Los Angeles daily herald., 1875-02-21
When Is a Man Old.

= Wien may time be said to have
made. or be making old bones? On this
point DR.. Gardner is O. most exhilerat-
Ing informant. r He allows, indeed,
that the period Ganpot''be strictly de-
fined by years. Some human beings,
| like some race-horses which are s'run
off their legs'' at two years of age, are
too easily exposed to the effects of
wear and tear, and necessarily, instead
of being strengthened by what might
otherwise have been o severe, perhaps,
but all invigorating and hardening
discipline, break down and fall into
premature decay. Then the phrase
"fast living" is full of meaning. 1t
impliesa crowding of pleasures or suf-
fering into a shorter compass than
natural; and, if we burn a candle at
both ends, We cannot take the time
in which it is consumed as fair cri-
terion of the lasting powers of candles
In general. Let us, however, put our
human candle in a proper candlestick,
and burn it moderately and snuff it
and trim it carefully, and it will last
SO long that, as DIR. Gardner saws:
Conservation has convinced me that
sixty-three is an age ct which the ma
Jority of persons may be termed old:
and, as rule, We may adopt it as
the epoc of the commencing decline of
life. This is calculated to cheer the
spirits of those who have been told
that "a man is old at forty-five;" hut
it will, on the other baud, prove a
damper to those who shave consider
ed seventy the normal standard
Let not the latter, however, be unduly
discouraged, for the Doctor, ADOPTING
with certain notifications, the views
OF M. Flourens, would bring The natur-
al life of q man to be from ninety to
one hundred and five years,and would,
therefore draw the satisfactory, or
from another point. of view, unsatis-
factory, inference isthat all persons
who die under eighty years of age,
many who die under ninety some who
die under one hundred, or even one
hundred and five, die prematurely,
and that more persons live to the age
OF one hundred than were dreampt of
In the philosophy of the late Sir
George Cornwall Lewis is conclusive
ly proved, contrary, one would say, to
the very candid authors own bias and
expectations In that most laborious,
sagacious, Instructive and entertain
ing work called "Human Longevity,
its Facts and Fictiensn by w. ].
Thomas, the learned and honored late
editor Of Notes and Queries. 1t may
be advisable to remark in passing, for
the benefit Of those who are not IA
miliar with the views alluded to
above, of M. Flourens, that he, "tak-
ing his observation from the group
mammalia Of the class Vertebrate,
as having the closest resemblance to
man found that ther natur-
al life extends exactly to five times
the period of their growth; and zap
plying the rule thus obtained to hu-
man life, and taking the age when the
body is full matured to be twenty
years, he concludes the natural dura-
ton of the life of man to be enc hum
dred years, IL does not appear unfor-
tunately that M. Flourens made an
allowance for the fuss, worry, nagging
and aggravation from which all mann
mails except man appear to be tolera-
bly, exempt, which every human be-
ing has to endure more or less, and
which is as fatal to the sensitive ma
ture as disease or privation tend to
materially shorten existence. Cham
bers' Journal. Fl