Feliciana sentinel. [volume] (St. Francisville, La.) 1877-1892, 1892-04-16
COMPARATIVE VITALITY.
1As Mysteri0us Pfoblesrs why Some I.iv
Longer TSaau OtherA

SSs"' -
1As MystsriSas probis,n why Some 1--we
Longer Thsa OtherA
There are families beyond doubt ss
well as individuals over whom disease
SCENE to have no power, who are
either exempt from illness or survive it
- II it were but an emotion, who,
apart from accident, stways futdil the
yeafs Of the psalmist, and usually die
only because the still unbroken ma
chino his exhausted its stock of motive
power Doctors, whsn called IL to
such persons, are always chesrfu'. as
sure the friends that there will be q
rally soon. and would like, If they
dared for the credit of their craft, 70
sdminister as little medicine as posi-.
BILE. They had not an idea as to the
reason. unless it be hereditary pre-
disposition" or. In few cases, q cheer
full temperamcnt;sb but they know quite
we'll that In such patients there is re
Operative power" and rs they like
cures. partly out Of kindness and partly
from self-interest, they are we'll con-
tent And there are also families. as
well - individuals, in whom the life
lies low, about whose, ''sttacks," how
over slight they may appear. the
doctors always shake their head, and
of whom, when among themselves.
they will remark: 1.-THE Blanks have
a constitutional habit of dying"
Such people rarely live to be more
than middle-aged; they never attain
old nge. and when they die they die
unexpectedly. most frequently in the
first stage Of convaiescence, from what
is called RELAPSE" Something is
wanting in them which furnishes their
rivals with staying power. but then,
what Is the something? 1t certainly is
not size, for giants die rather rapidly,
and the men who are dear toinsnrance
societies are usually of the medium
build or even a little under 1t, their
weight in particular being for the most
part slightly below average. Fatness
is weakness more or less And IT Is
certainly also not Identical with pity ST.
cal strength, for athletes arc scarcely
ever long lived; women have, on the
whole, If we deduct their mortality
from child bearing. moro vitality than
men, and very feeble men, in the ath-
le tic sense, constantly attend the
funerals of far stronger juniors. Nor
does the quality of vitality arise from
any superior strength of brain.
The ab1s often live long and often
die young. The great lawyers and
thcolosiaus, men Of abnormal acute
ness, often reach vast age, as do
ganel<ce pers and country c1ereymeu,
with neither Of whom is the brain very
active or often fatig led The greatest
living poet Is rs old and as healthy as
Mr.. CT 1dstone. and the last cen ntenarian
recorded, or last but one, was sort OF
respectable female tramp. Sir Moses
Montefiore, who died at 10f, was a
most ncute-minded man, and SO was
Henry Martya, the senior wraugter
who turned missionary, and after lie
of travel not unlilS, that Of Sir Moses.
died of exhaustion just seventy years
younger.
There is fancy abroad among the
cultivated that very stupid me- do not
reach great age. but if they ask a few
masters of work houses and the man
ayers of the great charities they would
find that is an error. Nor can the
quality be accurately traced to any
conditions or method of life. The
very old are often intensely vivaci ,us,
but they are often also very dull, oc-
casionally almost itnbecile. The rich,
according to modern theories, ought
to possess the highest vitality, but as
matter of fact it belongs, taking all
the world. to negroes who were slaves
in the West India islands, aud in En-
gland to gamekeepers and excessively
poor women.
The only facts we certainly know
about habits as conducive to vitality
are that freedom from anxiety is favor
a BILE to it, probably by conserving the
pumping power OF the heart and that
is in rather singular degree heredit-
ary. the capacity of living surviving in
many families the most violent changes
in residential climates. Those who
cling to life intensely often die early;
while the Indifferent live on till death
see,Ss to have finished that furrow and
yet passed them by.
No: vitality is not Synonymous with
OF will, though it must be. on
the evidence, non-mat.ria( quality.
1t is more like gift" than anything
else, like that strangest of all capaci-
ties, the feeling for music, which must
be in a measure spiritual. yet has alb
no relation to mental force,
being as often wanting in the ab1est as
in the stupidest of mankind. What is
the soarce of the gift we none of us
know, and probably never shall, for
we cannot hope to accumulate more
experience than the great physicians
have done, and they frankly confess
that in every patient there is some
quality making for death or survival
that they can only recognize, without
pretending to understand it-London
Spectator.
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