Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1891-11-13
WHY THEY LIVED LONG.
THE REASON THE PATRIARCHS At
TANNED SUCH LENGTH OF YEARS.

"I'rains Never Wore Anybody Out in
Those Days''-The Present Ranid Vast,
of Life-A Doctors speculations on the
Case of a Forty-Year-Old Boy.
The newspapers contained an account Of
West Virginia man, forty years old, who
is declared to be an example of slow intel
lectual development. This person, Rus
sell Barnes, of Clarksburg, has been re-
garded from infancy as an imbecile, but
his development has gone on slowly, and
now he exhibits the aptitude of school
boy of fourteen and betrays the love of
study. Professor Morris, who is much in
terested in the case, says that Barnes in
reality possesses a fine mind, and if he
lives long enough for it to reach it's full de-
velopment, will be capable of great things
THAT remarked physician to the re-
porter, sis directly in line with theory
that | have long held, and by means Of
which l reconcile the longevity of the
patriarchs who existed before the flood
with the length of years of those who rush
through life in these days.
BIBLICAL EXAMPLES
"Look at the Biblical record of the first
men of the race of which we have any
knowledge at all Adam lived to be CSC
years old; Seth, 912; Enos, 905; Cainan, $40;
Mahaleel, S95; Jared, 962. Enoch, the
brightest man of that epoch, only remained
on the earth 365 years. He was siXty-fiye
years old when Methuselah, who was prob
ably his first born, saw the light. He mar
ried young for that time, as, by observing
the record in the first chapter of Genesis,
you will see that most of the patriarchs did
not marry until they were in the nineties.
That can be inferred not from the infor-
nation given as to the wedding, but from
the chronicle of the birth Of the first son.
You see, the world was young, and outside
the beauties of nature the mind had moth
ing to feed upon. Pastoral people are SLOW,
and these, the first of pastorals, were with
out doubt the slowest. 1t is the cultivated
mind that sees the beautiful in nature.
''What | mean to say is, the reason these
patriarchs achieved such great length of
years is because it was necessary for their
development. At twenty years old they
were no better Intellectually than babies
in arms; at forty they were like this West
Virginia wonder, like schoolboys of four
teen years old. Rather less mature, | i'm
agine; more like kindergarten boys of
four or five. Methuselah, who lived to
the age of 900 years, was probably the
SlONCSU VI eu6SC OlQ lS1lOWS
'Your theory is somewhat fanciful,"
suggested the reporter.
mot at all, not at ALL" said the doctor
warmly. 1.-THE human machine only wears
out as it is used. 1t took MethUselah, wi no
was doubtless possessed of even better
constitution than the other patriarchs who
lived before the food, little longer to
wear out than the others. Brains never
onul,o6u nIrt In fhOca Tbaro
were no sleepless nights leading along the
highway to nervous exhaustion or lunacy
There are many nowadays who wear cut
mentally and physically at forty That
would appear a very rapid waste of life to
the slow going patriarchs.
"It would not be much more rapid, COM
paratively, than the whimsical idea of
brief and rapid existence conveyed in the
'Ephemerals,' a sketch in spectacular
play exhibited here a few years ago, where
boy was born, passed through the stages
of youth, manhood and old age, and died
all within twenty-four hours. Existence
is not comprised in mere length of years,
but in experiences. In an Arabian tale a
man immerses his head in q tub of water.
1t is under water but a moment, less than
minute, yet in that time his mind travels
to far country, where he lives seven
years, is married, raises a family and &C
quires a fortune-a longer life, so far as
experience is concerned, than that of Me-
thuselah, of whom the record is that all
the days of Methuselah were nine hundred
and sixty nine years; and he died.
WHEN THE CHANGE CAME.
when the race began to think" re-
sumed the doctor, their years began to
shorten Abraham died at the early age
of a hundred, threescore and fifteen years
Human life must have been greatly short
ened by that epoch, for the comment is
made that Abraham gave up the ghost
and died in good old age, an old man and
full of years. and he was little more than
one-fifth as old as Methuselah. When the
Jewish race was at the height of its intel
lectuality Solomon gives the space of hui
man life as threescore and ten, and that is
what it is today. Life insurance tables
give figures showing that the expectancy
of years is continually growing greater.
This may be SO, but such statistics cannot
be absolutely relied upon. The hurrying
activities of the present day, which un
doubtedly will be multiplied in the years
to come-a future now near at hand-will
further shorten life. The throbbing brain
and pulsing heart will be melted to such
energy as to wear out the machine of
which they are part, and when it is worn
out there is no way of repairing it."
''But this forty -year-old boy up in West
Virginia." began the reporter.
''lf his mind develops with no more IA.
pidity in the years to come than it has in
the past forty he will achieve length of
years that will be almost Up to the ante
deluge standard. Divide his life into
periods or stages. Not into seven ages as
Shakespeare has done, but into five. AT
forty years he has reached the close OF the
first stage of his existence, that of the boy
of thirteen or fourteen, just ready to STEP
out Of shorts into trousers. 1t has taken
forty years to develop into this, three times
as long as is ordinarily required to make
this development. The next stage, the age
of twenty eight, would, logically, require
three times forty years, that is 120 years;
the next PERIOD to have the experience of
the man of forty-two years, would require
another 100 years; then each of the two
next periods should be given 120 years to
bring him up to an equivalent in existence
with our three score and ten. ] make out
that his life expectancy is 500 years. This
is only an approximate estimate, of course
1t might be that this expectancy would be
exceeded by hundred years or so. 1t is
very interesting case, and | am sorry that
cannot remain On earth a few hundred
years to take notes upon it. Such sub
Ject will be of great interest to the readers
of medical literature six or seven centuries
hence. "-lndianapolis Journal.