The Saint Paul globe., 1902-11-30

ancient Egyptians were stronger IN
Old Age Than Engiishmen-Mathe
matical Formula for Finding Expec-
tation of Life.
Special to The Globe.
VIENNA, Nov. 29.-Death is always
an interesting subject-to the living.
The question of shutting off this NOR
tai coil-the supreme mystery-fasci-
mates while it perplexes us. The lat
est discussion of this terrible subject is
by that learned man, M. Jean Finot,
who has spent years in getting togeth-
er facts on the subject. OF course, the
whole thing is a lot of guesswork, in
my opinion; but it is threatening, and
doubly, too, is the question, why do
we grow old at all?" which M. Finot
asks and answers as follows: For
three reasons. First, want of physical
exercise in the open air; second, poi
soning by microbes which the phags-
cytes have not succeeded in destroy
ing; third, fear of death. 1t is hard
to imagine the Importance of this last
element. If man fears death it will
carry him away. And yet it is quite
pleasant, too; no sensation could be
compared to it,
AS proof of this assertion M. Finot
quotes the description given by a per-
son named Helm. whose sensations ex-
perienced when falling with his COM
panions from the summit of one Of the
Alps to an almost certain death, were
as follows:
Eat first a sense of beatitude. then
complete insensibility to touch and
pain, finally an extreme rapidity OF
thought and Of Imagination. which in
a few seconds enabled him to recol1ect
the events of his whole life. Therefore,
it is not death we should fear, but the
fear it inspires in us. We are wrong,
says Socrates, to fear death, as it is
our greatest possession on earth, and
Seneca adds that it is the best of the
inventions of life, while Montesquieu
concludes that we should she'd tears
when they die"
That M. Finot draws a hasty conclu-
sion as to the feelings which precede
death is apparent from many counter
vailing sources.
Are we to believe that pain does not
precede demise when groans and cries
Of terror escape the lips of the depart
ing, or when the tortured features Of
the dead reveal the throes of anguish
which accompanied dissolution?
Besides, can quote from my own in
dividual experiences in the matter. I
once had the misfortune while hunting
in the Schonbrunn forest, to be thrown
from hOrca SJ1SfQin ininC fra ofI1ra
of the skull. My hunting companions
were ahead, and it was almost an hour
before I was discovered, senseless, and
fast bleeding to death. In fact, I was
in a death swoon when help arrived.
Now, my sensations in the presence of
impending death were anything but
agreeable. They were so vividly i'm
pressed upon me that I have no diff
Guilty in recalling them. My first recol-
lection is of having my hand clasped in
what seemed to be an iron grip. Strug-
gle with it was futile, and I felt myself
being gradually drawn along through
space against my inclination. The seiz-
ure of my hands was accompanied by
no gentleness, and felt precisely as If
in the hands of some burly officer of
the law, who was dragging me off SUR
reptitiously to a cell. Presently the
grip commenced to relax, and when
came back to my senses l found that
my reseuers were administering restor
ativeS to me. The surgeons afterWard
said that the sensation of having my
hands grasped was due to contraction
of the muscles, and to cramps follow
ing profuse bleeding. I am certain
that death under the circumstances,
had it followed, would have been any,
thing but a pleasant sensation. But
such experiences are common, and on
this point it seems to me that M. F'inot
is in error.
Again, am not so sure that M.
Finot is correct in his deductions con-
cerning the fear of death fastening
the crisis. Do we find that longevity
is more prevalent among those who
have a constitutional repugnance to, if
not positive fear, of DEATH than
among those who look upon death as a
reward rather than a punishment?
Take, for instance, the Abyssinian
soldiers or the Arab warriors of any
country, even the Mohammedan SOL
diers of India, to whom it means the
supreme JUNCTION of Allah if they die
in battle-are they longer lived than
the former? 1t is doubtful and we
may CLEAN the truth from M. Finot's
own statistics. He enumerates several
cases of longevity, all taken from
among death-fearing people, and cases
which certainly could not be duplicated
among such races as esteem death a
pleasure rather than a penalty Among
these cases are those of a resident of
Goa, who is said to have reached his
400th year in the enjoyment of all his
intellectual faculties, a ScOachman who
lived to be 200 years old, and various
! monks of Mont Athos who have reach
ed $50 years. He asserts that Servian
statistics for 1897 show three persons
between 135 and 140 years old, 1S from
10 10
from 105 to 115. In 1890 there were, he
says, in the United States, 1881 per-
sons over 100 years old, and 81 in Lon
don.
We are indebted to M. Finot for one
ingenious rule by which the eXpecta-
ton of life may be gagged. 1t is
quite simple mathematical formula.
Add the ages of your father and moth
er to those of your two grandfathers
and two grandmothers and divide the
total by SIX and the quotient will give
you the exact number of years you
may expect to live.
In the opinion of this speculative
thinker and statistician the average
length of human life has not been re-
duced, but that is not due to improved
vitality in the race, the cause assigned
being the development of sanitary sci
ence.
The man of sixty or seventy years to-
day is not so strong as was his Egyp-
tan prototype. Although the chances
of life for infancy, youth and the prime
of life are improved, they have not
increased for old age. Satisfies gather
ed from certain sources show that an
Egyptian of the Ptolemaic period who
| lived to be sixty-eight was likely to
live considerably longer than modern
Englishman who had reached that age.
A peculiar explanation is given for this.
M. de Varignix says:
Evidently there was among the
Egyptians a natural selection, result
| ing from environment, that does not
foIx nIana fndau of Jaa ct f0 tho ca n, O