Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1855-10-01
From the Home Journal
Erroneous Notions Concerning the Effects

m DAILY a paper uoulGu 0NGL tue Olu-
est Individual in each pTolesSion-RogerS, the old
est poet; Wilson Croker, oldest critic; Dady Nor
gan, Oldest novelist; Mr. BTittOn, oldest I0pOgraph
er; Sir Henry Ellis, oldest librsrian; Leigh Hunt
Oldest journalist; Sir Richard WeStnacoit, oldest
sculptor, I. P. Cooke, oldest hOImpiPe dancer
But let US turn from the personal to the ScIenthc
interests Of the question.
One of the best preserved and viSest living men
OF our time, DR.. Charles Caldwell, once wrote an
admirable essay on the ELECTS of Age" 1t is,
like all he dill, iull of admirable observation and
good sense, mingled with the science OF which he
WAS well-known master. A relative OF our eS-
teemed old friend has kInuly sent US copy of
tins, aud IRON It we proceed 10 maze large aud
valuable e1lraclS:-
s"rhe notion that the faculties of mind and body
are nearly extinguisIe,l at the age of SlXty-fye
arose, during the age Of igno ance, from super
sttinuS belief i'll the magical pOirer OF odd nnmbe:S
and their Hultipiies, especially when the mutIpleS
are compiler. Thus nine is a multiple OF thee,
and SIxIy-Ihtee Is a multiple OF nlhe. Hence, by
the anclentS, and by the lnoder:S IN times Of Su
perStiiouS darkness, the sir.y-thtrd year OF life
was regarded as mans grand cLim1eteTie,' at
which his constitution necessarily begins 10 give
way, and becomes lOreck, by his siIty tfth- And
even now, lurlng this era, when phliuSpuy anu
comm sense should be high in the ascendant, SI-
Persilion still cling antiquated error, i'll de-
hance OF the dictate OF observation and experience.
challenge the world 10 adduce single Instance
i'll which man OF sound constitution. compe
tent, at the age of fftyfve, TO nigh, or even nCder
ate achievements of mind and body, has ever lost
that competenency, aud, through the influence vi
tme ulOne, become an mbeciIe and dUta[d by his
sixty filth yesr. Nor will my challenge be accept
ed. Yet can |, from my own knowledge OF men,
ndduce perhaps one hundred instances, i'll when
by peLSeseTng suitable cOuSTe of lie, inIIyld
ualS ,have Retained Ilelr faculties, in condition
prepared for high aud useful action, until near
FI IF
more advanced period. ln cases of the kind (some
o. them highly llluStrious) our own country sui
acknowledgements. The chair oil the chief magStracY
iStiacy of the United State has been occupied by
ten IncumGents. And of those, no less than five
have verified the position for which am contend
ing. 1t need HARDLY be said that my aiuslOn is to
John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison,
John Q. Adams, and Andtew Jackson. CT the
four first Of these, it is ell known that they re-
trained much more mental strength and efficiency
than falls TO the lot Uf most NEIL, until alter IhelI
eightieth-one OF them until his nimetieh year-
and oil the last OF the five, that he did the until
many years after his SEVENTEEN And the tiomu.-
able chancellor Kent, who by an umwiSe prUvIS-
ion in the constitution OF the State of New York,
was dismissed rum Office, at the uge of sixty five
merely because he tCds sixty five, has since That
period, made more profound aud comprehensive
manifestations of intellect than he had ever done
previously.
LII LuIuJ hIUW OI uO ullSLdk6 uellOeIlIeIy
committed by enlightened and rejecting men,
which beSpeaks more striking want oil Il correct
| knowledge OF human nature, than that which pro-
claims maa 10 be necessarily Superammuated ut the
age OF Sirty fUe-l confidently repeat, that no in
stance can be cited, either now existing or record.
ed in history, in which (the individual being even
| moderately sound in constitution, tempeIae in
his regimen, and active in his habits of mind and
body actual SuPcr"nnWity has occurred by the
age slxty-fve. No, nor, say again, by the age oil
seventy, except through tile fault Of the person
himself. Andthe fault may be committed liz sew
eral ways.
"Ut these ways, the most frequent in its occur
renee and fruitful in its resrlt IS imd0leHee and
tmGct'0n OF body and mind. But InactIon of mind
is but another name Tor in0ctiOm Of the brain, a
portion oil the material system. Aud, at whatever
period of lille such inactlun may be allowed to
ta&e place, the organ III which 1t occurs, Is as Ger
tnlny lowered in tone, diminished in size, and
therefore reduced i'll strength by il, as it would be
were 1t muscle or n nerve. But, that both nerves
and muscles thus reduced in size, activity and
power, by remaining long III state Of res, is 3
truth LamllllrlY known TO every phi SiOlogSl who
has bestowed on the subject the attention il de-
serves. And, from whatever Cause it may arise,
that some degree OtlnactiOn nvadtS most persons
III tue commencement OF the dc cline of lie, can
not be denied. n or is it less certain that, III
case That prUneneSS be INDUCED, the work oil MS.
chief is done. The bLain impaired its fitness
to be the orgnnof the mind. And, ofcouISe, the
mental action is also impaired as iMdubita5ly as is
the music Of the viOliniSt by The decay ut ea.tIc-
ty in the string. of his instrument.
''But you are told by All inspired writer that il
| you resist the devil lie will fly from you. And
The assertion Is true because the devil Ieerrtd lu
is nothing but an O6hTulty III your disposition,
which, byresolution, firmnesS, and study pelSe-
veEeance, you can certainly remove.
cas- respects the propensity 10 lnactiom, " hich
Its lnSIItIOuS
the decline OF lie, the same is true. II is weak
mes which, by temperance and determined reSiS.
lance, may be vanquiShed aud baniShed. EN-
brace temperance among the means of escaping,
or OF rather lmPellins ii; because II Comes OH af
| ter a ccPi0uS meal much mCIe readily, frequently,
and forcably, than at any other time. AS means
OF resistance, therefore, StiIct and uniform TEN
ptrance should never be neglected. Nor III this,
as we'll us in ether cases, is temperance in eating
and Ill the indulgence passion less essential than
temperance IN drinking. For notwithstanding the
extensive mischief done by the interuperate use Of
intoxicating drink, and the well-deSigned elTUttS
made 10 SUPPRESS it, have long been inclined to
believe and sui believe, that, whatever may be
the cause Ill other countries where food is less
abundant, and therefore mere expensive, i'll the
United States the aggregate OF evil produced by
Ouer-euting-in palmer language by riutI0n1,-
is greater than that produced by drunkenness. 4
greater amount, venture to say OF sickness and
Edeaih is the annual product Of the former than Of
the latter. My reason for this opinion is easily
told.-Yhe ratio of dmnkards in our country IS
small. But we ave MGti0n Of gluttoms. The
population of the United States, amounting 10 up.
ward of twenty millions, consumes, in a given
time, much more food (and food much m,re stimu-
atlns and difficult OF digestion, ana therefore cal
cualed 10 overwOrk the stomach and exhaus: its
poweTs) than the population of France, which
consists of thirty millions Thousands of children,
especially, are annually destroyed in Tx. United
States, by not only being permitted to eat 10 excess
but by being actually enticed to the gross and
pernielous Practice.
"It has been commended by several physicians
ofthe Bunouian sect (and Gr. Rush was one of
theml that none but men efvery active minds at
tain 10 high degree of longevity. This is mis-.
take. Dull-mnded men in great numbets have
lived until very advanced age. In proof of This,
the State OF North CarIina contains more cente-
narilns Of the African than OF the Caucasian race
And the former ale proverbially dull of intellect
But 1t is true that none but men of active mind
can retain the strength and efficiency of their mem
tai facultesto very advanced period life. The