Elmore bulletin. [volume] (Rocky Bar, Idaho) 1889-1906, 1893-08-26
WHY THEY LIVED LONG.
THE REASON THE PATRlARcHS At
Tanned SUCH LENGTH OF YEARS

.n,,in. Ney.r Wore Anybody Out In
Those Days'-The Present Rapid Waste
Of LIte-A Doctors specuiasons ON the
Case OF a Forty Year-oid BOY.
The newspapers contained an account OF
West Virginia man. forty years old, VINO
Is declared TO he an example OF slow intel
lectual development This person, nus
sell Barnes, OF Clarksburg, has been re
purCed from infancy ~ an tmbecile, bur
his development has gone on slowly, ana \
now he exhibits the aptitude OF school
boy Of fourteen aud betrays the love OF
study. Professor Morris, who Is much IN
terested In the case, says that Barnes IN |
/ reality possesses tine mind, and II he
/ lives long enough for IL 20 reach IL tuli de
vslopment, viii be capable OF great things
! That, remarked a physician 10 the re
| porter. SIS directly ia line with a theory
| that | have long held. and by means OF
which | reconcile the longevity Of the
patriarchs who existed before the food
| with the length OF years OF those who rush
through life In these days.
BIBLICAL FIX AMPLES
Look at the Biblical record OF the first
men Of the race Of which we have any
knowledge Al all Adam lived TO he 900
years old. Seth. 9l2 Enos ao5, Caiuan, 9lO.
Mahnleel, sgj, Jared. 9t2 Enoch, the
brightest man OF that epoch, only remained
| on the earth 2ia years He WAS sixty-flSe
years old when Methuselah, who was prob
ably his first born, saw the light lie mar
ried young for that time. ms, by observing
the record in the first chapter Of Genesis,
you will see that most of the patriarchs did
not marry until they were in the nlneties
n That can be inferred. not from the inior
mntion given as To the wedding. but from
the chronicle ~ the birth Of the first son
You see, the world was young, and outside
the beauties 81 natdre the mind had noin
ing to feed upon Pastoral people are SLOW.
and these, the first OF pastorals, were with
, out doubt the sIow-st IL is the cultivated
mind that sees the beautiful ia nature
"What mean tn say is. the reason these
patriarchs achieved such great length OF
years is because it was necessary for their
development At twenty years old they
; were no better intellectually than babies
In arms; nj forty they were like this West
Virginia wonder, like schoolboys OF four
teen years oil Rather less mature. | i'm.
agine, more like kindergarten boys Of
| four or five Methuselah, who lived TO
the age Of NO years, was probably the
slowcst OF these old fellows"
your theory is somewhat fauciful,'
suggested the reporter
mot at all, not Mt all, /" said the doctor
: warmly "Tne human machine only wears
Q out as II IL used II took MethCselab, who
. was doubtless possessed OF even a better
: constitution than the other patriarchs who
i lived before the flood, little longer q
wear out than the others. Brains never
! wore anybody out in those days. There
were no sleepless nights leading along the
highway to nervous exhaustion or lunacy
| WI ~ 81
: mentally and physically at forty That
g would appear very rapid waste OF life q
: the slow going ph'riarchs
Z at would not br much morn rapid, com
il paratiyely. than the whimsical idea Of
. brief aud rapid existence conveyed in thu
) 'Ephemprals,' sketch in spectacular
. play ex nibited here few years ago. wher,
Z a boy WAS born, passed through the sta yes
n OF youth, manhood aud old age, and die,
l. all within twenty.four hours Existence
is not comprised in mere length OF years
but In experiences. In an Arabian tale
man immcrscs his head In tub Of water
i II Is under water but moment. less thar
= a minute. yet in nat time his mind travel
A to far country, where lac lives sever
years, is married, raisrs family aud nc
= quiFes a fortune-a longer life. so far n
= experience is concerned, than that Of Ne
= thusellh, Of whom the record Is that al
le the days Of Methuselah were nine hundre
r and sixty nine years. and he died
.s WHEN THE CHANGE CANE,
- when the race began 10 think" re
i sumed the doctor, their years began L
= shorten Abraham died at the early az
Of "a hundred, threescore and fifteen years
10 Human life must have been greatly short
Is ened by that epoch. for the comment
70 made thai Abraham gave up the ghos
"a al
r. full Of years, aud he MAS little more tina
Il one.ilfth rs old H. Mcthusclah. When ia
i Jewish race was AZ the height Of It's inte
! lectuaiity solomon gives the space of hu
man life as threescore and ten, and that
what il is today. Life insurance table
give figures showing that the expectauc
Of years is continually growing greate
g This may be 30. but such statistics cannt
n be absolutely relied upsu. The hurryin
u, activities OF the present day. which M
ne doubtedly will he multiplied I'm the yeai
ms TO come-a future now near at hand-wl
"a further shorten life The throbbiug hrai
n and pulsinR heart will he incited 10 sue
energy rs 10 wear ont the machine
= which they are "A part, aud when It is wor
he out there Is no way Of repairing IL
q But this forty year-old boy up tn We
d. | Virginia. began the reporter
ST III his mint develops with no more r
r. pidity III the years 10 come than it has
:, the past forty he will achieve length
years that will be almost UP to the ant
deluge STANDARD Divide bis life in'
periods or stages. Not into seven ages
Shakespeare has done, but into live.
.. forty years be has reached the close Of u
p first stage 81 his existence, that OF the b.
= Of thirteen or fourteen. just ready to st'
:" out Of shorts into trousers. IL has tax,
N forty years 20 develop into this, three tim
~ As long ~ j. ordinarily required TO NAL
he this development. The next stage the a.
ke OF twenty eight, wonld, logically, requi
he three times forty years. that is l2O year
~ the next period, 20 have the experience
Il the mau Of forty-two years, would requi
another 10 years. then each Of the ~
- next periods should tie given 10 years
bring him mp 70 AN equivalent IN existen
. with our three score aud ten. | make ol
that his life expectancy Is Go years. TIL
Is only an approximate estimate, of cours
OF Il might bc thar this expectancy would
IS exceeded by hundred years or 20. IL Is
ne very interesting case, and | am sorry tn
ha cannot remain on earth few hnndr
Al years to take notes upon IT, Such = su
=. ject will be Of great interest TO the reade
~ OF medical literature six or seven centuri
ne hence. n-Indisuapolis journal
ch -
=, just n Little saperstitioas.