The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1877-09-20
l. LONGEVITY OF GREAT MEN
BY DIR. GEORGE NJ. BEARD.

That any intelligent writer of the pres
ent day, and especially writer who,
like Mr.. Hughes, is a thoughtful stu
dent of mental hygiene, should make a
statement SO absolutely untrue shows
how hard it is to kill an old superstition.
The remark is based OF the rnischiey-
GUS theory, which-against the clearest
evidence of general observation-has
been held for centuries, that the mind
can be used only at the injurious ex-
pense OF the body. This theory has
been something more than mere pop
ular prejudice; it has been profession
al dogma, and has inspired nearly all
the writer's on hygiene since medicine
has been a science. On the basis of
this theory, intellectual and promising
youth have been dissuaded from enter
ing brain working professions and,
thus, much of the choicest genius has
been lost to the world students in col
leges have abandoned plans of life to
which their tastes inclined and gone to
the farm or workshop; authors, scien-
lists, and investigators in the several
professions have thrown away the accu-
mulated experience of the best half of
life, and retired to pursuits as uncon-
genial as they were proftless. The SUI
perstition, for it hardly deserves to be
called theory, has therefore wrought
immense evil specifically by depriving
the world of the service of some of its
best-endowed natures, and generally by
fostering habit of accepting statement
for demonstration.
Between 1864 and 1866, while prepar-
| ing thesis for graduation, [ obtained
statistics on the general subject of the
relation of occupation to health and lon
gevity that convinced me of the error of
the accepted teachings in regard to the
effect of mental labor The views I
then advocated, and which [ enforced by
statistical evidence, were:
|. That the brain-w working classes
clergymen, lawyers, physicians, mer-
chants, scientists and men of letters
lived very much longer than the muscle
working classes.
2. That those who followed occupa-
tions that called both muscle and brain
into exercise were longer lived than
those who lived in occupations that were
purely manual.
B. That the greatest and hardest brain
workers of history have lived longer on
the average than brain workers of ordin-
airy ability and industry
4. That clergymen were longer-lived
than any other great class of BRAIN
workers..
5. That longevity increased very
greatly with the advance of civilization;
and that this increase was too marked to
be explained merely by improved sani-
tary knowledge.
6. That although nervous diseases in
creased with the increase of culture, and
although the unequal and excessive ex-
element and anxiety attendant on mental
so far both prejudicial to health and lon
gevity, yet these incidental evils were
more than counterbalanced by the fact
that fatal infammatory diseases have di-
minished in frequency and violence in
proportion as nervous diseases have in
creased; and also that brain work is, per
Sc, healthful and conducive to longevity.
[ have ascertained the longevity of
500 of the greatest men in history. The
list I prepared includes a large proper
ton Of the most eminent names in all
the departments of thought and activity
It would be difficult to find more than
200 or 800 illustrious poets, philoso-
pliers, authors, scientists, lawyers,
statesmen, generals, physicians, inven-
tors, musicians, actors, orators, or phil
anthropists, of worldwide and immortal
| fame, and whose lives are known in suf-
ficient detail, that are not presented on
the list. My list was prepared not for
the. average longevity, but in order to
determine at what time of Life men do
their best work.
1t was, therefore, prepared with alb
solute impartiality, and includes, of
course, those who, like Byron, Raphael,
Pascal, Mozart, Keats, etc., died com
paratively young. Now the average Of
those [ have mentioned l found to pe
642O.
The average age at death at the pres
ent time, of all classes of those who live
over twenty years, is about fifty. There
fore, the greatest men of the world have
lived longer, on the average, than men
of ordinary ability in the different occu-
pations by fourteen years; six years
longer than physicians and lawyers;
nineteen or twenty years longer than
mechanics and day laborers; from two to
three years longer than farmers; and
fraction of a year longer that clergymen,
who are the longesthved class in our
modern society.
A few years since I arranged select
list of 100 names, comprising the most
eminent personages, and found that the
average longevity was ouer seventy
years. Such an investigation any one
can pursue; and I am sure that any
chronology, comprising from 100 to 500
OF the most eminent personages in his
tory, at any cycle, will furnish an aver
age longevity of from GA to 70 years.
ANOMALIES OF ENGLISH SPELL