Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-02-10
LONGEVITY.


"Comparitive Longevity in Man and the
Lower Animals" is the title of an interest
ing English work, by E. r. Lancaster.
From it we gather the following instructive
information, which is valuable to those in
terested in this subject:
Longevity seems to be proportiGnate to
bulk or complexity ofan organism in con-
nection with its time of development. An
tagonistic to longevity, is personal expendi-
ture, meaning wear and tear in maintaining
life; and generative expenditure, meaning
the greater or lesser degree of prolificness
in reproduction of it. This, in few words,
seems to be the natural law.
"The whale, which is of great bulk, looks
after its young; but it has few of them, and
lives 800 years. Reptiles living in hot
countries and feeding on large masses of
food at intervals, have small expenditure
and live long time. Some of the sacred
crocodiles of India have been known since
its conquest by the English; tortoise from
the Galapagos in the London Geological
Gardens was, from its rate of growth, in
ferred to be 175 years old.
''The elephant lives from 120 to 500
years. Horses are known to live 40 years,
the camel 40, the OK 20, the bull 16, the lion
from 20 to 30 the dog, an exceptional case,
81 years, and cats as high as Is years; all
showing the relationship of bulk or COM
plexity, in connection with time, develop
ment, and expenditure. Among men we
find the Fuegian or savage living from IS
to 80, and the civilized man from 70 to so.
Comparing together the bulk and complex
ty of various species, man is found
to be longer-lived than the
chimpanzee; the OK than the sheep
and the goat; while the lion less bulky than
the OK, lives longer on account of his super
ior development.
distinguished people in any given class
are shorter lived than the undistinguished.
There is with the former greater waste of
energy. A prominent clergyman (Which
profession takes the lead in longevity lives
three years less than his less famous COM
peer; a clever lawyer nearly two years less
than those who are not sos between medi-
cal men, distinguished and not distinguish
ed, there is little difference; among liter
airy and scientific rivals, the ablest goes two
and one-third years soonest; among artists
the best live the shortest time by a
year and quarter. Women seem
to have the advantage of men in longevity.
A woman at fifty, for instance, may expect
W NV " OA4S u S4AGJ ailA
ers years; Will man at that age cannot
hope for more than siXty-nine years six
months. The difference of longevity be-
tween celibates and the married is not es-
tablished in favor of the latter"
To sum up, we may say with Mr.. Lark
ester that the natural age of an animal,
whether of the higher or lower order, is in
some sort prOportioned to its bulk in con-
nection with its time of development, but
that, whatever tends to produce waste,
whether it be natural production or wear
and tear Of any kind; or unnatural excess,
so far tends to shorten life. Moreover, man
has been described as the ''sum of his an-
cestors,' he comes on the stage of the world
conditioned physically, as well as mentally
and morally, by inherited qualities; and one
among his inheritances may be longevity,
or, on the contrary, be shortness of days.
In the one case it becomes him to guard
well the precious gift from unnecessary
wear and tear, and so transmit it to his
children; in the other, to diligently nOurish
his ''one talent" that by care and prudence
and wise precaution he may increase it, and
so transmit it to posterity.