St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-06-06
Does Anybody Live 100 Years.

New York Ledger.
1t will be remembered that Sir George
Cornewal Lewis undertook to prove
that nobody had ever lived to be hun
dred years old. He cOntendpd that the
reputed centenarians were persons
whose history obscure, and whose
births could not be verified. No one, he
maintained, who had lived before the
public was included in the number.
Now, on the other hand, an English
physician. DR.. George M. Humphrey,
brings forward the results OF all extern
SiVe and rigorous investigation, which
has shown that the attainment OF cen
tenarianism is by no means impractical
BILE, not less than Seventy-f0ur persons
being enumerated who have unques-
tionablv reached OF exceeded the age OF
a hundred years. Nothing, for instance,
could be better authenticated than the
longevity of the famous French savant,
Chevreul, who was more than hundred
and two years old when he died, last
year. ,
In 1875 Sir Duncan Glib record ed
the case of great-aunt OF Mr.. Will
Jams, who had sat at the head OF her
own table for fG0 Christmas days, hav-
ing been married at the age OF fifteen.
w Z OUSGINt lIldU IL 1IuH phlSy PUIo
faith in the extraordinary age aScribed
to Thomas Parr Q52 years. on the
ground that William Harvey, who per-
formed the post-mortem examination,
would have taken pains to ascertain the
truth had he had cause to suspect that
an imposition had been practiced. In
the case. too. of John Bayles, said to
have been one hundred and thirty years
old when he died. in 17OG, there is eX-
tant a medical description with details
that satisfied the observers OF the cor
rectness of the reputed age.
Outside of England there have been
trustworthy examples OF centenarianism
not mentioned by DR.: Humphrey.
When we bear in mend the fact that the
bishops OF the Greek cnurcn are even
more careful of registered births than
are the English parochial clergy, we
must accept, as deserving OF credence,
the statement made to Sir Henry Hal
ford by Baron Brunow, the Russian
ambassador to the court of st. James,
that there is. on the borders of Siberia,
a district where year seldom passes III
the course of which some one does not
die at the age of 100. Then, again, from
official accounts of deaths in the Rus
sian. empire in 1889, itappears that there
were S5S persons whose ages ranged
from 100 to 105; $50 ranging from 115 to
| 100: and three from $50 to l56. At Dant-
zic. one was said to have lived to 1874,
| and in the next year, 1910, another died
| III Wallachia at the last mentioned age:
| In ancient times, ALSO, there are Official
| records of centenarianism whose ac-
| euracy it is not easy to impeach. mus,
| when Vespasian made his census I'D A.
| ID. "A, there were found to be. IN the
| in=the Roman empire, fifty-nlne persons
! who were just century old; la VINO
were from 100 to ITO years OF age; .
| from no to 1875: from 125 to 1870; 3 from
! 135 to 40. Among the distinguished
| persons whose age there would De
| abundant means of verifying may be
mentioned Fabius MaXimus. who died a
centenarian; Terentia, the wife OF Clce-
no. who, according to some, lived to be
lO3, according to others, 112; Claudia,
the wife of the senator Aurelius, who
died at Us. 1t is also to be noted that
on the tenth anniversary OF the taxing
| of the Bastille, Bonaparte. then first
| consul, received two invalid soldiers,
| one of 1O6. the other of 107 years; and
that in 1922 Petro Huel, who was then
| III years old. and the only Frenchman
| living who had seen Louis XIV. assist
ed at the Inauguration of the statute OF
| the Grand Monarch.
1t is interesting to learn that of forty
six centenarians with regard to whom
DR.. Humphrey procured detailed in
formation, fifteen took no alcoholic bev-
erages, while only one is described as
taking great deal of beer. Out OF
forty-five only twelve smoked tobacco
and but three took snuff. Only three
| out of fOrty-one were vegetarlanS. Less
| than one i'm five was fat, and none was
tall. Out of forty-fve only seven were