Washington sentinel. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1856, 1855-07-07

An article in the last number Of Blackwood's
Magazine, on the above subject, holds out the
idea that the age of man should be one hundred
years instead Of three-score and ten. The au-
thor says: "We do not simply die; we usually
kill ourselves. Our habits, our passions, our
anxieties of body and mind these shorten our
lives, and prevent us from reaching the natural
limit OF human existence" Gluttony, he as
serts, destroys more lives than incorporate drink
ing, and yet sit is the fashion to restrict the term
sobrety to the moderate use Of liquors. A So
Der life no doubt implies moderation in all things
in eating, drinking, and in the enjoyment of all
the pleasures of life. But although we have
read and heard much of moderation in eating
and in drinking, the difficulty has always arisen
in our minds respecting the true standard of
moderation. What is it; who will define it?
The standard suitable for one is not for another
No man can doubt for moment the benefits of
neutrality-suspicious. in all things. But no
man or should set up his own standard for
his neighbor. And yet it may truly be said, that
general rules for temperance may be set down.
which, if followed, would be of immense benefit;
such as "not to eat so much will unfit the
mind for its usual exertons; or so much as will
make the body heavy and torpid Nor to pass
hastily from one extreme of living to another,
but to change slowly and cautiously, to eat plain
and wholesome food, and TO proportion its guam
uty to the temperament, the age, and strength
of the eater. Not to allow the appetite for food
or drink to regulate the quantity to be taken but
experience, void of sensual DESIRE These rules,
if followed, will tend to promote health and
thus lead to great length of days and years in
mans existence; still there is a natural period
for man to exist, and neither food, drink, nor So
briefly place him beyond that. We find that
each species of animal has its boundary Of life,
and SO has man. He has his infancy, youth.
middle age, old age, and then comes the winding
sheet and the narrow house. But how long does
his existence LAST how many years encrcle his
natural lifc9 These are important questions
We find that thirty years is considered to be a
generation; that is, the whole world is re-peopled
every thirty years with new race, and like
number departs from it in that period But no
person considers thirty years as the natural term
OF mans life-seventy years being generally set
down as that limit book however, recently
published in Paris, by M. Flourens which has
created no small sensation in that city, places old
age at eighty five years, and the complete natu-
raj life of man about century. He places first
manhood between forty-five and fifty-fve, and
second manhood from that to seventy, instead Of
old age at that period. We are inclined to ac-
cept his view of the question as the most correct
one. Button, the naturalist, entertained such an
opinion. The rule of life laid down by him is.
that animals live from six to seven times the
number of years required to complete their
growth, such as the horse, which completes lis
growth at four years, lives from twenty to twenty
four years. and man who takes eighteen years
to reach hs full growth may live more than a
hundred years. There are but few men who
live to a hundred years, and just as few horses
that live to twenty -four, but that affords no rea
son why many men, and almost all men of d
sound constitution may not live for century
The table of M. Flourens relating to life is as
follows.