West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1893-10-05
THE SEXES In OLD AGE.
Facts Cleaned from tho Statistics
OF One Year.
Five Women live 60 80 Over One Hun
drcd Years Old Where Only Ono
Man Reaches That Age-Influ-
once OF Occupation.


ulntcd all the cases Of exceptionally
long life recorded In its obituary coll
umns during 1892. In dealing with
such facts. scientists are always bcsct
with the difficulty Of deciding whether
some apparent conclusion Is really
natural law or only an erroneous gen.
eralization which would be corrected by
q wider induction. Thus, though the
percentage of those who attained tho
of 80 and upward was ouly ca In
1892 os compared with 1910 in 1891, 1919
In 1890 and 1876 In 1889. 1t would be very
rash to conclude that there was any
general decline Of longevity. No doubt
this low figure Is arr accidental fiuctua-
ton and requires TO be read in the light
Of the averages of long series OF years.
The octogenarians recorded I'm these
tables numbered 1851, and IL Is found
that Of these 505 were males and go fe-
males. IL appears, also. that ut all
ages above 80. with perhaps casual cx-
ception OF two, the proportion Of long
lived females exceeds that of long-lived
males Five women exceed the limit
OF 100 years rs compared with one man.
A ratio so steadily maintained as this
must possess some Significance even
making every deduction for the limited
nature Of the data. We arc disposed to
find the explanation, not In any sexual
popularity, but rather in the different
circumstances which characterize the
lives Of elderly men and elderly women.
While there are many exceptions, there
can be no doubt that on the whole
women lead easier lives than men.
Their occupations, however hnrassing
nnd engrossing, arc still In the main
much less laborious than those of men,
and, In addition, women are. us a class,
largely removed from many of the
gravest perils which shorten the lives
Of men in various occupations. The
army. the navy. the mercantile marine
and n majority of the most dangerous
trades employ men only, and 1t may be
said there Is hardly any single occupa-
ton of exceptional risk which Is carried
on exclusively by women. Sick-nursing,
which might be thought to be an exccp-
ton, h, on the whole, when properly
organized, a healthy occupation, the
regularity of life and habit, tho lsnowl-
edge possessed by the trained nurse and
the high morale required of her more
than compromising for the risk arising
from frequent contact with infectious
disease. Women, especially when they
are advanced In years, are largely re-
moved from conditions which imperil
longevity in men. A woman over 20
who still works laboriously for her liv-.
ing Is fortunately an exception. where
as most men, even when there Is no
absolute necessity, dislike the idea OF
retirement and inaction, and work on,
ppeferring to die in harness. The influ-
ence of sex upon the duration of and
prospect Of life Is an interesting subject
upon which we possess good deal of
information. As Is wcll known, the
proportion of male births definitely ex-
ceeds that of female births I'm the pro-
portion of thirty or forty per thousand
The mortality of males In early life ex-
ceeds thatof females. while in middle
life the perils incidental to collaborating
swell the rate Of female mortality. In
advanced years again, as we have seen,
the expectation of life is decidedly
somewhat better In the female DIR. o.,
In the life table compiled from the NOR
tally returns of i77l-'So. shows that at
birth the expec tation of life Is 41.s5
years In the male, as compared with
44.62 in the female. At each succeed
ing point the female average keeps
steadily ahead. The expectation of life
may be tabulated as follows: