SOME SIGNS OF LONGEVITY.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XVIII, Issue VIII, 20 February 1897, Page 227

SOME SIGNS OF LONGEVITY.

Every person carries about with him the physical indications of his longevity. A long-lived person may be distinguished from a short-lived person at sight. In many instances a physician may look at the hand of a patient and tell whether he will live or die. In the vegetable, as well as in the animal kingdom, each life takes its characteristics from the life from which it sprang. Among these inherited characteristics we find the capacity for continuing its life for a given length of time. This capacity for living we call the inherent or potential longevity. Under favourable conditions and environment the individual should live out the potential longevity. With unfavourable conditions this longevity may be greatly decreased, but with a favourable environment for the longevity of the person, the family or the race may be increased. Herein are presented the two leading considerations, always present and al waysinterdependent—the inherited potentiality and the reactionary influences of environment. The primary conditions of longevity are that the heart, lungs and digestive organs, as well as the brain, should be large. If these organs are large, the trunk will be long and the limbs comparatively short. The person will appear tall in sitting and short in standing. The hand will have a long and somewhat heavy palm and short fingers. The brain will be deeply seated, as shown by the orifice of the ear being low. The blue hazel or brown hazel eye, as showing an intermission of temperament, is a favourable indication. The nostrils being large, open, and free indicate large lungs. A pinched and half-closed nostril indicates small or weak lungs. There are general points of distinction from those of short-lived tendencies, but, of course, subject to the usual individual exceptions. Still, it is well acknowledged that the characteristics noted are expressions of inherent potentiality, which have been proven on the basis of abundant statistical evidence. In the case of persons who have short-lived parentage on one side and long-lived on the other side, the question becomes more involved. It is shown in grafting and hybridizing that nature makes a supreme effort to pass the period of the shorter longevity, and extend the life to the greater longevity. Anyone who understands these weak and dangerous periods of life is forewarned and forearmed. It has been observed that the children of long-lived parents mature much later and are usually backward in their studies.