The times., 1899-05-14
THE QUESTION OF LONG LIFE.
One Person in Fifty Thousand May
Reach the Century Mark.
From The spectator.)

From The Spectator.)
It does not appear quite easy to be a
centenarian. Sir G.. Cornewail Lewis no
doubt was rash in assuming it to be i'm
possible. and Mr.. Thom, the Librarian OF
the House of Lords. who, after exhaustive
investigation, pronounced such cases rare,
was probably the victim of a precon-
ceiyed idea; but even 7. E. Young. the
very newest authority. the late president of
the Institute OF Actuaries. is evidently in
elined TO think that the normal life of the
healthiest and most enduring persons is
considerably less than a century. The
general conclusion of his very interesting
and instructive though rather overloaded
book upon the subject is that the instances
of abnormal longevity. which, however,
do occur are, so to speak, sports or aher-
rations. The length OF the potential life
cannot, 1t is true, be proved, for there Is
no absolute reason either in thsory or in
science why life should ever end, any
more than there is why man should not
be twelve feet high; but universal expert
ence, or, as it is sometimes called. the
rule OF frequency is sufficient evidence.
Human life, Mr.. Young moreover thinks.
ends even in aberrant cases very close TO
the century. The longest life OF which
there is proof that would satisfy an in
surance office does not exceed 106 years.
| The duration of patriarchal life asserted in
Scripture, however. the statement may be
explained, cannot refer to individual life.
, and the cases so often quoted of Jenkins,
Parr, Cornaro, and others remain entirely
without yeriication. They are sometimes
frauds, sometimes blunders and sometimes
merely instances of ignorant credulty.
The number even of centenarians is ex-
ceedingly few. The enquiries of the Insti-
tute of Actuares and the Faculty of Actu-
aries, together with those of the actuary of
10 Mt dahf oHa
| eight hundred thousand lives. and among
them only twenty-five indisputable cases
| OF life protracted beyond the century can
| be discovered, Of whom four were males
and eighteen females. These 1t will be OBJ
served, were all picked lives persons either
! accepted by the offices because they were
| likely to live. or persons with comparative
| ly good means who had unusual confidence
| in their own chances of survival. and
| therefore bought annuities. (Mr. Young,
| indeed, makes the exceedingly acute sug-
| gestion that people really know a good
| deal about their own constitutions and
that consequently the self-selection of an
! nuitants by themselves impairs the ac-
curacy Of many calculations.) 1t follows
] that even among such persons the chance
Of anyone reaching hundred is only about
| one in fifty thousand. while as the assured.
| especially among women, have usually sur
mounted the great dangers of life. the
chance of anyone taken indiscriminately
| from the population is almost indefinitely
! less.
| The custom of humanity is. therefore.
against anyone who wishes to be CEN
tenarian, while apparently his own action
| will help him very little, the conditions
| OF longevity being in great measure invol-
| untary. Moderation in flesh eating, it is
| true, and In the drinking Of alcohol con-
| duces to heightened life, and so does a
placid temperament. which. however,
| must not, We suspect be artificial, as per-
petual self-restraint exhausts vital energy;
but the three main conditions were settled
| before the aspirant was born. He should
| be OF spare habit. which is constitutional;
he should be of medium height, over which.
| as Scripture tells us, he has no control;
| and he should be born in one of those
families the members of which have a
general habit of living to eighty-five or
| ninety. This is much the most important
| requisite OF all. and 1t is not quite estab-
| lished that it is not universal one.
! Whence the quality is derived is not yet
| understood, but it is beyond question that
| there exists in some families a quality as
separate as any race popularity which en-
! ables a majority of its members to go on
living beyond the average period They
are not physically stronger than other
people, and they are as often attacked by
disease. but they have power of recover
ing themselves completely after Illness
which other men do not possess. and they
consequently decay more slowly. II is
probable though not certain. indeed. that
this peculiarity extends to whole races.
and that the greater average duration of
Western as compared with Eastern life
is derived from it. The Asiatic-that is,
he who is never attacked by severe illn ss-
lives as long as the European, but if he is
attacked he has an inferior faculty of re-
| does l.
pletely, or he dies at once. 1t should be
added that for those wishing to be CEN
tenarians 1t is convenient to be born a
woman, for the present popular notion.
which Mr.. Young shows to be compara-
lively new, that old women tend to live
longer than old men, is absolutely true.
so true as to affect the tables of all life
insurance societies. More of them pass
! the one hundredth year. and they pass ii
! by longer period OF time. though at last
the oil burns out in the lamp of both sexes.
This burning out of the oil is, by the Tay.
one of the best arguments for the usually
illogical belief of the materialists. II sug-
gests that a man may have at birth a
certain quantity OF the essence call life.
commonly supposed to be immaterial or
spiritual, and that when this is used up
he ceases as living being TO exist)
VIII the total number OF centenarians in
crease? The answer must almost certainly
!
the comfortable classes. They tend. a:
everyone can see for themselves, to live
longer. There is considerable evidence
that in the fourteenth. fifteenth, and six
: teenth centuries men of seventy were con-
sidered very aged and that a man o
eighty was rare phenomenon; and, Of
course, the number of the exceptionally ole
increases with the number of the aged
There is no increase, an imperceptiblt
/, one in the degree of the exception. bu
|, there is in the number of exceptions fac
, observable in another department of phys
! les. The ancient world produced few
men as tall as modern giants-the Emperor
Maximin. for example-but it seems certain
that the proportion OF six-footers, and. in
= deed. the general bulk. has enormously in
: creased The Roman soldiery were small
. 1.-the men. and there does not exist IL
! England a set of suits of Middle Age armo
which the larger Guardsmen OF our daI
S could by any device or exertion put on TO
battle. There will, therefore, if medica
science, sanitation and the general habi
i of obedience to the laws of health continu
n to improve be many more centenarians-
possibly. Mr.. Young hints, so many as L
b make the sale of annuities based upon ex
= isting tables of longevity very risky spec
e ulation Whether that fact will increas
e either the wisdom or the happiness CT tn
= world is a more doubtful matter.