Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1855-09-30
Long Life, and how to attain to il.

himself. either with excessive labor or with menta
activity and nervous irritation Ease is favorable
| to longevity. Temperance, cheerfulness, moderat
labor moderate exercise and moderate amusement
and plenty OF rest, both mental and bodily are al
favorable to long life. With these, and supposine
that man avoids accidents and malaria, his natu
! raj term o life is more than century.
Bot few men die Of old age. Almost all die o.
disappointment, passonal mental, bodily toll OF
accident. The passions kill men sometimes, even
suddenly. The com mon expression, 'choked with
passion" has little exaggeratiOn in it; for even
though not suddenly fatal, strong passion shortens
life. Strong bodied men often die young-weak
men live longer than the strong, for the strong Use
their strength, and the weak have none to use.--
The latter take care of themselves, the former do
not. AS it is with body, so it is with mind and
temper. The strong are apt TO break down. or,
like the candle, to run; the weak burn out. The
inferior animals, which live in general, regular and
temperate lives, have generally tEeir prescribed
term of years. The horse lives twenty-five years;
the OK fifteen to twenty; the lion about twenty;
the dog ten TO twelve; the rabit eight; the guinea
similar proportion to the time the animal takes to
grow to its full size.
When the cartilaginous parts of the bone be.
come ossifed, the bone ceases-to grow. This takes
place in a man at about twenty years on the aver
age; in the camel at eight in the horse at five in
the OK at four in the lion at four in the dog at two
in the cat at eighteen months in the rabt at twelve
in the guineapig at seven. Five or six times these
numbers give the term of life; FIVE is pretty near
the average; some animals greatly exceed it. But
man, of all the animals, is the one that seldom
comes up to his average. He ought to live hun
dred years. according to this physiological law for
FIVE times twenty is hundred; but instead Of that
he scarcely reaches on the average four times his
growing period, whilst the dog reaches six times:
the cat six times; and the rabit even eight times
the standard Of measurement The reason is obVi-
ous-man is not only the most irregular and the
most intemperate, but the most laborious and hard
worked of all animals. He is also the most irrita-
bic of all animals; and there is reason to believe
though we cannot tell what an animal secretly
feels, that more than any other animal man cher
ishes wrath TO keep it warm, and consumes himself
with the fire of his own secret reflections.
Marvellous stories are told of the longevity Of
rocks, swans, and fishes in general but as yet lit
tie is known of their periods of growth; fishes,
however, have soft bones and some of them are
even cartiIagnious. This is favorable to growth,
and consequently to longevity, for it is when the
cartilage becomes hard in mans bones that he cea-
ses to grow, and old age is characterized by dry
ness and brittleness of bone This fact suggested
to an enthusiast, some years ago, that the best
mode of increasing the life of man vas to feed him
on substances that would give softness TO his bones
and having examined the chemical analysis of
bone, he came to the conclusion that bread was
about one of the very worst articles of diet that
human beings could make use of. He denounced
the life with vehemence; anything but bread;
eat potatoes turnips, raw cabbage, or boiled cab
bsge, if you prefer them, but doot eat bread Even
gin and water he preferred to q slice of quartern
loaf; and, in the sole conversation we ever had with
him, he informed us that he had a female patient
whom he was feeding on nothing else except ap-
Piles and gin. His idea was. that, by a certain
course of diet, he would make the human bones like
would be in no danger of breaking. 1t was phi
losophy in fever, but it had fact, all feVers
have, to begin with.
Button and Haller both msBtan thst the Ion
gevity of man before the deluge is to be scentiG-
cally accounted for. Button says that the earth
was then less solid and compact, and all its produC
tions had less consistency consequently, bones
less bony, and more cartiagiHous man could there
fore grow longer time; puberty was later. Hence
we find that the antediluvians began to have Sons
and daughters after they were far advanced in lie.
His numbers, however, will not work in this argu-
ment for he wants TO make out that one hundred
and thirty years the period of puberty in thos
days-in the face Of the fact that Enoch lived six-
ty-five years. and begat Methuselah Seven times
the age of puberty he considers the natural term of
life, and seven times one hundred and thirty will
serve his purpose very well for an antediluVian;
but what can he do with seven times sxty-fye, but
shrug his shoulders and give it up? But it is no
easy matter to give up theory; so he overlooked
the unfavorable fact, and accepted the favorable
one Nevertheless, there may be a portion of truth
in his notion.
Age is evidently drying up of the texture of
the body-a hardening of its parts This growing
result of time is preceptible throughout the frame
The bones of youth are soft, and the flesh of youth
is juicy Even the very plumpness and hardness
of young flesh is but the Imprisonment of juice
This juiciness is youth-its converse is age and it
is seen everywhere-frOm the skin to the bone
The very amount of age is determined by it. Fat
hides it little but fat is not juice and therefore
it wants energy, it wants elasticity it is easily tr
ed and has very little restorative power. 1t is
therefore even older than leanness. 1t is sort of
concealed age. Fat people are older than they
seem to be, and the exercise they take to keep
down their fat is wasting to their strength. They
will live longer by following the example of the
good old English gentlemen, who live at home at
ease.
Fatigue shortens life; but it is not muscular ia,
tigue alone, but digestive fatigue also. Philip
COrnaro, who made living study, and died up
wards of a hundred years old, says that gluttony
kills more than plague, war, or famine. To glut
tony, add drunkenness and you have two of deaths
most successful emissaries. Perhaps there are We
ry few persons whose term of life is not shortened
by one or other or both Of these. Few are wise
enough to learn by experience and those who dc
learn, often learn too late. Even temperate man
after long journey, sits down to his supper and
r. IL