Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1873-07-10
How Occupation Affects Longevity.

IT is not generally known, perhaps, as
| yet, that with the spread of civilization
and culture, the average life Of man is
| lengthening, but such is the case, as is
conclusively proved by records which
have been kept for centuries in succession
in numerous places. Even now the re-
markably old persons are supposed to be-
long to the less cultivated classes, as, for
instance, George Washington's nurses and
the like But much of this rumored an
tiquity is probably due to an ignorance of
the date Of birth. as complete as their TO-
norance of most other subjects. Carefully
compiled statistics show that while, Of
course, the patriarchal longevity of Bibli-
cal days is out Of reach, still the average
man of to-day, without emulating Methu-
saleh, mOdestly, after our modern fashion,
lives longer than the average man OF any
of the past centuries of our civilization
in which vital statistics have been kept
Dividing occupations into the six very
general heads Of agriculture, manufacture
ing, professional, commercial, scattering
and military, a recent work on longevity
gives an approximate idea of the length
Of the average life in each Of these call
ings. The farmer, it seems, lives the
longest of them all. In the first place,
Will lGSS care litdllil IL lilOiN easily plN
served in the country than in the city,
owing to the greater purity Of the air and
freedom of individual action, and again,
the work of the farmer is such as TO de
velop healthy physical condition. Tn
der these circumstances it is said the
| farmers have the longest life of any class
| of men. \ recent Massachusetts report
| shows that the average life of 1000
| farmers was 50 years, being II years
| longer than that of professional men,
! and % years longer than that of the
! same number of merchants. Yet it must
| be remembered that, in spite of the appar-
| ent advantages of the farmers life, Oul
records from year TO year show that fan
more OF pauper insanity is found with
them than any other class. This may be
due to their more general poverty and ina
| bility to provide for the needless, or it may
| not
| The manufacturing classes, shut up il
| close shops with dust and other impurities
in the air, and beginning work in THESE
| places very young as apprentices, live but
| a comparatively short time. Outdoor
labor when it does not involve too much
/ exposure to bad weather, is always more
conducive TO health tkan work in shops
although in many cases this is the fault OF
/
could often increase the health and so tn,
usefulness of their employees, by consult
ing some of the simplest laws of ventlla
ton. Working in constrained positions
as dressmallers, tailors shoemakers anc
others do, cuts down the average length o
life among them sadly. Blacksmiths arr
very healthy, so are letter-carriers, whose
exercise is the best, as the most natural
that can be taken. Butchers do not iiv,
long, being poisoned by the eXhalation:
ing 10 an English table, have the shorteS
expectation of life Of any out of twenty
five different sorts Of labOrers. Person:
who work in a temperature much above
that OF the body are apt TO suffer debility
in consequence; as, for instance, bakers
/ cooks, smelters Of ores, operators in many
parts Of wooden mills. and many others
Miners, of course, and such workmen hav'
less than average lives.
Judges, clergymen, lawyers, professor:
and physicians, taken as class OF pro
Iessioual men, live the next longest aver
age to farmers. The average Of all pro
tesslonal lives is set at about fifty years
Judges average nearly siXty-six and one
nail years; farmers about siXty-tive years
Among American clergymen the Presby
terlans are said to live the longest AmoDs
four hundred and six ministers of all de
nominations whose deaths were recorded
in 1870 and 1871, in this country, one hun
bred and flfty-three, or more than one
third, were beyond seventy years of age
Lawyers and physicians are about st
par. Neither class, save the judges, wht
have somewhat different work from tn.