Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1867-08-05
DO WE LIVE AS LONG AS WE
M1aHTP

M1aHTP
With the vast majority Of people the
desire to live is deep and tenacious, and
to preserve ones life has been held to
be the first law Of nature. Yet it is
curious to observe that while most per-
o q will bethrown into a panic at the
thought Of immediate danger, and will
cast about with utmost energy for relief
and safety, yet how few there are who
are willing to take much trouble to pro-
long their lives or secure the highest
efficiency in all their faculties and attri-
butes. Some years ago a French ssvan
advanced the idea that the natural dura-
ton Of mans life was one hundred years.
This theory has been much c%ontroverted
by others, while some have gone SO far
as to question whether any person in
modern times has lived 90 long as a
hundred years. 1t Is now said that
Professor Faraday, a man distinguished
for his scientific Attachments, has adopt
ed the theory Of Flourin. 1t is claimed
that every animal, in ordinary circum-
stances, will live Eve times as many
years as is required for its complete
development. The human body usually
reaches its perfection at twenty years,
after which it grows no more; FIVE times
twenty gives the good round number of
one hundred years.
Whether the theories Of these philos-
ophers be true Of not we do not say,
but the subject Of increasing the dura-
ton of human life is so important that
all must admit the wisdom Of giving it
most careful consideration. There a n
not be a reasonable doubt, we think,
but that attention to diet, air, exercise,
sleep, clothing and employment will re-
suit ordinarily in the prolongation of
our days. In the Edinburgh Encyclo-
psdia can be found q list of m hun
dred and twenty-five persons, with their
residences, ETC., whose ages ranged
from one hundred up to one hundred
and eighty years. In this country re-
peated instances have been recorded Of
persons who have attained great age.
There is q woman in Chester county,
Pennsylvania, who, at the ad-
vanced age Of n hundred and eight
years retains all her faculties, and
moves about in all her domestic duties
| with uncommon briskness. Some seem
10 think that the theory. spoken of is
contradictory Of the Scriptures, where
it is said, "The days Of our years are
three score, and ten; and if by reason
of strength they DO four score years, yet
is their strength labor and SORROW"
But a reference to this passage shows
that it 10 not q record Of any divine de-
cree in relation to human life, but
merely a reflection on the brevity, I'M
certainty and sorrows of life. The au-
thor suggests that seventy or eighty
years was about the average length Of
a mans life, in his day, but whether
long or short it was full Of "labor and
SORROW"
The author Of Ecclesiasticus says
"the number of mans days at the most
are a hundred years" We may gather,
then, that in the days Of the author of
the Ninetisth Psalm, many lived to the
ago Of seventy, and some attained 10
eighty, but when the author Of Ecclssi-
ssticus wrote many lived to be a hun
dred years old.
But a little while ago, and it was ssti-
mated that the entire generation passed
away in about thirty-three years; but
now it is thought that the average life
time of the race is ~thirty-6ve years.
Let US rejoice in the endeavors Of phil
snthropists and philosophers, who not
only labor to mitigate the lsbors, sor-
rows and miseries of life, but to prolong
it also. We need not affirm that we
have a reasonable expectation of living
q hundred years, yet, care of u physi-
cal organization, and a clear conscience
from sincere effort to do what is right,
will 60 a great way towards giving us
what the Bible calls " a good old age"