The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-05-02
GENERALS FREMONT AND sIcKLEs.

The appointment by general consent of
all parties of General Daniel E. Sickles as
Sheriff of New York and the simultaneous
passage of the bill raising General Fremont
to the rank of Major General are curious
Illustrations of the longevity of men who
take care of themselves in the times in
which we live and of the usefulness of
some who have long passed the scriptural
limit of life. General Fremont is n and
General Sickles is not much his junior; yet
it was observed of the former when he en-
tered the War Department to take the oath
that his step was brisk and elastic, and the
latter is discharging the duties of the most
arduous municipal Office in New York with
vigor and dispatch. If improvements in
modern science and better understanding
of the laws of health prolong by ten years
or so the average period of human activity
the gain to the world will be equal to an
addition of u or - per cent to the potential
energy of its inhabitants.
That the span Of human life is gradually
frightening in civilized countries seems
certain from the tables of life insurance. A
policy of life insurance is an estimate which
the insurance company makes that the in
sured will not live beyond a certain number
of years. If he survives that period the in
ton. He had better have placed out the
premiums at compound interest. II he
dies before the period expires it is the COM
pany which loses. Companies are now dis
covering that they can afford to take risks
at lower rates than those which were for
merly necessary. The improvement is main
ly attributable to the development of the
transportation system. Above all other
safeguards for health and aids to life stands
change of air. 1t is better than all the
medicines in the world, better than relaXa-
ton OF mind and body, better than diet and
exercise. In prerailroad and presteamboat
days travel was difficult and not free from
danger; the chance of accident Offset the
gain derived from change of air. But now
people can travel round the world without
discomfort or exposure and at a moderate
expense. Thus change of air is within every
ones reach and the result is that those who
are not dependent on their daily labor for
their daily bread live longer than they did.
Considering how often the mind wears out
the body, and how disease follows prolonged
or excessive mental eXertion, 1t is curious
that persons who labor exclusively with
their brains should as a rule live longer
than those who labor with their hands.
The average life of lawyers, doctors and
literary men is several years longer than
that of mechanics or workmen. Judges
generally reach ripe old age; a Judge
died the other day in England who tried
cases al 90 Doctors likewise grow to be
very old; Harvey, Duhamel, Heberden and
Puiel were nearly 80 when they died. and
the father of medicine, Hippocrates, lived
to be over 100, and would probably have
gone on living had he not happened to
meet with an accident. Men of letters are
famous for longevity. Carlyle, Plato, Buff
fon, Goethe, Ben Franklin, Newton, Voltaire
and Herschel wrote when they were over
so; Bryant wrote editorials to the day of
his death, which occurred when he was 81,
and George Bancroft still lives at the age
| of 90
Whoever visits an ancient cemetery is
struck by the frequent repetition of the
sentence that "those whom the gods love
die young" 1t may be so and if so, we
must conclude that there are good many
who did not stand so well on Mount Olym-
pus, and yet who managed to rub along
quite comfortably for a considerable num-
Der of wears.