The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1900-03-07
Longevity Of the Jews.

tingulShcd themselves IN the history
Of the world for their aggrcssiveness,
their physical prowess and valor have
in the maiu been people inurc to hard
manual labor, out of door exercise aud
active modes Of living The Greeks
Of old were as assduous IN their dcvO-
tion to their sports and games as the
Englshnan Of to day is to his nation
ii pastimc> Of cricket and racing, or
the German 70 his fencing. The Tcu-
ton Of the nineteenth century in phy
Steal dcyclopmcn, surpAsscs ali other
races aud rnles the world. !ic j.
on the whole ard longliycd race. lie
WORKS with his hands, with hi, hndy.
with hi, legs, aud with hi~ brain: in
fact, lic works al,ogcthcr lie i not
apt.o stunt one portion G. bis ply
Steal make up 70 aid III developing
another portion. In his normal con
dilion lie is u country dwcler and de
spiscs the town.
In contradistinction to the Tcuton
let us consider the Jew and we speak
Of the masses. Physically he is poor
ly developed. Centuries Of opprcs-
sion have stamped out his physical
vigor, if not his vitality. The Eu-
ropcan Jew is undcrsized, and mark
edly so. His mental vigor, however,
is unimparcd, and probably on the
whole is superior to his neighbor s.
He is city dweller. and betrays an
inherent dislike for hard manual labor
or for physical exercise or exertion in
any form. He is aversc 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
! make sup is what one would expect to
End in shortlived man. And here is
a surprising feature.
Possessing 80 few of the elements
30 long considered as necessary to
longevity the Jew is probably the
longest lived of any race of people
now in existence. His tcnacity of
life is remarkable. In spite of the
social conditions which surround the
mass of the Hebrew population tho
world over, and especially in the large
cities of America, where they form
IL large percentage Of the population.
the death rate among the Jewish in-
habitants is but little overhaul Of
that Of the average American popula-
ton. Prof. William u. Ripley, in his
papers on the racial geography of
Europe, in the Popular Science Month
ly, discusses this question very ably
and very fully. He states that if two
groups of one hundred infants each,
one Jewish and one of average Amer
lean parentnge, be born upon the same
day onehalf of the Americans will
die within II years, while the first
half Of the Jews will not succumb to
disease before the expiration of II
years. According to Lombroso, of
1000 Jews born, 217 die before tbe
age of years, while 453 Christmas
more than twice as many are likely to
die within the same period.
| The immunity Of the jewish popu-
lation from accident on account of
their indoor occupation will account
for some Of the discrepancy, but on
this very account they should be more
liable to epidemic and other disease.
This is not wholly true, howev ST.
Tney show an abnormally small pro-
portion Of deaths from consumption
and pneumonia, which are responsible
for the largest proportions Of deaths
among the American population.
Prof. Ripley ascribes their immunity
from this. as we'll as from some other
diseases, to the excellent system of
meat inspection prescribed by the
Mosaic law. Hoffman says that in
London as much as one-third of the
meats offered for sale arc rejected as
unfit for consumption by the Jews.
Probably the temperate habits for
which the Jews as race are noted
will account to some extent for their
longevity. The Jew is temperate in
almost all that he does, in all that ho
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 tenn
perate use Of liquors, his abstinence
from certain foods which are unwhol-
aome acnonnt for his rcmartn hlo fraa