The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-08-31
Experiments That Have Been Mad
in %Prolonging the Age
of Man.
The Years of the Patriarchs and
Their Computation of
Time.
Luigi Cornaro's Regimen and How He
Managed 10 Keep Himself FREQ
From All Ailments.

D., literary society, by sheppard Homans
recently, he says that We read in the tift
chapter of Genesis: And all the days tina
Adam lived were $50 years: and he died.
Also "all the days of Seth were 912 years
and he died" The ages of five other do
scendants of Adam are then given, each o
whom lived more than 900 years, and thel
we come to Methuselah, the Oldest age OIL
record. land all the days OF Methuselal
we're 500 years; and he died. After tn
flood this ages recorded of the patriarch,
were much Lass. Abrahsm died at the age
of 175. Isaac at $50, and Jacob at 147; snt
Sarah, whose age is the greatest recorded il
the Bible of a female, died at l27. In mod
ern times We have the records, more or less
authentic, of many persons who have ut
tanned extreme old age. Mr.. James Easton
of Salisbury, England, published in 1899 a
list containing the names of Liz per-
sons who had reached the age of 100
years and upward. In 1896. Mr.. Charles
Babbage collected l. $50 similar cases. Hal
Ter cites two cases of extreme age which
came under his own observation, one of 152
and the other 169 years.
Mr.. Romans selected the following from
a list prepared by the late Cornelius Wal
ford, containing the names of 2OS persons
who died at or above the age of 1a0 years.
Thomas earn, Shorsditch, England. at the
age of 207, in 1888. This case is said to be
confirmed by the parish registers. If this
be true, it is the most remarkable instance
of longevity since the food. One hundred
and saventy-fve wears, Louisa 'Truxo, a
negroes. Brazil. in l7s0: 1872 years, Thomas
Parr, shropshire, England, in 1856. In the
Petersburg Gazette, a Russian paper pub
lished in 1872. the case is recorded Of a man
who died in the diocese Of Ekaternios who
attained an age between 200 and POS years
at death.
The age of DR.. Parr, as he was called.
appears to be we'll authenticated. 1t has
the testimony OF Harvey, who dissected his
body and found all the organs in a sound
and healthful condition. Charles the First
sent for Dr.. PAIR, who had become famous
by reason of his extreme age. Dir. Parr
went to court. where he was Toasted. and.
eating too much. died from a fit of indiges-
ton. He might have lived many years
longet-in fact, he may be said to have died
from an accident.
There then would seem to be abundant
evidence that, not only among the pa
triarchs who lived after the food, but
among those who lived in modern times
also, instances are not wanting of deaths
approaching the age of 200 years, which
would seem to be about the extreme limit
kosolplC " III I " II
Button states: 1.-The man who does not
die OF accident or disease lives everywhere
to 20 or 100 years of age" Hufeland says:
Nearly all those deaths which take place
before the hUndreth year are brought on
artiicially-that is to say BY disease or ac-
cident." Dr.. Farr in the sixteenth Annual
report of the registrar general of England
says: "The natural term of human life app
pears to be 100 years. Finally the prophet
Isaiah says, 65: 20: There shall no more
thence be an infant OF days, nor an old man
that hath not filled his days, for the child
shall die On hundred years old"
The extreme limit of life seems to be
about twice the natural limit Or term. Thus
instances have occurred of man living to
200 years, or very nearly.
How are we to account for the ages re-
corded in Genesis of Adam, his sons. and
Methuselah? We cannot disregard the
teachings OF science, nor need we doubt the
statement in holy writ. Each has divine
authority. BY what theory can we recon
Gle the two? Simply that the year, or unit
OF time, among the early patriarchs differed
from that adopted since the deluge, which
has been twelve calendar months. Hensler.
a hlg authority. shows the strong proba-
bility that the year, till the time OF Abra-
ham. consisted of three months only, and
that not until tho time of Joseph was it ex-
tended to twelve months. This assertion"
Gays Hufeland, a still higher authority, sis
to q certain agree confirmed by some of the
eastern nations who still reckon only three
months to the year" and besides it would
be altogether inexplicable why the life of
man should have been shortened three
fourths Immediately after the hood. More
over, the recorded ages when the early
patriarchs married was about four times
the usual age. Again, with the period of
Abraham, We find mention of Il duration of
life which can still be attained, and which
no onger appears extraordinary, especially
when we consider the temperate manner in
which the patrlarchs lived. We think.
therefore that H1feland has arrived at a
correct conclusion when he says that 'man
can still attain to tho same age as ever.'
Perhaps the most interesting and ~instruc-
tive example of the ability to prolonR life
and preserve health is given in the writings
OF q wise old man who owed his century of
existence to a strict adherence to the prin-
clples OF sobrlsty and moderation. LUIGI
Cornaro was born at Venice about the year
1465, though the exact date of his birth ia
variously given. He died April 2G, 1866, at
Padua. He belonged to one OF the old fam
lilies in the city. One of the Cornari. Mar
co, who died just 100 wears before Luigi's
birth, was Doge; and three other bearers of
the same name attained the same distinc-
ton after his death. He began life
with q bad constitution, and long course
of excess had, by the time he reached the
age of 30, reduced him to a state of extreme
misery. For four or five years he remained
III CoLhtaNt DCQlly anu mental suffering,
Gout began to lay hold of him; he was tor
nented by pains In the stomach and bv per-
petual feverishness and thirst. His physi-
clans pointed out to him that his habitual
ailments must have their cause in his habit
ually dlsordered life. and urged him again
and again to change. He was long CON
WINGED of the truth of what they said to
him before putting their advice into prac-
tlce. For a while he pretended to follow it.
still eating and drinking az before. and con.
cealed the fact from his doctors--''as all
patients d." he added, with some humor.
At last he found the strength of will to
adhere strictly to the diet and mode of life
prescribed for him, and at the end of q year
he found himself, instead of a broken. down.
hopeless invalid, unfit for either work or
enjoyment, a healthy and singularly active
and happy man. He then came to the nat
ural conclusion that the regimen which had
overcome the effect of excuses, and re-
paired the natural weaknesses of his con-
etitution must be tho one to keep him per-
maneptly in good health; and from that
time inward, during the sixty years which
remained to him of life, he never, except in
the rarsst instances-and then to his hurt
-swerved from it. He more than COM
plsted his eightieth yesr before he set him
self down to write his own experiences for
the benefit Of the others. During forty
years hs had lived u life of almost I'M
broken health and happiness-a life which
contrasted az much with that which he had
himself led in his earlier DAYS AS with that
which he Jaw commonly lived nv otbera