Evening star., 1901-11-09
THE OLDEST OF ALL
Science Wants to Know Who Can
Claim the Honor.
4 RUSSIAN MAN FOUND AGED l36
A Battle Creek Woman Who
Owls Up to ll6.
HABITS AND II OBJ B l E 5

Written for The Evening Star.
Who are the oldest man and woman
alive?
If YOU can locate them you will do sci
enCe a great service
The committee on vital statistics of the
Hundred Year Club, after months of pry-
ing into this problem, is ready to announce
the result of it's discoveries.
The oldest man alive today. according to
this research is Izai Rodofsty of Moscow,
Russia. aged 1876. His case is reported to
the club by DR.. Joseph Jernossky of Mos
cow Rodofsty retains good eyesight, but
poor hearing. He was never known to suf-
fer an Illness, has used liquor, but not to-
bacco. He comes of a longived family,
his father dying at 40.
The most aged woman of today, as far as
the committee can discover. is Mrs. Nancy
HOllineld. an inmate of the Battle Creek,
Mich. Sanitarium, who has seen III years
Her case is reported by DIR. Wood, physi-
clan of that institution. She has always
lived a temperate, simple life, doing house
work principally since she reached matur-
ity-
There are much more remarkable cases
than these on record, but the claims of but
a relatively few centenarians can be cor
Toborated. Ismal Hudjo of khuti, Albania
is reported TO have died last month at the
age of leo. his faculties being unimpaired
and his teeth intact until the last. Whether
this was bona nde case, however, has
not yet been determined by the COM
mittee.
The hobbies of centenarians are being
looked into by the Hundred Year Club. To
become adept in the fine art of living a CEN
tury it is best. necessarily, to consult the
practical and experienced man. The field
for this study is fertile, inasmuch as the
Characteristic centenarian is inveterate
hObby-rider.
Food Hobbies.
The food hobby is that most in evidence
Tier chief subsistence for the last two
years was brown sugar and cold water" is
reported of a woman 100 years old. For
the last thirty years she subsisted entirely
on potatoes is related of an old lady, 10.
A woman of 100 lived chiefly on -four pro-
visions during the last forty years of
her life. \ man 1u3 was never known
to drink anything but buttermik," and an
other. 116. was never known to drink a
draught of pure water" An Englishman,
101, lived chiefly vegetable diet and
drank frequently of the famous rock water
OF Llandridod-' He ate nothing but bread
made of Turkey wheat and constantly alb
stained from wine and tobacco" is said of
@ man of ia, while of another, 116, 1t is writ
ten, that his supper for forty years was
roasted turnips." A PhiladeIphian, 1O3,
''lived on very solid food, drank tea in the
afternoon, but ate no supper" His diet
for the last twenty years was milk and bis
cult, is reported of a man 116 years old
another. 103. for the last forty years sub
sisted entirely on bread milk and vegeta-
bies. Herb teas were bis Nreakfast;
meat plainly dressed his dinner is record
ed of another who abstained from suppers
and survived until 101. A barber who
drank nothing but water and ate ONLY
once a day." lived to see 105. The diet of
a Scotch woman III years old was butter
milk and green's" An exchange broker of
Venice always chewed citron bark and
had child after after he was 100 years
cpntSnarlan England
breakfasted regularly on balm tea, sweet
ed with honey. and systematically ate
pudding for dinner. Rosemary and syrup
of gillifiower" were mixed with the drink
of the centenarian son of one of the Earls
Of Huntingdon. A Liverpool saltweigher.
1OG. lived principally on potatoes, bread
and bacon" Another man, 1Oi. ate fish.
flesh. etc. till the age OF seventy, when.
finding that tea did not agree with him, he
used a substitute milk and little bread
boiled in ii, sweetened with brown sugar. =
Other Queer Fads.
Hobbies of centenarians enter conspicu-
pusly into practically all life habits. 1T
was his frequent custom to promote per-
spiration and then change his linen. particu-
larry as he advanced in life." recounts a
biographer of Charles Macklin. the English
playwright, who died at one hundred and
seven 1t was this genius further custom
mot to sleep on feather bed. but on a
mattress. which was a couch without cur
usually lay with his head high 1t Is fur
ther stated, but for the last twenty years
never took off his clothes unless to change
them his linen. or to be rubbed all over
with warm brandy or GIN.
VIM. Hotchkiss. known as ''the color doc
tor who died in st. Louis in 1895. and
whose Masonic record was traced back 100
years showing conclusively that he was
at least 12l years DID, attributed his long
life to hobbies, described follows: He Is
sad by those nearest to him to have not
taken a bath for over twenty-five years
but secured himself with sand. He claimed
TO have discovered the elixir of life. AT
regular intervals he stood over a smoking
biazier and allowed the smoke to envelop
his body
Il have used olive oil for thirty years, and
feel younger today than / did when l began,
though | am now in my 102d year" writes
g. E. ID. Diamond of San Francisco. 1.-The
description given in the Bible of the anoint-
ing of the chosen King of Israel with olive
oil for the purpose of increasing his number
OF years first suggested the idea to me-" he
adds. Peter Mestanea. who died in Marcia
In lf43. aged 130. bathed in the River Sc
eura every morning from the beginning of