The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1890-02-19
CONCERNING LONG LIFE.
Conditions Which Lead to the Attainmer
of Advanced Age.

Conditions Which Lead to the Attainment
of Advanced Age.
Farmers, as usual, make large PROF.
portion, 45 per cent, of our list Out OF
1000 old men in this country, noted by |
DR.. C. NJ Hammond, 461 were farmers,
and NEARLY all began life upon tho
farm" As three-fourths Of our popula'
ton and fully half our workers are on
farms this proportion is not as large as
it appears on the surface and indicates
that the chance Of old age is really no
greater on the farm than anywhere else.
Out of the fifty-nine French centenarlans
whose occupations were known twenty
two we're farmers and eight landowners,
so that in France, while larger pro-
portion than here sprang from the land'
the proportion is still One-third less
than the three fOurths CT the total In
babitants, which the land bears in
France. The most distinguished OF
French centenarians, NJ. Chevreuil, who
died last year at one hundred and three,
had lived in Paris all his life. The
world over the chance both OF death
and of birth seems less in the modern
city than in the country. In other
words both the birth rate and the death
rate are less in cities.
Special habits have little or nothing
to do with long life, and it will be found
as our list of old men grows that fair
proportion use spirits and tobacco.
Early hours are the rule and dinner
in the middle Of the day, as we'll as OIL
sprinp, but these arc so universal in the
class from which old men and women
come that it is not easy to draw conclu'
sions. The very careful medical In
ouiry made by Prof. Humphrey showed
that a little over the average helgn'
and weight-for men "a feetsI lncheS
and 1873 pounds, and for women feet
inches and 100 pounds-was most favor
able to long life. 1t is a familiar med
ical dictum that man is las old as Ms
arteries" but there is little IN sucf
facts as have been gathered to support 1t
But the encouraging lesson in all sucl
facts and figures is the proof they ofte
that the average OF human life is length
ening and the years of health, actlvlt
and comfor increasing. Old men an
women art far more common than the
once WERE In England, from 1851
1882, the death rate dropped tro'
22.5 per 1000 to 1915, and this stands 1e
an average addition OF two years to III
lives of men and three years and fo'
months to the lives of women. In tn
country; which shares this advanc
this means that at the end OF thlr'
years 100000 more people, or sta
as large as Pennsylvania, will
alive, who under the earlier death ra
would have been dead. In Swede
where a longer comparison is posslbi
the death rate in 1770-90 was $50
1000; in 1SS0-5 it was 17.5. The dea
rate in London was once 40 per 1,0oo;
is now 49, Is, and even Is. The dea
rate here is far higher-a2.5 III
enormous addition has changed
- after sixty or sevety from the lean
slippered pantaloon" of Shakespeare
hale, vigorous and hearty years,
which life is enjoyed to the utmost
the question is often asked what civ
cation has really done to increase
man happiness, we can unhesltatlne
point to the green old age which
chronicle this morning man
woman proof of an advance we all sh
in larger or less degree.-Philadelp
Press,