The Portland daily press., 1900-03-20
THE ONG-LIyED JEW.
Things That May Account Ina Part for
Hts Longevity.
{ The Family Doctor.


The races that distinguished themselves
In the history of the world for their
agrressiveness, their physical prowess
and valor have in the main been people
Injured TO hard manual labor, out Of
door exevc,ss and active modes Of living.
The Greeks Of old were as assiduous In
their devotion to their sports and games
% the Englishmar Of today La to his
national pastimes Of cricket and racing,
or the German to mis- fencing. The
Teuton of the nineteenth century In
physic development surpasses all other
races and rules tbs world. he Is what
some one has dubbed o masculine race.
He Is on the who's long lived race. He
works with his hands, with his body.
with bis legs and with his brain; in fact
be works altogether. He 10 not apt to
stunt one portion of his physical makeup
to aid In developing another portion. In
his normal condition he is Q country
dwellsr and despisss the town.
In contradistinction to the Teuton let
us consider the jew, and we speak now of
the moses. Physically he La poorly de-
velopsd. Centuries of oppression have
stamped out his physical vigor, II lot
his vitality. The European Jew Is I'M
dersized. and markedly so. His mental
vigor, however, IL unimpaired, and
probably ON the whole Ia superior to his
neighbours. He Is a city dweller, and
betrays an inheren. dislike for hard
manual labor or for physical exercise or
exsrtion in any form. He Is ayeTss 60
out door sport. He prefers to live In
his brain rather than by his muscle. His
chest capacity is limited, and he possesses
many other features Of physical 9egsner
acy. In tact, his physical makeup Is
what one would expect TO find In short
lived man. And here 10 q surprising
feature.
Possessing so few of the elements 60
long oonsidered necessary 20 longevity,
the jew 10 probably the longest lived Of
any race OF people now in existence. His
tenacIty of fife is remarkable. In spite
of the socia conditions which surround
the mass of the Hebrew population the
world over, and especially In the large
cities of Amer ioa, where they form
large perosnta2e of the population, the
death rate among the Jewish Inhabitants
Ia but little over half of that OF the aver
age American population. Prof. William
Ripley IN his papers on the racial geog
raphy of Europe In 1.-The Popular Science
Monthly" discusses this question very
ably and very fully. He states that il
two groups of leo infants each, one Jewish
and one OF average American Percentage,
be born upon the came day, ons-hah Of
the Americans will die within forty
seven years, while the nrst half Of the
Jews will not succumb to disease before
the expiration Of seventy-one years. Ac-
cordlng to Lombroso, of ], 00U Jews born,
2l7 die before the age of seven years,
Ill Of hhNta La than ~
as many are likely TO die within the same
period.
The Immunity of the Jewish popula-
ton from accident on account OF their
indoor occupation will account for some
Of the discrepancy, but on this very at
count they should 10 more ii able to ept-
demio and other disease. This Is not
wholly true however. They show an abb
normally small proportion Of death from
consumption and pneumonia, which are
responsible for the largest proportion OF
deaths among the American population.
Prof. Ripley ascrio es their immunity
from this, as we'll as from other diseases,
to the excellent system of meat inspection
prescribed by the Mosaic law. Hoffman
says that In London as m UGH as one-third
of the meats offered for sale are rejected
as unfit for consumption by the Jews.
Probably tire temperate hatits for
which The Jews as q race are noted will
account To some extent for the longevity.
The Jew is temperate In almost all that
he does, In all thDt he eats, and in all
that hs drinks. He Ia seldom addicted
to the Incorporate use of acoholic liquors.
He ahstains 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 unwhole-
some, account for his remarkable free
dom from Bright's disease and diseases
OF the liver, which are largely diseases Of
Incompetence. To sum up, the jew, In
spite Of his phys condition and his
social surroundings, and by reason OF his
temperance and Eohriety, his frugaiity
and his freedom from accident, oontrives
on the average, to live nearly twice as
long as his moro careless and imprudent
neighbors.