The evening times., 1900-02-19
LONGEVITY OF THE JEWS.
Why They Overcome Their Appnrent-
ly UnfayOrabIe Surroundings.
lFrom DC Family Doctorl


From the Family Doctor)
From time immemorial physical yigor
| has been considered 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 assiduous in
J 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 to his fencing. The Teuton of
! the nineteenth century in physical deyel-
| opment surpasses all other races and rules
| the world. He is what someone has dub
| bed the masculine race. He is, on the
whole, long-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 TO stunt one
portion of his physical makeup to aid in
| developing another portion. In his normal
! condition he is a country dweller and de-
| spises the town.
In contradistinction to 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 yigor, If not his Vitali-
ty. The European Jew is undersized, and
markedly so. His mental vigor. however.
is unimpared, and probably on the whole
is superior to his neighbor's. He is a city
dweler, and betrays an inherit dislike for
hard manual labor or for physical eXer-
else or eXertion in any FORM He is averse
10 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 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 percentage of the population. the
death rate among the Jewish inhabitants
is but little over half of that of the aver
age American population.
Prof William z. 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 to Lombroso of
200 Jews born, 217 die before the
age OF seven years. while 453 Christians,
more than twice as many, are likely 10 die
within he same period.
- L. .1a..
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 9th er
diseases This is not wholly true, how
ever. They show an abnormally small
nroportion 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 well as from
some other diseases, to the excellent sys-
tenn 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 a race are noted will account
TO some extent for the longevity. The Jew
is temperate in almost all 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 remarkable
freedom from Bright's disease and diseases
of the liver which are largely diseases OF
ntemperance. To sum up, the Jew, In
spite of his physical condition and his
social surroundings, and by reason OF his
temperance and sobriety. his frugaiity ami
his freedom from accident, contrives, on
the average. to live nearly twice as long as
his more careless and inprudent neighbors
Whom vou drink beer, let il be Heurich's, and