Birmingham age-herald., 1894-08-11
FACTS ON LONGEVITY
THEY ARE MIXED IN WITH NOTIONS THAT nora oOAr-t.nro 1-r


 Ireland. Great Britain, California aud Virginia Effect of False Teeth.
 Whether a human being or any other animal lives eight times the number of gears it takes to grow or only lve times as long is a point not yet determined. Some writers argue that man grows till he is 25 Therefore, as Hufeland urged, he has the possibility of extending his life to 200 years if he lived properly, as nature dictates. Modern theories incline to tho other rule that on the average one grows to the age of 20, and five times tho period of growth is the limit of human endur7 Rnce, no matter how carefully one lives. This theory will apply to horses dogs, cats and, in fact, to almost all kinds of brutes one has opportunities of studying.
 When Thomas Paris body was opened at his death, in his ono hundred and fifty second year, the state of the organs on which longevity most depends was found so perfect that it is stated he might Lave lived much longer if he had remained in his country home instead of being brought up to London to be shown to the king and thus subjected to q complete change of diet and all the excitement of the new life
 Climate is supposed by many to have gret influence upon human life. Scotland and England as well as Ireland have pro- duced some remarkable specimens of long liyers. In fact islands seem to be favored in respect to longevity. France, Spain and Italy have not furnished many speci. mems of centenarians while Greece is still famous US it was formerly. Too great degree. of cold is prejudcial to length of life, as in Iceland and parts of northern Siberia it is not usual to meet people of more than 60 or 70 years of age, though in moderately cold countries life is long. Between the years 1888 and 1S44 there died in England 7SS persons of 100 years and upward. Of these 532 were women and 256 men. Of this list only 72 were from London, while 137 were from Wales showing, as all statistics seem to prove, that city life Is unfavorable to length of years, while the country and small towns produce those who attain to extreme old age. Germany and Holland contain many old people, but produce few instances of extreme long life as in Great Britain.
 If a person desires to live to be 100 or 150 years of age, southern California, near Los Angeles or San Diego or somewhere in that vicinity has advantages of climate that may be most favorable to a long, calm, happy life. A temperature that never changes suddenly to great extremes is surely best for the body, and condi- tion of tho elements that permits one to live great deal in the open air. to sit by open windows even when not out of doors, to lounge on open verandas and to dis pense with close, heated rooms is the ideal climate for the determined philosophical centenarian. Too great moisture as well as too much dryness is unfavorable to long life, while a moderate degree of mois- ture is conducive to longevity. Islands like Great Britain and Ireland prove this to be true by the long list of people they produce of 0 century and upward. It has been charged by the English that Irish women often exaggerate their ages but if thank lave documentary evidence one 1pA elieve them. Among Americans, F, most of the very old people have
 )rn in Virginia. and though they
 always remain there they laid the
 Gion of good, lasting constitution
 Old Dominion.
 1t, no matter where a man was born, the closer he follows nature the more he lives in the clean, open air and sleeps in it also, the less medicine he takes, and the fewer doctors bills he pays Modern life is too full of luxury, dissipation, corrup- tion and vice to produce many men of even 100 years of age. The higher the pressure the shorter the duration of existence. Moderation in every ything-mode of liv- ing, temper, food, exercise and pleasure is the true method of preserving good health and prolonging life. If you think it is too much trouble, then go on indulg- ing in your excesscs mental and physical, taking your drugs and lying in bed with the knocker or bell tied up and muffied and thanking the doctor if there is not black crape on the door.
 A large number of centenarians whose cases have been examined and reported upon appear to have lost, some of them all and some of them nearly all, their teeth. Sir Henry Thompson thinks that the use of false teeth is injurious to the old folks, as they are led astray and apt to eat moro than can be digested properly. The sys- tenn in such subjects instead of requiring more nourishnent to keep it up than in the middle aged and young really requires less Excess would therefore be injurious, as it gives the organs too much to do, just as so many persons take up some fad, as drinking hot water or cold water, to ex- cess.
 Natures rule is in all cases best. Only drink when you arc thirsty and only enough to satisfy the thirst Expelling surplus water from the system merely adds to the work of the organs without affording any real componsating advan- tages Dumb animals even know better than to do such things. But, then, they do not have any doctor but old Mother Nature, who prescribes by instinct. As to the false teeth, however, it is stated by Sir Richard Owen that they help mastica- tion, as of course they do, and therefore assist digestion and assimilation. Lord Brougham, who died at S9, and Lord Lyndhurst, who lived to the age of 91, both agree with Sir Richard against Sir Henry Thrco to one, and tho three not. theorizing, but speaking from experience