up its counsel to those about to .inanrv in the one word, '■Don’t.” ’ Dr BcVtillon, on tho contrary, explains his reasons for believing that marriage and longevity go hand in hand. Ho calls in the aid of statistics to prove his contention that a married man or woman has thrice as much chance to attain a ripe old .ago as a bachelor or a spinster; and with regard to men he shows that the mortality among widowers is greater than among married men. Dr Bertillou says that his father went thoroughly, iuto this question, and obtained statistics from other European countries which completely support this opinion, while he himself has studied later figures in France. So his advice to young men runs;- 1 “Alarm you trill do well even from a selfish standpoint. But watch carefully over your wife’s health, as even from this egotistical /point of view her loss will ho a terrible misfortune, for your life depends in a groat measure, on her own.”

Addfessi.nq himself to young women, ha says■ , : “And to you I give the counsel to marry in your most selfish interest, .as married women have less mortality than spinsters of the., same age, at least after tho age of twenty. But the difference is less for women than for men. The mortality amongst spinsters is much greater than among married women, but it is npt twice as great as in the case of men.” Dr Bertillou does not take a cheerful view of the lot of tho widow. He says "The mortality among widows is distinctly greater than amongcmfwy hdmb tinctly much greater than among married women of the same age. ‘The sweet state of widowhood, is, on the contrary, fatal to young widows. Their death rate from twenty to twenty-five years of age is twice that of married women at the corresponding age." He gives -the reason why matrimony conduces to longevity thus’ , “Married people lead a more regular life. They are more surrounded and therefore more controlled, discreet though this control may be, and;it must be discreet if it is to be useful. Their physical life, like their moral life, is healthier, quieter, more natural.” lu the French statistics of one year, which Dr Bertillon has selected, the deaths per 1000 men among bachelors between the ages of 35 and 40 were 19, while those of 'married'men were only eight. Between the age of. 55 and CO the figures were 41 for the former and 23 for the latter. ■ With women the mortality was 12 and 8 between 35 and 46, and 24 and 18 between 55 and 60. .The death rates among widows and divorcees Were respectively 12 and 21 per 1000 women. .