Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1859-08-03
~ IRON the Boston Transcript, July 1871
THE DURATION OF HUMAN rTEr

l ne members OF the Royal Statistical Soc;
VI oIeaV britain have paid great attention
Ihe su?JecC OF the duration of human Iifo
anu nave Just concluded thorough invast;iro'
tloh' winch has occupied the last fonrteer
fakens ali an 1e ffmqtlta 9 PIT ENGLISH nhvsi4io
ty since 1915, and reports to the Fellows that
he has drawn the following differences =
/. That the value of human life was lower in
the seventeenth century than in the sixteenth;
but that it experienced a marked recovery in
the eighteenth and that this remarkable fea-
ture was incidental to each class of the COM
munity, with the exception of soyereigns,
medical men, artists (who show a progressive
Improvement and lawyers (who show pro-
gressive deterioration 2. That the duration
of life Of married men is greater than that of
unmarried men-the difference being 81 years
in favor Of the former. 3. That as regards
the comparative duration of life of the two
sexes females have the advantage over males,
and better expectation Of life at every age
from "a to rs.
One of the most interesting and valuable of
the papers presented before the society was
read by DR.. Guy, Con the duration OF Life as
Affected by the Pursuits of Literature, Science
and Art" Most writers on the subject have
always treated of distinct and well-detined
classes of society, such as laborers, the three
learned professions sovereigns, ETC.; but DR..
Guy considered the less defined classes Of soci-
ETY. known as artists, literary and scientific
men. He treated this theme under four divis-
ions, viz: l. The duration Of life Of literary
men; g. the duration of life of scientific men
g. The duration of life of the professors OF the
fine arts and, 4. A comparison of these three
classes.
In regard to the first of these divisions, the
duration of life among literary men. the author
had been able to collect, from Chal'ne1'S Bio
graphical Dictionary and the Annual Register,
942 ages at death of men more or less devoted
to literary pursuits DIR. Guy observed at the
outset that this class was not so sharply defin-
ed as other classes of society. British writers,
both in prose and verse, were of every rank
and profession. With some it was only an
occasional and exceptional pursuit; but with
others it was as much profession as divinity,
law, or physic His paper referred to all those
who made literature one of their pursuits, and
the duration Of whose life was consequently
affected in various degrees by the habits of
composition. These were subdivided into an
tiquaries historians, poets miscellaneous wri-
tiers, and writers professionally engaged as
schoomasters OF these ages at death the
lowest were those of two poets, who died at
the age of 81, the highest that of L. O'Sulli-
van celebrated Irish bard and author who
died at the recorded age of lis.
According to the tables exhibited by DIR.
Guy, poets appear, on an average, to live the
shortest lives, and next to them comes school
masters. This may be explained, as regards
poets, by the circumstance of their commence
ing their distinctive pursuit earlier than any
other class OF literary men; and as regards
schoolmasters, by the immense amount OF con-
fnement in unhealthy rooms which they are
compelled to undergo. That poets have been
short-lived race, appeared evident from some
statistics of the ages at death of Roman poets,
produced by DR.. Guy. Thus Tibulus died
at the age of "a, Persus at 30, Lucillus and
Catulms at 46, Virgil at 81, Horace at 81, Ovid
at so, aud Martial at 75-the eight names CIV
ing the low average of ass years Against
these may be placed Kirke White, who died
at Il, Collins at SO, Parnel and Robert Burns
at 49, Goldsmith at as, Thompson at 46, Cow
ley at 49, Shakespeare at 81, and Pope at DO
yielding an average Of 43 years. The average
duration of life Of British poets who attained
the age Of Il was $50 years while the cor
responding duration of life for the antiquaries
the highest in the list-was 81 sc years.
Historians ranked next to antiquaries as
longlved class The average duration of life
for eight Roman writers who treated of histo-
ny and kindred subjects, was 6963, or more
than twenty years in excess of that Of the Ro.
man poets The result of the Investigations
concerning British historians agree with those
in a majority of similar tables, in showing that
there was a less favorable duration OF life in
persons born in the seventeenth century than
in those born in the sixteenth, with recovery
and improvement in persons born during thG
eighteenth AS regards the duration OF life
among the married and single members of the
literary profession, the advantage is in favor
of the married men.
Turning to scientific men, whom Dr. Guy
subdivided into ~ mathematcians and as
tronomers, ~ chemists and natural phloso
pliers, (3) naturalists, he found no great differ
ence in the average duration of life but II wa