The Red Cloud chief., 1880-05-13

longevity-some In support OF popular
opinion, some in refutation of it. He
found many instances of all the several
kinds Of f~allacy which we have Just
mentioned; and arrived at a final con-
clusion that there are some cases Of
Observation-Disclosures, bu. they were
very few indeed. The mode of investi-
cation adopted by Sir G.. c. Lewis and
Mr.. Thoms often led them to examine
the question: Who was the first per-
son known to have mentioned the
alleged fact? In regard to Old Parr.
the chief authority was John Taylor the
Water Poet" an eccentric character
in the reign Of Charles l.. He published
a pamphlet concerning him at the
time when Parr was in London; but he
gave no proof that the veteran came
into the world 1872 years before that
time. OF Henry jenkins, the chief in
formant was one Peter Garden, who
died in Auchterless in 1875 at the q
of l3l. and who said that he had when
a youth seen Henry jenkins, the per-
son who had carried the horse load of
arrows TO Northallerton. But there is
no guarantee for the exact age Of Gar
den, nor for the correctness Of his
memory concerning events in which
jenkins was concerned.
Similarly in the case Of the Countess
Of Desmond; although it is evident that
this venerable member Of the Irish
peerage lived TO an exceptionally adj
vanced age, nevertheless there are links
wanting in the chain of testimony.
They tell a tale" said one Of the au-
thorities concerning the lady's age; but
who were they" and how did "they
know" Raleigh did not name an au-
thority for his statement that she was
married so far back as the time of Ed
ward w.; nor do we know whether
Leicester was reliable in what he told
Temple. Several portraits are extant.
all purporting To be the Countess; but
n is now known TO represent some
other lady, while the inscription on an
other is suspected to be comparatively
modern. The quarterly RericD took up
this subject some years ago, and was
able To advance additional evidence of
her great age, but not of her reaching
the traditional 40.
One account, Of quite recent date, led
Mr.. Thoms to suspect a hoax. The
newspapers, two or three years ago,
stated that an aged gentleman met a
of friends at Richmond to cele-
brate his Tooth birthday. Mr.. Thoms
for some time could make nothing of
the story, either good or bad; but at
he stated: Information has lust
reached me that the reported cente-
marian banquet at the Star and Garter
has been declared TO be a hoax
Scarcely a week elapses without a no.
tice of the death of persons who have
reached 100 years of age. To assert
all these notices are false is little
short OF an impertinence. Here and
there may be a mistake, but our belief
is that the bulk of the notices are true.
Nor is 1T strange they should be. 1t is
notorious, from medical and statistical
observation, that human life is length
Old people are better cared for
than they used to be, and there is a bet
ter knowledge in the art of preserving
In fact, we have come pretty
much to the conclusion that to die at an
age short of eighty, ninety, or even a
hundred, is very much peoples own
blame. With a good constitution to
with, and with exercising due
care, man or woman may stretch out
the span Of existence to ninety, if not q
hundred.- Chambers Journal