Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1873-11-20
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LIFE AND WORK.
HOW occupA r1oN AFFECTS LONGEVITY.

1t is not generally known, perhaps, us yet,
that, with the spread of civilization and cul-
ture, the average life Of man is lengthening,
but such is the case, rs is conclusively proved
by records which have been kept for centu-
ries in succession in numerous places. Care
fully compiled statistics show that while, Of
course, the patriarchal longevity of Biblical
days is out of reach, still the average man of
! tn-day,- without o.nuleting MathusalAh, hut
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 occupation into the six very gen.
eral heads of agriculture, manufacturing, pro-
fessional commercial, sea-farng and military,
a recent work on longevity gives an approx
mate idea of the length of the average life in
each of these callings. The farmer, it seems,
lives the longest Of them all. III the first
place, with less care life is more easil ly pre-
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 develop healthy
physical condition. Under these circumstan-
ces it is said that farmers have the longest life
of any class of men. A recent Massachu-
setts report shows that the average life of 1000
farmers was IS years, being Is years longer
than that of professional men, and % years
longer than that Of the same number Of mer-
chants. Yet it must be remembered that, in
spite of the apparent advantages of the farm
ers life, our records from year to year show
that far more of pauper insanity is found
with them than with any other class. This
may be due to their more general poverty and
inability to provide for the helpless, or it may
not.
The manufacturing classes, shut up in close
shops with dust and other impurities in the
air, and beginning work in these places very
young as apprentices, live comparatively but
short time. Outdoor labor, when it does
not involve too much exposure to bad weather,
is always more conducive to health than work
in shops, although in many cases this is the
fault of the employers who, at slight expense
could often increase the health, and so the
usefulness of the employees, by consulting some
of the simplest laws Of ventilation. Work.
ing in constrained positions, as dress-makers
taiors, shoenakers and others do, cuts down
the average length of life sadly. Blacksmiths
are very healthy, and so are letter-carrers,
whose exercise is the best, as the most natural,
that can be taken. Butchers do not live long,
being poisoned by the exhalations Of the
slaughter houses. Printers, according to an
English table, have the shortest expectations
of life of any out of twenty-five different sorts
of laborers. Persons who work in temper
ature 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 woolen mills, and many Others
| Miners, of course, and such workmen have
less than average lives.
Judges, clergymen, lawyers, professors and
physicians, taken as sub-class professional
men, live the next longest average to farmers
The average of all professional lives is set at
about so years; farmers about 65 years.
Among American clergymen the Presbyterians
are said to live the longest. Among 406 min
listers of all denominations, whose deaths were
recorded in 1870 and 1871, in this country,
153, or more than one.third, were beyond 10
years of age Lawyers and physicians are
about on a par. Neither class, save the
Judges, who have somewhat different work
from the lawyers, is apt to live to any great
age, but each averages we'll. Physicians are
very apt to marry, and marriage tends direct
ly to longevity.
Scientific men, as they are called, are prone
to long life, astronomers in particular. Out
of IS of these students, less than one quarter
died under so years ofage There is notion
that more distinguished men live somewhat
shorter lives than the less distinguished of the
same profession. To certain extent figures
corroborate this idea, but it is greatly because
few of the most distinguished die quite early,
and so reduce the average somewhat. Many
of the most prominent men in all professions
have lived to be very old. Literary men
shorten their lives by lack of exercise and a
general failure to attend to the laws ofhealth.
Artists are very apt to live long time. A
dictionary of 1900 artists contains the name
of more than 800 who lived beyond So years.
Titan was SO years old, and died of the plague
then. Bellini was 80 years old, and Murillo
70 years old at death. Musicians develop Of