The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1892-03-03
LENGTH OF LIFE.
The Changes Constantly Going on In the
Human Body.

not living and living things is the fac
that changes are constantly going on il
those parts of the body which are aliv
| and occur in certain definite times; an,
the amount of time allowed for thes
changes depends largely on the proper
| ties of the living matter itself. The TIM
required to hatch an egg depends upor
what sort of an egg it is; it is the same
in 8 chicken Matching oven as it is under
the setting hen. Growth, decay end death
have each their allotted times and sea-
sons-the little mass Of living matter
which produces hair can form just sc
much ledgth of hair and no more, and
when it has done its work it shrivels and
dies; when another little mass of cells
takes its place and begins to push out
new hair. The life Of a single hair in a
grown man is from two to six years; ev-
[! cry day he loses from thirty to fifty dead
hairs and begins to produce nearly as
many new ones.
So, also, each animal has certain
time which it can live; it is like ma
lchine constructed to run so long and no
slonger. For most animals this time is
labout five times that required for the an.
final to obtain its full growth and devel-
lipment, which in man occurs when he is
rom 20 to % years old, so that he ought
o live from 100 to ITO years. AS q mat.
pr of fact, the average life of all the ba.
lies that come into the world is only
bout SS years; very few live to be over
0, and not more than one out of 1000
pes his hundredth birthday. Is this due
! original differences in the babies
temselves, or in the way they are
bought up, in the places in which they
be, in the air they breathe and in their
Dde of'life after they become full
gown? To answer these questions one
the first things we want to know is
aether people die equally fast every
oere, and, if not, where is it that they
d soonest or live longest2 The answer
tthis is that people die much more rap
iy in some countries than in others;
# instance, they die twice as fast in
3 Hngary as they do in Sweden, In the
ylr 1889, out of every 1000 persons liv
id in the following countries there died,
iriugland, 1S; in Norway, II; in swe
de 16; in Austria, %; in Hungary, 80;
in Germany, %; in France 81, and in |
1ts, % How many died in the United
stes we do not know, because no
acunt of them was kept in the greater
palof the country; but it was probably
IT 1S out of each 1000 living. We do
kn', however, that they died faster in
son cities than in others. For example,
oubf each 1000 people living there
die during the year ending May 81.
1S9in New York city, 81; in Brooklyn,
25,n Boston, "a; in Philadelphia, %;
in ,icago, 81; in Detroit, 20; in St.
Loi, 19; in Minneapolis, Is, while in
theountry districts the loss was only IL
or lout of each 1000,
20, we know that they died faster in
aou parts of the same city. than they
didn others; thus, the death rate per
thoand in Boston in the eighth ward
washirty-three, while in the twenty
foul ward it was eighteen. In Brook
lynn the fifth ward, it was thirty three,
snd the twenty-fourth ward eighteen
andn Philadelphia it was 81 in ward
fou nd IA in ward thirty-three. What
aree causes of these great differences ?
In frat place, they depend upon the
nuler of little children present in these
disnt places. The baby's grasp OF
exince is at first feeble; the little
fs,of life in it fickers and trembles,
ane does not require much to put it
ouatogether. The heavy death rates
occamong the children. Thus, in the
fou ward in Philadelphia out of each
tband white children under five years
old5 died; while in the thirty-third
wabnly So died, which accounts for a
lar part of the difference in the death )
rat,f the two wards, and at the same
tint Rows that there must be some great
diface between them in their influence
on I'd Life. {
L not quite correct to say that in :
thoplaces where the fewest number per
thond die the people live the longest, 9
butts true in most cases, and we may !;
the elre say that people live longer in !
smsowns than in large cities. This is !
truot only in the United States, but =
all + the world.
Ius now see where the greatest -
uur of old people, in proportion to
thea population, are to be found liv- .
ipgthe United States. An examina- =
tiof the records of the tenth census :
shGhst in 1880 this was in New Eng. =;
Ian Of each 100000 white persons ~ ~
theere then living and over 80 years, o.
old Connecticut, 996; in Maine, Il =
147l Massachusetts, 809; in New .,
Hshire, 1,47S; in Rhode Island, 1927
and Vermont, 1922. These are high n
er fes than are shown for any other II
Sta In New York the corresponding T.
proion was 563; in Pennsylvania, al
41l Maryland, 347, and in Delaware a.
4O9n Ohio, it was 412; in Indiana, RI
261 Illinois, 2l5 in Iowa, 2lS; in p
Mian 9l9; in minnesota, 139; in 90
Kelky, 1928; in Tennessee, S47; in h,
Vira, SOL; in North Carolina, 6O7;
in i, Carolina, AL; in Florida, 2O4;
in tgis, 90l; in Alabama, 941; in
Misppi. 345 in Louisiana, 161 ; and 81,
in Is, Ill. In Montana, it was only wi
27 Nevada, 26; in Wyoming S5; in ps
Ida4O; in Dakota, 81; in Arizona, lo