The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1892-06-10
VITAL STRENGTH.
The Intangible Something That Enables
Men to Defy Disease.

The Intangible Something That Enables
Men to Defy Disease.
Why does a man like the Duke of
Devonshire, with splendid brains and
excellent physique, die of exhaustion at
eighty-three, while Mr. Gladstone, only
one year younger, with the same kind
OF brains and apparently the same ply
sique, is as active and healthy as a
young man? What, in fact, is vitality,
the power of continuing to live, which
differs so radically in every two fami-
lies that if we were all pensioned off
tomorrow in our ten shillings week
there would be as little equality in
happiness as ever?
Is it an energy, or a quality, or some
thing material in the body? We all
know. to begin with, that the thing ex-
lists, though it can neither be weighed
nor mea sured, nor seen with the bodily
eyes. There are families, beyond
doubt, as well as individuals, over
whom disease seems to have no power;
who are either exempt from illness, or
survive it as if it We're but an emotion,
who, apart from accident, always fulfill
the years of the Psalmist, and usually
die only because the still unbrolSen ma
chine has exhausted it's stock of motive
power. Doctors, when called into such
persons, are always cheerful, assure the
friends that there will be a rally soon,
and would like, if they dared for
the credit of their craft, to admin
lister as little medicine as possible
They have not an idea as to the
reason, unless it be "heredity predispo-
sition," or. in few cases, a cheerful
temperament; but they know quite
we'll that in such patients there is ''rc-
operative power" and as they like
cures, partly out of kindness and partly
from self-interest, they are well con-
tent. And there are also families. rs
well as individuals, in whom the life
lies low, about whose attacks" how
ever slight they may appear, the doc
tors shake their heads, and whom,
when among themselves, they will re-
mark: "Thc Blanks have a constitu-
tional habit of dying" Such people
rarely live to be more than middle
aged; they never attain old age; and
when they die, they die unexpectedly,
most frequently in the first stage of
convalescence, from what is called a
relapse"
Something is wanting in them which
furnishes their rivals with staying
power; but then, what is the some
thing? 1t certainly is not size, for
giants die rather rapidly; and the men
who are dear to insurance societies are
usually of the medium build. or even a
little under it, their weight in particu-
iar being for the most part slightly be.
low average. Fatness is weakness,
more or less. And it is certainly also
not identical with physical strength,
for athletes are scarcely ever long lived
women have, on the whole, if we de-
duct their mortality from child bearing
more vitality than men; and very feeble
men, in the athletic sense, constantly
attend the funerals of far stronge,
juniors Nor does the quality of vital
ity arise from any superior strength OF
brain. The able often live long and
often die young; and, as we have said
the Duke of Devonshire and Mr. Glad
stone, men probably of the same de
gree of mental power-the one a second
wrangler and Smiths prizeman, tn,
other adoublefirst-haved displayed quite
different degrees of the power of sur
vival.-London Spectator.