Brownlow's Knoxville Whig. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1866-1869, 1868-04-08
Che &nnxpilIe Hhig
KnoxyiIIe. Tenn, AprII 9, Ises.
Longevity.

UUHSCNAsf
IL men were as intent on the means Of /
preserving health and Of living to an ad- |
vanced age as they are of acquiring wealth /.
and social and political distinction and
mower. the records of longevity woald soon
be enlarged from few pages-their present
space-to many bulky volumes; and there
would be no longer any cause Of wonder at
the heightened space Of years granted to
The patriarchs. What is now exceptional
would be a much more common occurrence.
The average duration Of life is greater in
most civilized communities, at the present
time, than it was century ago, owing TO
improvements, imperfect as they are, in
public and private hygiene. What is the
natural, ordinary and normal duration OF
the life Of man 2" This is the question pro
posed by Flourens, in his philosophlc trea-
tise on human longevity. lie begins by
quoting the words Of Button, that THE man
who does not die Of accidental diseases, will
live in every place ninety to hundred
wears" Halter, the eminent physioioglst,
made a collection Of more than Thousand
,ases of nersons who lived to hundred
,-oare and unwards more pointed argu-
y,ont IN nroof of mans ability to be a cen
tonorian Is furnished by the example in
tho;, own persons Of Fontanelle, so long
~ eocretarv of the French Academy and
or C,oynaro, The noble Venetian. The sani-
,orv history of Cornaro is the more remark
able from the fact that his constitution, ma
tnraflv weak, was broken down by excuses
10 such degree, that when he was thirty
five years of age his physicians did not be-
lieve he could live two years longer. Taking
warning at once, he set about an entire re-
form. He weighed his food and measured
his drink, taking only twelve ounces Of the
former and fourteen ounces Of the latter
daily he kept regular hours, and avoided
al extremes Of temperature and exercise,
while at the same time he cultivated litera-
ture, and actively engaged himself in the
improvement Of his estate, and in devising
means for embellishing and Certifying his
nstIve city, Venice. Cornaro not merely
lived, but he enjoyed his long life in the
midst of a large family circle Of children
and grandchildren. In avolume on Human
Longevity, by James Easton, now on our
table, the author gives the name, age, place
Of residence and years Of decease, Of 1872
persons. who attained a century or upwards.
This list covers a period of 1893 years or
from A. D., 60 TO 1899, and gives one case
Of person who reached 185 pears An
industrious searcher might duplicate Mr..
Easton's record by the names Of centenari-
ans who have died in the present century.
We gave in the Ledger Of the Sth Of Octo-
Der last, the names Of ten persons, gathered
within few months who had passed their
hundredth year, and have an additional list
made within short period, Of eight per-
sons who had reached the same limits
If we pass from the historical TO the ply
biological study of longevity, we shall find
that there is no necessary wearing out of
the human body or of its several organs
during the successive stages Of life, from in
fancy TO old age TO interfere with its lasting
a hundred years and more. Proportions
have been observed between the periods of
growth and the duration Of life both in man
and animals, which would go TO show that
the ordinary life Of the first should be laid
down at a hundred years, and the ertraor-
4inarg or unusual life, from hundred and
twenty TO two hundred years. The growth
Of the body, and particularly of the bones,
il not completed before the age of twenty
wears The quintiple Of this age is that
which man might easily attain with proper,
care. This proportion is found to hold
GOOD in animals-the horse camel, OK, dog,
&c. The ordinary or medium life Of an
animal may be greatly extended, even to
double the period, as in the horse, the his
tory Of which, as given by Button, shows il
to have lived fifty years. Halter says that
he knew Of several instances Of dogs living
20. % and "a years. Homer musthave had
the same belief when he makes the dog OF
Ulysses recognize his old master after an
absence of twenty years Fontanelle re
latcs the history Of parrot that lived a
hundred and twenty years, and we have
the authority Of Willoughby for telling, as
an undoubted fact, that swan lived a
hundred years We are afraid that this
story must 90 with that repeated by Button,
of a crow which, Gas proved by observa-
ton, reached the ageof 1850 years. What
we're the circumstances under which per-
sons have attained the greatest age? What
are the conditions on which long life is OBJ
tainable? These are questions that natural
" follow the inquiry of Flourens, above
quoted Philadelphia Ledger.