Cheraw gazette. [volume] (Cheraw, S.C.) 1835-1838, 1836-02-16
MEDICAL.
Causes which favor Old Age.
From DR.. Rush's "Inquiries.

Causes which favor Old Age.
From DR.. Rush's "Inquiries.'
Mos, of the facts which | shall deliver
upon this subject are the result OF ooserva-
tions. made during the term OF five years,
upon persons of both sexes, who had passed
the s0th wear Of their lives. | intended to
have given detail of the names, manner OF
life, and occupations, and other clrcumstan.
ces of each of them; but, upon review OF
nv notes, | found SO great sameness IN
the history Of most of them, that despalrcd'
by detailing them, of answering the nten-
ton which have purposcd in the following
essay. shall, therefore, only deliver the
facts and principles, which are the result OF
the inquiries and observations have made
upon this subject.
The. circumstances which favor lon.
gevity are,
1. Descent from long g-lired ancestors. |
have not found single instance ofa person
who has lived to be 80 years old, in whom
this was not the case. In some instances |
found the descent was only from one, but,
in general, it was from both parents. The
knowledge of this fact may serve, not only
to assist in calculating what are called the
chances Of lives, but it may be made useful
to physician. He may learn from it to
cherish hopes of his patients in chronic, and
in some acute diseases, in proportion to the
capacity of life they have derived from their
ancestors
.. Temperance in eating and drinking.
To this remark | found several exceptions.
I met with one man Of 81 years OF age,
who had been Incorporate in eating; and
fom or five persons, who had been ntempe-
rate in drinking ardent spirits. They had
all been day.laborers, or had deferred drink
ing until they began to feel the !angor of old
asc. did not meet with single person,
who had not, for the last forty or fifty years
Of their lives, used tea, coffee, and bread
and butter, twice day as part of their diet.
I am disposed to believe that those articles
of diet do not materially affect the duration
of human life, although they evidently im-
pair the strength of the system. The du-
ration of life does not appear to depend so
much upon the strength of the bod y, or up
on the quantity Of its excitability, as upon
an exact accommodation Of stimuli to each
of them. A watch spring will last as long
as an anchor, provided the forces which are
capable of destroying both are always IN an
exact ratio to their strength. The use OF
tea and coffee in diet seems to be happily
suited to the change which has taken Place
in hehuman body by scdentary occupations,
by which means less nourlshmcnt and stlm-
illus arc required than formerly, to support
animal life.
9. The moderate exercise Of tile under-
staadins. 1t has long been an established
truth, that literary men (other circumstances
being equaD are longer lived than other peo.
pie. But it is not necessary that the under
standing should be employed upon Phlloso-
phicaI subjects, to produce this influence
upon human life. Business, politics, and
religion, which are the objects Of attention
of men Of all classes, impart vlgor to the
understanding, which, by being conveyed
to every part of the body, tends to produce
health and long life.
A. Equamimity Of Temper. The violent
and irregular action Of the passions tends to
wear away the springs Of life;
Persons who live upon annuities in Ey.
rope have been observed to be longer lived,
in equal circumstances, than other people.
This is probably occasioned by their being
exempted, by the certainty Of their subsis-
tence, from those fears Of want, which SO
frequently distract the mind, and thereby
weakan the bodies, Of old people. Life
rents have been supposed to have the same
influence in prolonging life. Perhaps the
desire Of life, in order to enjoy for as long
atime as possible that property, which can
not be enjoyed second time by child or
relation, may be another cause of the lon-
gevity of persons who live upon certain In
comes. tits a fact, that the desire Of life is
a very powerful stimulus in prolonging it,
especially when that desire is supported by
hope. This is obvious to physicians every
day. Despair of recovery is the beginning
of death in all diseases.
But obvious and reasonable as the effects
Of equanimity of temper are upon human
life, there are some exceptions in favor of
passionate men and women having attained
to great age. The morbid stimulus Of
sDr. franklin, who died in his S4th year, was
descended from long-lived parents. His fathe.
died at 81, and his mother at e.. His father had
l7ehifdren by two wives. The doctor informed
me, that he once sat down as one of II adult sons
and daughters at his fathers table In an excur-
sion he once made to that part of England from
covered, in graveyard, the tomb-stones Of seve-
RI persons of his name, who had lived to be verv
old. These persons he supposed to have been his
ancestors,