Centenarians. TO THE EDITOR.

Otago Witness, Issue 2467, 26 June 1901, Page 50

Centenarians. TO THE EDITOR.

Sir, — Without casting any doubt on th"} genuineness of Mrs, Hutchinson's age (100) we have the dictum of Sir George Cornwall Lewis that there was no instance of a human boing having lived to a hundred years. Mr Thorns compiled a work on longevity, and of tin hundreds of alleged centenarian cases investigated by him lie cli&co\ er jd only ona genuine centenarian. In the Australian and New Zealand benevolent asylums not 90 out of lUU aged people can bring the slightest proof as to their long age. If rsked in what year they were born they give a most hazy and indefinite reply — " about the year so-and-so, ' etc A strange fact is that when these people glow old they often add 10 years on to their ag3 «*o as to appeat a venerable Methuselah. The following figures of persons aged 8G and dl) and ovei are as genuine as such figures can be. The cases quoted of 100 and over must be taker with the usual exaggeration. The Miiich number of a religious English Church of England paper called The Record, in one obituary notice records the deaths of 10 clergymen aged 89, 73, 93, 81, 90, 75, 84, 83, 82, and 83, giving an average of 83 years. In the obituary notice of the Quaker magazine named the Friend, 24 Quakers make a l^al of 2128 years, with an average of rather more than 85-S yea.rs, the lowest being 84, and the highest 93. These great ages are apparent when it is stated that the average duration of life is set down at 33 years. The one centenarian discovered by Mr "William J. Thorns was Mrs Fanny Bailey, of Worthing (England), and he ascribes her great age to a vigorous frame, a stout heart, and a cheerful spirit. Mr Thorns was so elated with his discovery that he issued an appeal for aid, as he found the poor old body in wretched circumstances. The deaths of seven poor people were recorded in the Aberdeen Journal at the ages of 92, 90, 88. 86, 83, 82, and 80 years, -caching a total of 601 years, and an average of nearly 86 years to each. This lecord has never been paralleled in Scotland. There is no place m Scotland proportionately with its population where t> gi eater number of aged people are to be found than in the neighbourhood of Loch Lomond, which has the purest atmosphere, and is in the neighbourhood of a small stream running over 9 rocky or pebbly bottom. Examples o>f extreme longevity are common m the Highlands oi Scotland, especially of the Abeidonians. The aged are to be seen everywhere. No amount of feeding will make r. man tall who is destined to be short,; so no amount of cart will prolong the life of one destined to die young Longevity runs m families, and is tiansmitted from father to son. The Eev. Di James Ingram, minister of the i'lee Church of Unst, in Shetland, died within v. month of tho completion of his 103 rd yea^. His father lived tc the age of 100, and his grandfathei to th.. age of 105. In Grey Fiiar's churchyard, Edinburgh, John Giay lies buried, aged 80. ana his- daughters — Ann, Giizzle, Isobel, Elizabeth, Jean, and Susan — weie aged S3, 87, 86. 10S, 77, and 87, the average age of each daughter of this lemarkable family being 88 years. Only SusaL' was married. Mi« Gray died at Edinburgh, a centenarian, m 1856. Her mother attained 90 years of age, and two of her sisters died .it 94 and 96 lespeetively. A welliinlnenticated cas«- is Aat of two sisters, one 90 yeais af age and 111- other 99, wlv both signed the call to the new minister of the paush ot Ceies in Fifeshire— a wondeiful instance. An English pedlar named John Eosebery died 108 years ">ld, and his vvifp at the age of 98 years They had 17 sons, and his la3t sou lived to 3S years. George Stephens, a faim labourer, who died at 100, was a very e.a"ly user, fie, used to reprove his -laughtei and her husband, both about 70 years of age, who lose at 6 o'clock in the morning, with ''If ihey would not work when they were young, what would they do when they weie old " fiefemng again to the Rev. James Ingxam's case, the living of Marsi»n-on-Dove was held fiom IGBS to 1876 — 191 years— by only four vicar*, an average incumbency of 47J yeais. The Rev. Dr Foord-Bowes held the rectory cf Cowlar's in Yorkshire foi 64 year?, from 1802 to 1866. Shirley was held from 1670 to 1811—141 years — bj three vicars with 44,

______ .» 6.3, and 34 years, or an average of 47 yparo* Shoieham in Kent had two vicars m 103 yoKS with 57 and 52 years to their credit, the las'! dying aged 90. The Rev. J. Bradley was anpomted vicar of Hull in 1798, and resigned in ibGb. Clergy are the. longest lived of any class. It has beeii well fiic! '. them thai no claso o£ men ailed so much, aiid yet lasted %o long;. I omitted to staxe that the Rev. John Bedali, lcctoi of Odstock, near Sahsbniy, held th.is beuchce for 73 years. Weis&mann m his "Duration of Life" says that "longevity is really dependent upon ad 9 ."- Ulion to external conditions fixed by liatviL* Other things being equal, the middle child of a fpnulj has die Le^i protpects cii living to a good old age because ilia constitution ot its father and mother i% well e-jtibh&hed. George Bancroft, the famous, his+ouan. attributed his longevi,' to this cpu u e, b^ir.g equally dibtant from Ine \oirige-n and the eldest. He always retired to heel by 10 o'clock at night. Thomas Pait was al c a a'l early user Another middle child was •. v. ..Hum who it is slated died aged 110 years 5 months and 16 days. She was one of a family of 30 children — 16 boys and 14 girls. She survived all her brothers and sisters, and, ail her own children besides, ■•'mally, m tho parish of JJroitwich theie were living in ono year five genc-ations oi one family. The eldest was an old woman of 96 year*, and the fifth, generation consisted of three oi four young children. Truly does quaint o ! d Covcrdnlc °aj'— " I( the nombre of a nun's dfiyes be alinio c t a. hundredth yeaie c — it jS mcch." -I .'in, etc., W. . Hobart, Apnl 28.