The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1873-07-24
HUMAN LIFE.


: What says Button? ''The man who's
. life is not cut short by accident or disease
J reaches everywhere the age of ninety o.
t one hundred years; and he goes on t.
) remark, which is very important L
) we consider that the European, the negro
! the Chinese, the American, the man
highly civilized, the savage, the rich, the
poor, the inhabitants of the city, and the
dweIler In the country, 80 different one
from another in the every other respect,
agree in this one point, and have. the
same duration, the same interval OF time
to run through 'twixt the cradle and the
grave that the difference of climate, of
food, of comforts, makes no difference in
the duration of life 1t will at once
be seen that the duration of life depends
neither upon habits, nor customs, nor the
quality of food, that nothing can change
the fixed laws which regulate the number
of our years.
The fixed law which Button recognized
was that in the animal economy, not in
man only, the duration of life is regulated
| by the duration of growth. ''Man, he
says, "grows in height until he is six
teen or eighteen, but his size is not fully
developed until he is thirty. Dogs at
tain their full length during their first
year, but it is only in the second they
reach their full bulk. Man, which is
fourteen years in growing, lives six or
seven times that period, that is to say,
till ninety or hundred; while the horse,
of which the growth is completed in four
wears, lives six or seven times that period,
that is to say, from twenty-five to thirty
years.
Recognizing the general accuracy of
the principle laid down by Button, his
distinguished countryman, M. Flourens, |
has sought to give greater precision to
the law by settling the important ques-
ton, what is the term or limit of growth. |
The great physiological problem had |
been solved by Buttons discovery that
the duration of life depended on the du-
ration of growth ; all that remained was
to ascertain of how many times the dura-
ii IN of growth the duration of life con-
sisted The one thing which escaped
Buffon-namely, the one certain sign OF
growth being completed-M. Flourens
claims to have found in the union of the
bones with their epiphyses. AS long as
the bones are not united to their epiphy-
sis the animal continues to grow but as
soon as such union takes place the ami
NAL ceases to grow. This union takes
place in man at twenty, in the camel at
eight, in the horse at five, the OK at four,
the lion at four, and the dog at two and
he then proceeds TO show how nearly &C
curate Button had been when he said
that every animal lives nearly six or
seven times the period of its growth
the truth being that it lives about five.
Thus, man, being twenty years growing,
lives five times twenty-that is, 100
years.
But l have yet one, and that still
higher authority to produce. just as
these sheets are put into the hands of the
printer, fortunately before they were
there appeared in Frasers
Magazine an article ''On Longevity,
from the pen of that most eminent physi-
ologist OF the present day, Professor
owen, paper so important, instructive,
and convincing, that entreat
all my readers interested in contenari.sI-
SIN to give it their most earnest consider
alton. From the essay, to which | shall i
have other occasion to refer, and in {
which Professor Owen has done me the
honor to recognize my small services in !
he cause Of scientific truth, l extract the !
passage, with which l may fifty
my remarks ON the average ex- !
RENE age to which man may attain. {
I" The conclusion of Prot. FIourens. j
hat in the absence of all causes of dis !
Ease, and under all conditions favorable {
o health and life, man might survive as ,,
ong after the provocative period-ending, E
ay, at seventy in the male-as he had +
ived to acquire maturity and completion :
# ossifcation-say thirty years-are not /
physiological. Only under the cir e
under which the battle of life a
fought, the possible term of 100 years, !
Inferred by Flourens as by Button, is the '
are exception. /