The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1876-05-11
Jewish vitality.

vote will be-"
Jewish vitality.
The Jews are the healthiest and long
est.liyed people on the face of the earth
Their immunity hOm diseases Of al
forms il remarkable. Even the great
cpidcmics pass them by with the intIictior
Of Il much lighter scourgc than faIlsupor
ether races. 1t is declared that the
cholera never chose one Of them for IL
victim, and, in fact, the deaths from thi'
malady have been 50 few rs almost tt
bear out the assertion. Suicide is seldom
practiccd among them. 1t has been com
putcd, from statistics returncdin certain
provinces Of Austria and Germany, that.
in Il population Of 100000, the proper,
ton of suicides between the Jews and
the mixed white races VAS us oneto four,
From data carefully studied, Mayer
asccrtaincd that, in Furth, the proper
ton of Jewish children who die between
the ages of one and five years Is ten pen
cent, and Of Christian children of the
same age it is fourteen per cent. NJ. Neu'
Vile, calculating from the statistics OF
Frankfort, shows even a greater vitality
existing among the children Of the Jews.
He also finds from his data that the aver
age duration Of the life Of the Jews il
forty.cight 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 aye OF
ffty-threc years and one month, whilst
half the Christians born attain the age OF
thirty.six years only. On%c-fourth OF the
Jewish population live beyond seventy
one years, but the same proportion of the
Christian population live only beyond
fity-nine years and ten months, The
official returns Of Prussia give the Jews
a mortality Of l.6l per cent, and the
whole kingdom 2.G2 per cent. While the
Jews double their numbers in torty-onc
and one-half years, others require a
period Of %fifty.one years. In 1919 there
was in Prussia one death for every forty
Jews, and one death for every thirty-two
Of the remaining population.
Commenting upon these statistics,
which are brought together by DR.. Rich
ardsoniu " Diseases Of Modern Life" that
author ascribcs the high vitality Of the
Jews to their sober way of living. "The
Jew drinks less than his steven Christian
hetakcs, as a rule, better food he marries
earlier; he rcars the children he has
brought into the world with greater
personal care he tends the aged more
thoughtfuIly he takes better care Of
his poor and he takes good are of him
self. He does not boast Of tomorrow,
but he provides for it and he holds to-
naciously to ali he gets. TO Ii Saxon
eyes and Celtic eyes he carries these vir-
tues too far; but thereby he wins, be-
comes powerful, and scorning bOistcrOus
mirth and passion, is comparatively
happy"
1t is a fact in the history of the
race that they nowhere have paid
especial attention to the development of
physical capacity. They do not from
choice enter n military life, they cstab-
lish no public games, are not given to
athletic exercises, and pursue no definite
means for attaining great corporeaI
strength and stature. As Il people they
do not reach Il high physical standard,
and still their vitality is greater than.
that of any other civilized race. In APP
these facts to the question Of the
effects Of severe physical exercise, DR..
Richardson remarks: " 1t would be i'm
possible, and, in truth, unnecessary, to
any stronger argument as to the
negative value Of excessive physical ex-
triton in sustaining the vital power Of a
race. In the course of centuries the
most powerful nations have died out,
empires Of perfect physical beauty
md chivalric fame have passed away.
But, through all these vicissitudes, one
ace, cultivating non of the so-called
lthlctic and heroicquaIitics and following
zone Of the exercises p~opuIar:zed as
hardy 'invigOrating,' has held its ire
own, to remain n mere numer-
rus 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
forccd on it, the continuance also of
mental force and of commanding genius
in art, in letters, in politics, in com.
and in science.-Ch cage Tri tune.