Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-05-04
THINGS in GENERAL.
A Queer Question Brings Out Some Inter
esting Information-As Study Of Longevity
Some Old Persons in Biblical and More
Lodi

Queer Question Brings Out Some Inter
esting Information-A Study of Longevity
Some Old Persons in Biblical and More
Modern Times.
WRITTEN FOR THE DIsPATcH.l
4 Somebody wrote the other day to the Pro.
fessor OF Things in General desiring to know
how long a year was before the Christian era.
| 1t was a queer question, particularly queer
question TO come, as it did, from commercial
| traveller. What my friend wanted with the
answer know not. However, looked the
| thing MP and told him. and in the telling dis
| covered why it is that we have to recite Thirty
| days hath September" and the rest of it. In
| order to find out when one month ends and D
new one begins.
| 1t seems that in the days of Julius Cesar
| everybody I suppose KNOWS this-they made
| the calendar all over new. There was task!
| Think OF it! Now shall be decided when the
| year shall begin. and how long the months
shall be, and by what names men
shall hereafter call them! There was indeed
matter for decisioni Caesar fixed the thing
admirably. He laid off the new yeay like a new
| city, all squares and right angles. The first
| month should have 81 days. and tie third, and
| the fifth, and SO on. All the uneven months of
the II should have an uneven count OF days.
| February, of course, had to go short to bring
things right at the end, but all the other
| months should have 80 days. An excellent ar
| rangement!
Vanity of an Emperor.
Now what spoiled itY Why the vanity of the
Emperor Augustus The seventh month was
named July after Julius Caesar; the eighth
month was named August after Augustus.
But according to the orderly rotation, julius
month had one more day than Au-
gustus' month had. Should that be toll
fod Naf mr.
day must be taken from poor February.
leaving now but rs, and this must be added on
to August. But now there came three long
months together-July. August and September.
30 days In length, and gave 81 days to October
and December. And thatspoiled the whole ex-
cellent arrangement and added new incon-
yenience to time, and remains to perplex US
STILL That is how II came about.
see that Mr.. Sheppard Homans thinks that
in the days long, long before the Christian era,
in the Gays before the Flood, a year wss only
three months long! This remarkable venture
in chronology was probably invented by some.
body who believed that the patriarchs lived
about four times too long. Some trace of
ing. HufeIand says that there are
still some Eastern nations who reckon only
three months to the year. One would be pleased
TO know what their names are and where they
live. All this has the sound of ingenious guess
work. and at that one man is as good as an
other
Mr. Sheppard Homans, as all the lfe-insur.
ance men know very well, is one of the most
eminent insurance authorities living. His
American experience tables are of great value
In the computation OF risks. No man in the
world knows better how long the average man
will live. Twas accordingly pleased when Mr..
Homans told me, on the occasion of his visit to
Pittsburg the other day. that he had written
paper on the subject Of longevity, which ne
promised to send me-
Commences at the Beginning.
Ii kce
Heine began his essay on the "Feet of the
Women of Zottingen." Mr.. Krehbiel told us
about it in one of his delightful lectures here
last week. Heine, it seems, was describing the
town of Zottingen, and having mentioned its
two supreme glories-"its sausages and its uni
versity"-he was reminded of an essay which
he wrote while student in the university on
the "Feet of the Women of Zottingeh." The
essay fell into various divisions. such as these:
First, feet in general; second, the feet of the
ancients; third. the feet of quadrupeds, as ele-
plants; ana so on down. by easy stages, to the
feet of the zottingen women. M. krehDiel
said that he would be obliged to begin his
study of the lyric drama with the Greeks.
MI. Romans begins his study of longevity with
Adaml 80
Adam, of course. was a pretty old man,
though Methuselah lived to over-match him in |
that respect Even if a year was but three |
IN ontbs long. the good men whose ages are |
recorded before the Flood lived to be pretty |
old men. But some other people have lived to |
an extraordinary age in days considerably |
nearer to us than the Flood. In l7S0 negress |
named Louisa Truxo. "in Brazil" Show conyen: en-:
years. Thomas Parr of Shropshire, England, |
died in 1886 aged l52 years. That is probably |
true. Thomas earn of shoreditch, l5SS, is re-
ported to have touched the limit of 207 years. |
Better put question mark after that
That was curious case of Thomas Parr.
Charles the First sent for him after he had |
passed his hundred and fiftieth birthday. and |
gave him such an uncommonly good dinner |
that the old man was never well afterwards |
The moral would seem to be that If a man
should resist the temptations Of uncommonly
good dinners.
The Man to Live Long.
Here is portrait quoted from Mr. Homan's
essay. and there credited to somebody else's es-
say, of a man destined TO long life:
He has proper and well-proportioned stat
ure, without. however, being too tall. He is
rather of the middle size, and somewhat thick
set. His complexion is not too 1orid; at any
rate. too much ruddiness in youth is seldom
sign of longevity. His hair approaches rather
to the fair than to the black. His skin IS strong
but not rough. His head is not too big In
general. there is complete harmony in all his
parts. His senses are good, but not too deli
cate; his pulse is slow and regular H lis stomach
is excellent, his appetite good, and his digestion
easy. The joys of the table are to him of i'm
portance. They tune his mind to serenity, and
his soul partakeS IN the pleasure which they
He does not eat merely for the
sake of eating; but each meal is an hour
of daily festivity; kind of delight.
attended with this advantage with regard to
others, and it does not make him poorer, but
richer. He eats slowly and has not too much
thirst Too great thirst is always a sign of
rapid self-consumption. In general, he is Sc
rene, loquacious active, susceptible of joy,
love, and hope, but insensible to the impress
sions of hatred, anger and avarice. His pas
sions never become too violent destructible. |
If he ever gives way to anger he experiences
rather a useful glow of warmth, an artificial
and gentle fever, without an overfowIng of the
bile. He is fond also of ENJOYMENT particu- l.
arly calm meditation and agreeable specula-
ion; is an optimist, friend to nature and do
nestle felicity, and has no thirst after honor or
riches, and banishes all thoughts of to-mor-
-ow."
The man who wrote that was professor in a |
German university, and died at the age of 81
So much easier is preaching than practicing.
The Lesson to Be Learned.
The sum of the whole matter is Don't worry
Worry is the disease which, as Mr.. Homans
ays, kills more patients than any other. Let
hings 60. Get up late in the morning and go
o bed early at night. Never run after the
able cars. Don't tear along the street as IL