The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1898-01-07
THE DURATION or HUMAN
LIFE.

1t will be remembered, says the New
York San, that Sir George Cornewall
Lewis presistently expressed the belief
that no man or woman ever lived to be
century old. By an odd coincidence,
opinions distinctly at variance with his,
are published in the September number
of the Nineteenth Century by one whose
early education was guided by him; VIZ
refer to Lady Glenesk. Apparently
she had not had access to the Russian
statistics, which vouch for the exist
ence, at the present time, of several
persons who have exceeded century,
not only by thirty or forty, but even
by fifty years. She, herself, however,
brings forward some remarkable ex-
amples of longevity, upon which, and
upon the analogies supplied by the
lower animals, she bases the conclusion
that the human being was intended for
greater length of life than is usually
attained in our artificial existence, and
that, under favorable circumstances, he
ought to be able to live one hundred
and twenty-five years.
1t may be stated broadly that an
animal lives from eight times to five
times as long as it grows. This is a
we'll attested scientific fact. Offish the
carp are especially longlivcd. To osome
members of the reptile tribe also re-
markablc longevity is attributed.
Among birds, the parrot, the raven, the
swan and the eagle are credited with
great length of life. In the mammalia,
since We have no accurate means of
ascertaining whales age, it may be
said that the elephant is the most long
lived. 1t grows for twenty-five or
thirty years, and it is said to live one
hundred and fifty, and even longer.
The horse is comparatively a short
lived animal, but it is wellknown
fact that, when he does little work and
passes the greater part of his days in
pasture, he may compass about forty
years of life. Now, man in his natural
state, that is to say, where the ripen-
ing period is not artiicially FASTENED,
requires at least twenty-five years for
the organs of the body-not counting
the brain, which develops late-to OBJ
tain complete growth and full matnri-
ty. If we apply to him the ratio be-
tween the duration of growth and the
duration of existence, which is exhibit
cd by other mammals, he should reach
an age of at least one hundred and
twenty-five years, and, in England rs
we'll as in Russia, he has been known
to go beyond this, like, for instance,
Old Parr, who, said to have been born
in 1888. died in 1885
Striking, also, are the facts in the
case of Marie Durand, which Lady
Glenesk took pains to verify by cor
responding with the mayor of her ma
tive town in the Department of Isere,
and by commissioning friend to visit
the old peasant herself. Extracts from
the parish register show that Marie
Durand was born in 1870 and was mar
rird to hor first husband in 1884. Two
sons 10y her frs. marriage were killed
at the battle of Friedland and in Spain.
She was living in 1885; being then one
hundred and twenty-five years old.
Among modern English examples Of
longevity may be mentioned Lady
Smith, who lived to be one hundred and
six; Miss Elizabeth Gray (an aunt OF
Gen. Cunningham Robelts), who died
in 1858, within twenty-five days other
one hundred and eighth birthday; Miss
Joanna Hastings, of Malvern, who, in
1885, attained her one hundred and
third birthday, and William Mann, of
kirktield, near Haddo, who died at the
age of one hundred and seven. 1t is
scarcely worth while to cite such we'll
known instances as those oi Mr.. Chew
reul, who lived to be one hundred and
two, and Sir Moses Montefiore, who, in
1895, died in his one hundred and first
years. The comparatively frequent
appearance of feminine names in the
records of longevity is due to the fact
that while up to the age of twenty-five
the man is undoubtedly younger and
less developed than the woman, yet in
the next twenty years the man ages
much more rapidly, so that the wo.
man, if she can escape the perils OF
childbirth, has the better chance OF at.
tanning extreme length of life.
1t seems, then, arguing from the
analogies furnished by other animals
and relying on we'll attested cases OF
extreme longevity in human beings
the writer in the Nineteenth Century is
justified in rejecting the axiom attrib
uted to the Psalmist that the 'davs o
man are three score years and ten
1t is strange, indeed, as Lady Glenesk
says, that SO many people overlook 6
very different avcrmcnt on the subject
made on higher Scriptural authority
We refer to the memorable declaration
of Genesis vi, 3, that "Yet his days
shall he hundred and twenty years.