The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1900-02-19
LONGEVITY OF THE JEWS.
Why They Overcome Their Apparent
Iy UnfHVOrabIe Surroundings.

Qrom The Family Doctor)
From time immemorial physical vigOr
has been considered a sine qua non TO lon
gevity. The races that distinguished
themselves in the history OF the world for
their aggressiveness, their physical PROV
ess and valOr have in the main been peO-
pie Injured TO hard manual labor, out-Of-
door exercise. and active modes OF living
The Greeks of old were as 8Gsiduous IN
their devotion TO their sports and games
as the Englishman Of today is TO his ma
tional pastimes OF cricket and racing, or
the German 70 his fencing. The Teuton Of
the nineteenth century in physical devel-
opment sur9asses all other races and rules
the world He IS what someone has dub
bed the masculine race He is, on the
whole a lOnE-lived race. He works with
his hands. with his body. with his legs.
and with his brain; in fact. he works al
together. He is not apt 10 stunt one
portion OF his physical makeup 10 aid in
developing another portion. In his normal
condition he is country dweller and de-
spises the town.
In contradstinction 20 the Teuton let
US consider the Jew. and We speak now Of
the masses. Physically he is poorly devel-
Oped. Centuries OF oppression have stamp
ed out his physical vigor, II not his vitali-
~. The European jew is understood. and
markedly So His mental vigor. however.
is unimpaired. and probably on the whole
is superior TO his neighbours. He is a city
dWelleT, and betrsTs an inherit dislike for
hard manual labor or for physical eNer-
else or eXertion in any form. He is averse
to Out-of-door sport. He prefers TO live
by his brain rather than by his muscle
His chest capacity is limited. and he pos
sesses many other features OF physical
degeneracy. In fact, his physical makeup
is what one would expect TO find in a
short-lived man. And here is a surprising
feature.
Possessing so few Of the elements so
long considered as necessary 10 longevity.
the Jew is probably the longest-lived Of
any race of people now IN existence. In
spite Of the social conditions which sur
round the mass OF the Hebrew populat on
the world over, and especially in the large
cities Of America, where they form q
large perUen aige or the population. the
death rate among the Jewish inhabitants
is but little over half of that of the aver
age American population
Prof. William 2. Ripley in his papers on
the racial geography OF Europe in the
| Popular Science Monthly discusses this
question very ably and very fully. He
states that if two groups Of one hundred
Infants each one Jewish and one of aver
age American parentage. be born upon the
same day. one-half OF the Americans will
die within forty-seven years, while the
first half Of the Jews will not succumb TO
| disease before the expiration of seventy
one years. According 10 Lombroso Of
900 Jews born, 217 die before the
age of seven years, while 453 Christians,
more than twice as many, are likely TO die
within he same period.
The immunity Of the Jewish population
from accident on account of their indoor
will % p,
discrepancy, but on this very account they
should be more liable 10 epidemic and 9th er
diseases. This is not wholly true, how
ever They show an abnOTmally small
proportion Of deaths from consumption and
pneumonia, which are responsible for the
largest proportion Of deaths among the
| American population. Prof. Ripley ascribes
| their immunity from this. as we'll as from
some other diseases, to the excellent sys-
/ TEN OF meat inspection prescribed by the
| Mosaic law Hoffman says that in London
! as much as one-third of the meats offered
! for sale are rejected as unfit for consump-
! tion by the Jews.
Probably the temperate habits for which
/ the Jews as race are noted will account
| to some extent for the longevity. The Jew
| is temperate in almost ali that he does, in
all that he eats, and in all that he drinks
He is seldom addicted TO the incorporate
! use of alcoholic liquors. He abstains from
| certain varieties of meat, and those of the
| richer and more heating kind; so that his
| frugal diet his temperate use of liquors
| his abstinence from certain foods which are
unwholesome. account for his remarkabl,
! freedom from Bright's disease and diseases
Of the liver which a-e largely diseases Oi
| intemperance. To SIM up, the Jew, II
! spite Of his physical condition and hi:
social surroundings. and by reason Of hi.
/ temperance and sobriety. his frugality ans
| his freedom from accident contrives. Oh
/ the average. tc live nearly twice a. long al
! his more careless ana imprudent neighbors