The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1884-11-09
SOLDIERS IONG EYITY.
Curious Calculations In Regard to the Limits
Of Human Life.

at Is hard thing to tell when tho last
soldier Of the civil war will die" the old
actuary said. I'VE do not know the number
OF men who enlisted. nor what portion OF them
died and without this il would bo impossible
to form an exact estimate. Tho last slgnor of
tho Declaration OF Independence. Charles
Carroll of Carrollton, survived that event sixty
years; the last Brlndier- General OF tho Rcvo-
lutionary war died in 1924. and tho last Major
General. the Marquis Lafayette in 1888. Fol-
lowing this analogy. we may say that 1t is
probable that none Of tho general officers will
be living at a lator date than 1915. and mono Of
the members OF Congress at the beginning Of
the war or who were in previous Congresses in
1913. These men. however. did not reach the
extreme limits OF human lfe and Lafayette
was the only ono who was very young wnen he
entered the army. 1t il commonly estimated
by the insurance companies that life ends at
d hundred years OF age and several Of the
tables contain no estimate over 95 Dr.
other scientific men. assert that cases of per-
sons reaching one hundred years are very rare.
and that nearly all OF those who claim to have
attained that longevity are either deceived or
are deceiying Others; Sucn was tho case Of
in New York society for a number Of years as
having been an old man ut the battle of Water
Wen S but o e We r nne
number of well.authen,satod cases Of
persons rHncnlns a rOuflu century. Shmp-
son :. Blowers. graduate of Harvard
b'rlne Chief Justite OF Nova Scotia was be-
yond this limit: Dr. iiOiyokc, who also sradu-
ntei from that college" and two others wcro
each n hundred years Old. These; | believe.
total number of graduates since the beginning,
OF that institution. perhaps 10000. Tho Rev.
Daniel Wa do, who preached in this State dur
ing the lat" war went TO Yale College before
the Revolution, aud the last two pensioners Of
the struggle for independence, died in 1866.
each a@ed 1902. | win assume, therefore.
that the aye of 100 is we'll substantiatpd.
In tho latest United states u5us $50 persons
are enumerated MS 100 years of age or moro.
and 7Ot as being more than 80 The question.
thon. becomes that Of how old the. Youngest
men Were at tine close of the war, and how Ion Z
they will live afterwHrd. Recruiting hogan in
1851 and was continued in 1862, 1868. and
1s6i What was done in this line in 1868 was
in April. very arge increase was. however.
made in 1861 and among tho recruits were a
largo number of those who were rnully boys,
and had only reached fifteen and sixteen.
vivors. They were born in lSi9. and II they
complete their century will die in 1919. or sixty
live years from now. 1t may possibly bn that
ono or two shall survive till 1850 or 1851 tho
latter date being elghty,siS years after the ces-
saticn of hoStitics. There will Of course be
several hundreds living between 1910 and 1913
IF [ assume. for calculations sake. that
there were living in ord mary health nj the close
! OF the war. Federal and Confederate Included
29i2.0oO soldiers, they will not have diminished
or to one tenth till 1920 Estimating tho aver
age age of the SURVIVORS in 1855 NJ ~ they will
be- g. in 1904 70 in 1913. ana 80 in 1920 II We
assume that the average ago Of the veterans in
! 1868 WAS IS, the following would represent the
number living nj each period of five years. us
VOL II s