The Wichita daily eagle., 1891-11-03

THE REASON THE PATRIARcHS At
TANNED SUCH LENGTH OF YEARS.


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 imbeeile, but
his development has gone On slowly, and
now he exhibits the aptitude of a 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 fine mind, and if he
lives long enough for it to reach its full de-
velopment, will be capable of great things,
THAT" remarked a physician to the re-
porter, 'is directly in line with a theory
that L have long held, and by means of
which l reconcile the longevity of the
patriarchs who existed before the food
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 $50
years old; Seth, 912; EnOs, COS; Cainan, 9l0;
Mahaleel, se5; Jared, 962. Enoch, the
brightest man OF that epoch, only remained
on the earth 365 years. He was sixty-five
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. It is the cultivated
mind that sees the beautiful in nature.
"What l 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, l i'm
agine; more like kindergarten boys of
four or five. Methuselah, who lived to
the age of 969 years, was probably the
slowest of these old fellows"
"Your theory is somewhat fanciful."
suggested the reporter.
"Not at all, not at ALL" said the doctor
warmly. 1.-The human machine only wears
out as it is used. it took MethCselah, who
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
wore anybody out in those days. There
were no sleepless nights leading along the
to nervous exhaustion or lunacy.
There are many nowadays who wear out
and physically at forty. That
would appear very rapid waste of life to
the slow going ratrisrchs.
1t would not be much more rapid, COM
paratively, than the whimsical idea of
brief and rapid existence conveyed in the
'Ephemerals,' sketch in a spectacular
play exhibited here few years ago, where
q boy was born, passed through the stages
Of youth, anhood aud old age, and died
al within twenty-four hours. Existence
is not comprised in mere length of years,
but in experiences. In an Arabian tale
man immerses his head in tub of water.
Il is under water but a moment, less than
a minute, yet in that time his mind travels
20 far country, where he lives seven
years, is married, raises a family and ac-
1uires fortune-a longer life, so far as
experience is concerned, than that of Ne
-huselah, 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-
iumed the doctor, their years began to
shorten. Abraham died at the early age
If "a hundred, threescore and fifteen years.
Human life must have been greatly short
med by that epoch, for the comment is
made that Abraham gave up the ghost
md died in a good old age, an old man and
ull of years. and he was little more than
,ne-fifth as old as Methuselah. When the
Jewish race was at the height of its intel
Solomon gives the space of hu-
nan life as thTeescore and ten, and that is
What it is today. Life insurance tables |
,ive figures showing that the expectancy
# years is continually growing greater.
This may be so, but such statistics cannot !
De absolutely relied upon. The hurrying
ctlvitles of the present day, which un-
oubtedly will be multiplied in the years
o come-a future now near at hand-will |
urther shorten life. The throbbing brain |
nd pulsiDg heart will be melted to such |
nergy as TO wear out the machine of /
which they are a part. and when it is worn |
ut there is no way Of repairing It,"
But this forty-year-old boy up in West |
'irginia" began the reporter.
''If his mind develops with no more ra.
idity in the years to come than it has in |
be past forty be viii achieve a length of |
ears that viii be almost up to the ante
eluge standard. Divide his life into
eriods or stages Not into seven ages as
shakespeare has done, but into five. At 4
Orty years he has reached the close of the
rst stage OF MS existence, that OF the boy
f thirteen or fourteen, Just ready to step
ut of shorts into trousers. 1t has taken
orty years 60 develop into this. three times
5 long as is ordinarily required to make
his development. The next stage, the age
f twenty eight, would, logically, require
nree times forty years, that is 120 years;
he next period, to have the experience of
ne man of forty-two years, would require
mother l20 years; then each of the two
ext periods should be given 100 years to
ring him up to an equivalent in existence
18th our three score and ten. | make out
nat his life expectancy is 620 years. This
only an approximate estimate, of course.
might be that this expectancy would be
Sceeded by hundred years or so. 1t is a
cry interesting case, and | am sorry that
cannot remain on earth a few hundred
ears 20 take notes upon it. Such a sub
ct will be of great interest 10 the readers
medical literature six or seven centuries
ence. ce."-IudiauapOlis Journal.