Arizona citizen. [volume] (Tucson, Pima County, A.T. [i.e. Ariz.]) 1870-1880, 1876-05-13
Hebrew Vitality.

est lived people on the face of the earth
| Their immunity from diseases of all
forms is remarkable. Even the great
epldemics pass them by with the in.
Fiction of much lighter scOurge than
tails upon other races. Ii is declared
that the cholera never chose one of them
for its victim, and, in fact, the deaths
from this malady have been so few as
almost to bear out the assertion. Sui
eide IS seldom practIced among them.
1t has been computed, from statistics re-
turned in certain provinces of Austria
and Germany, that in a population of
100000 the proportion of suicides be-
tween the Jews and the mixed white
races was as one to four.
From data carefully studied Hoffman
found that between the years 1923 and
1910 +is~ 4ItsaIUCI Ur sJfi.-,s,s. ------..s.---
the Jews of Germany was as one in
thirty-nine, and among other races as
one in forty. Mayer ascertained that
in Furth the proportion of Jewish
children who die between the ages of
one and five years is ten per cent, and
of Christian children of the same age il
L
lating from the statistics of Frankfurt,
shows even greater vitality existing
among the children of the Jews. He
also finds from his data that the average
duration of the life of the Jew is forty
eight years and nine months, while Of
the Christian it is thirty-sIX Years and
eleven months "In the total of all
ages half of the Jews born reach the
age of tifty-thTee years and one month,
while half of the Christians born attain
the age of thrity-six only" One fourth
of the Jewish population live beyond
seventy one years, but the same proper
ton Of the Christian population live
only beyond fifty-six years and ten
months. The official returns OF Prus-
STA give the Jews a mortality of 1.6l per
cent and the whole kingdom 1852 per
cent While the Jews double their
numbers in Az years others require a
period of tifty-one years.
In 1S49 there was in Prussia one
death for forty Jews and one death for
every thIrty-two Of the remaining popu-
latiOn
Commenting upon these statistics,
which are brought together by Dr.
Richardson in Diseases of Modern
Life" that author ascribes the high
vitality of the Jews to their sober way
of living The jew drinks less than
his even Christian he takes, as a rule,
better food: he marries earlier; he
.rears the children he has brought into
the world with greater personal care;
he tends the aged more thOughtfully;
he takes better care of his poor, and he
takes good care of himself He does
not boast of to morrow, but he provides
for it, and he holds tenaciOuSly to MI
he gets. To our Saxon eyes and Celtic
eyes he carries these virtues too far;
Sut thereby he wins, becomes powerful,
and, scorning boisterous mirth and
passion, Is comparatively happy"
Ii is a fact IN the history Of the Jew
ish race that they nowhere have paid
especial attention to the development
of physical capacity. They do not from
choice enter military life. they estab-
lish no public games, are not given to
athletic exercises and pursue no definite
means for attaining great corporal
strength and stature. As people they
do not reach a high physical standard,
and still their vitality is greater than
that of any other civilized race. In
applying these facts to the question of
the effects of severe physical exercise,
DR.. Richardson remarks -
at would be impossible, and in truth
unnecessary, to enforce any stronger
argument as to the negative value of
excessive physical exertion in sustain
ing the vital power Of race. In the
course of centuries the most powerful
nations have died out and empires of
perfect physical beauty and chiyalrie
fame have passed away. But, through
all these vicisSitudes, one race, cult
waiting none of the sO-called athletic and
heroic qualities, and following none of
the exercises pOpdlarized as 'bracing,
hardy 1nvigorating,' has held its
irrepresSiblc own, to remain a more
numerous people, in its tOtality, than
ever; a people still presenting a more
tenacious life than its neighbOrs, and
showing, as it is relieved of the cruel
restraint long forced on it, the con-
tinuance also of mental force and of
commanding genius in art, in letters,
in politics, in commerce and in sci
ence"
1t may be Faithfully added in this
connection, too, that the Israellnes in
flict no tax upon the people Tor the care
of paupers. They care for their own
New York Telegram.