Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1873-07-30
How Occupation Affects longevity.

case, as 10 conclusiyoly proved BY re-
cords which have been kept for cen.
turies in succession in numerous places.
Even now the remarkably old persons
are supposed 10 belong 70 the less cul-
tivatcd classes, as, for instance, Geo.
Washington's nurses and the like
But much Of this rumorcd antiquity is
probably due 10 an ignorarcc of the
date OF birth, as complete rs their ig.
norancc of most other subjects. Care.
fully complied statistics show that
while, Of course, tho patriarchal Ion.
geyity Of Biblical days is out Of reach,
still tho average man of today, witLi
out cmulating Methusaleh, modestly,
after our modern fashion, lives longer
than the average man of any of tho
past centuries of our civilization in
which vital satisfies have been kept.
Dividing occupations into tho six
very general heads of agriculture,
manufacturing, professional, CONNER
cial, sea-faring and military, a recent
work on longevity gives an approx.
mate idea Of the length of tho average
life in each of these callings. Tha
farmer, it seems, lives the longest OF
them all. In The first place, with less
care health Is easily preserved
in tho country tsan in the city, owing
10 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 con-
dition. Under these circumstances it
is said tho farmers have the longest life
of any class of man. a recent Mas
sachusetts report shows that the av-
eragc life of 1000 farmers was 65
years, being Is years longer than that
OF professional men, and rs years
longer than that Of the same number
Of merchants. Yet it must be re-
membered that, in spite of the appar-
ent advantages Of the farmers life, our
records from year to year show that
far more pauper insanity is found with
them than any other class. This NAV
be due TO their more general poverty
and inability to provide for the heed
loss, or it may not.
The manufacturing classes, shut up
in close shops with dust and other i'm
puritiesin the air, and beginning work
in these places very young as appren-
tices, live but u comparatively short
time. Outdoor labor, when it does
not Involve too much exposure TO bad
weather, is always moro 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 their employees, by
consulting some of the simplest laws
OF ventilation. Working in con-
strained positions, ,as dressmakers, tai
lors, shoemakers and others do, cuts
down tho average length of life among
them sadly. Blacksmilhs are very
healthy, so are letter carriers, whose
exercise is the best, as the most nat
ural, that can bo taken. Butchers
do no not live long, being poisoned
by the exhalations of the slaughter.
house. Printers, according to an En-
glish table, have the shortest expec-
tation of life of any out OF twenty-five.
different sorts of laborers. Persons
who work in q temperature much
above that Of the body are apt to
sllfler debility in consequence as, for
instance, bakers, cooks, smeltcrs Of
ores, operators in many parts of wool.
en- mills, and many others. Miners,
Of course, and such workmen have less
than average lives. s.
Judges, clergymcn, lawyers, pro-
fessors and physicians, taken as class
of professional men, live tho next
longest average 10 farmers. The av.
erage OF all professional lives is set at
about fifty years judges average near
ly sixty-six and one half years far
mers about sixty.fve years. Among.
American clcrgymen tho Prcsbyteri-
ans are said to live the longest
Among four hundred and six ministers
of all denominations whose deaths
wore recorded in 1870 and 1871, in.
this country, one hundred and fifty
three, or more than QUE third, wero
beyond seventy years Of age. Law
ycrs and physicians are abouta par.
Neithcr class, save the judges, who
have somewhat different work from
tho lawyers, is apt TO live 10 any great
age, but each averages well. Physi-
clans are very apt to marry, and mar
riage tends directly to longevity.
Scientific men, as thcy are called,
are prone to long life, astronomers in
particular. Out Of eighty.five OF these
students, less than one-quarter diodt
under sixty years Of age. There is a
notion that "more distinguished" mon
live somewhat shorter lives than tho
less distinguished of the same profess
sion. TO q certain extent figures cor
roborate this idea, but IL is greatly
because a few Of the most distinguish
ed die quito early, and SO reduce the
average somewhat. Many of tho,
most prominent men OF all professions
have lived TO be very old. Literary
men shorten their lives by lack Of OK
crcisc, and general failure to attend
TO the laws OF health. Artists are
very apt TO 1.-Two long time. A die
lionary OF twelve hundred artists con-
taips the names of moro than eight
who lived beyond fiity-nine'
years. Titan was ninety-nine years
old, and Murillo soyenty-two years
old at death. Musicians develop of
tentimes with astonishing prccocity,
and dic corrcspondingly early, as a
general thing. Blowing upon wind
Instruments proves by figures to be as
harmful in practice as its appearance
Is agonizing; and the air of public
balls is generally so bad that all per-.
sons who appear there babitually suc-
fer from il. t44' VIZ
Soldiers and sailors have hard lives;
len soldiers die Of disease where one,
lies in battle, and tho annual death
ate in our army is about ouqin thirty
eight soldiers, and one in forty-two
otlicers. Soldiers in battlc are in
lanrer of beinp hit inst in nronorfion