The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-06-29
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L0NGEVITY'S DECLINE.
MAS MANS LIFE GROWN SHORTER
WITH CIVILIZATIONS

WITH CIVILIZATIONS
Patriarehs Of AntSquity-1nSeres Dis
cussiOn Dednced fro1n Biblical Records
and Modern Biological ResuIts-A Re-
markszle Last of Old Non.
Once man strobe the earth like Co
lossns-" hGxy he Is shrunk almost to an
limitation Venerable legends come down
to as from prtmeyal worlds that he once
carried tho fires of Life for ages. The days
OF Meth1seaAh were nine hundred and six
ty-ntne years. Why should the yelling
up OF the deep forces of physical immortal
tty have ceased and man become the mush-
room Of the hours
A critical question, and a truly essential
problem is, Has the human raca actually
degenerated physically in modern timer
Morally and spiritually it seems to be an
admitted fact that it has wiltsd and with
AIRED.
Why is it that death should come before
the allotted age Of 'Nthree score and ten, 4"
and why SO many millions of human
beings mover live to three score and five,
and why that not one in every thousand
selves. Many interesting particulars are
found IN tables Of Psychologists and writ
ers on hygiane. The eminent psychologists,
Halier and Button, present interesting par
ticulars on the subject of longevity. They
treat the subject in two ways, historical
and physical. The historical side of the
recitation Of all facts known of the natural
ly ordinary and extreme durations of life
md he r,1,r- - 1,or
wolves the contemplation Of the great nat
urai phases of development of the species,
digestion, period OF growth and length OF
lie.
BUTTONS FORMULA
Buttons 6ormnla of the duration of
Eunan beings 8ad animals is that they ez>
st six oFseyen times as long as they are
growing or attaining perfect adult develop
ment. He sdduoes the examples of humans
and animals. The union Of man is effected
At twenty years, that of the horse at three
years, TINT of the OK at four years, that of
the dog ct two years, etc. He asserts that
humans and animals live six or seven times
as the terms Of their growth.
Such being the finally arranged scientific
biological results of ages Of observation,
why this extreme rarity Of centenarians
and great scarcity of octogenaTians' Why
Is it that not one out of ten thousand lives
60 be 100 years old, when originally the
minimum was two hundred years9
Hufeland asserts that we may set il
down as a rule shat man and animals
live eight times IS Long as they grow" Hs
also asserts that "a man in his natural
state, whese The period Of his maturity is
not fastened by art, requires full twenty
years TO attain his full growth and con-
formation, and this proposition viii give
him an absolute age Of 200 years" Not
withdrawing this, of one hundred men
born fifty die before their 10th year, twenty
die between 10 and 20, ten die between 90
and 80, six die between 50 and 30, three die
between 30 and 50, three die between so and
90, and only six live TO be above 50.
SOSd2 vEKY OLD MEN
The con1pGFatiReIongevfty theancients
and modeTRs Is a question of vital interest
The patriaFcsGS were clearly longer iiTers
than the present race Methuselah at
t6ined to upwards Of 200 years, the ortho-
dox interpretation of HesleF, or TO near
900 yea1s, OLD style verbal rendering. In
either case Methaselah is a precious fact,
as arc Giso Jared, Noah, Adam, Seth,
Canaan, Enos and many other precious
facts. who lived 10 attain at least 200 years
Very nearly approaching the ages Of these
men Of centuries, as already interpreted,
prcfaIe history has many records Of
longevity with interesting examples. The
table of air. Easton, of Salisbury,
England, has striking points not only in
long hfe, bat rs representing a variety of
types ostbe different bloods or races, show
ing that long LIE Is not characteristic of
any one race or compound race:
St. Patrick died A D. A91, aged I'D years.
Attila died in a D. 500, aged LA years.
Sughwach died in a. D. 500, aged $50
years.
St. OoemSzum died in A D. 61S, aged 12O
years.
Countess of Desmond died m A. d. 1912.
aged 145 years.
Thomas Parr died in A D. 1895, aged La
years.
Aomas Damme died in A D. 1915, aged
154 years.
Peter Torlon died in A. D. 1874, aged 1s5
years.
Margaret Patton died in A D., 1913, aged
137 years.
John Rowan and wife died in A D. 1741, |
aged 172-l64 years.
St Mangat died In A. D. 1871, aged 1855
years.
WHAT THE FACTS PROVE
Those long liyeEs all have interesting |
and brief notice OF few viii not /
be out AZ place, jenkins, who lived to the |
age Of I69 yeaEs, was fisherman, and con |
passed most of his life In the |
open air. Thomas RsTr, who died vt the |
age Of ice. died by the accident of over
gorgsnG his stomach Pcsyk-EooztRn showed |
MIN to be perfectly sound, except the ever
g0rged stomach. His cartilngcs were not |
in tho least esSifea. and there was not the |
losSt syEi p&ozns Of decay 10 be discovered.
II Is Refreshing, really inspiring. to think |
there is pssSi bjl6y, even a probability, of |
our living as long as did the patriarchs. |
The historicgi SIDE of tae question. lopgev-
ty, clearly makes tbe eSse one that is en-
TO refieCt upon, that man lives
zoe years, eAjoyfag all his faculties 60 the
last. The physiological and scientific side
" the question establishes the conclusion
.1at By demonstrated laws OF nature on
The question Of the hfe OF bones and their
with the animal economy, Ice |
years of ordinary life and 200 of extrs0rdi-
nary life may be enjoyed by any one and
every ono p Tines.
Few are Free .