The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1902-08-30

ieath-not of death itself. If we fol
low this rule there is no reason VIII,
we should not all become centenarian
so we are told in the Revue d'Econo
mic Politique by NJ. Jean Finot, say
the Literary Digest. The author
begins an article on the limita
tions of life by mentioning som,
traditional long lives. Among thes,
cases are those of q resident O.
Goa, who is said to have reached hi.
40Oth year in the enjoyment of all hi,
Intellectual faculties; Scotchmar
who lives to be over 200 years old, an6
various monks of Mont Athos who
have reached $50 years. He asserts
that Servian statistics for 1897 show 3
persons between 1875 and 140 years old,
Is from 126 to 1875, 1913 from rs to 1875,
and 300 from los to lis. In 1890 there
were, he says, in the United States,
1881 persons over 100 years old, and 81
in London. M. Finot cites mathe-
NAUTICAL formula, which he credits to
DIR. Richardson, by which any one may
get an idea of his probable length Of
life. 1t is only necessary to add the
ages OF ones father and mother to
those of ones two grandfathers and
two grandmothers, and the total d.
vided by six indicates the exact number
of years one should live. NJ. Finot does
not believe that the average length of
human life has been reduced. On the
contrary, he believes that it is con-
stanfly increasing, owing to the prog
ress of hygiene. Why do we grow old
at all? The writer answers:
For three reasons: az Want of
physical exercise in the open air; (2)
poisoning by microbes, which the
have not succeeded in de-
stroying; (3) fear of death. 1t is hard
to imagine the Importance Of this last
element. If man fears death, it will
garry him away. And yet it is quite
pleasant to die; no sensation could be
to it,"
To prove this assertion M. Finot
quotes Helm, who related the sensa-
ions he experienced while falling with
his companions from the summit of
me OF the Alps to death which he
niraculously escaped:
AT first sense of beattitude. then
complete insensibility to touch and |
ain; finally an extreme rapidity of |
hought and of Imagination, which in /
few seconds enabled him to recollect !
he events of his whole life. Therefore,
is not death we should fear, but the
ear it inspires in us. We are wrong.
avs Socrates, to fear death, as il is
ur great possession on earth, and
eneca adds that it is the best of the in
entions of life, while Montesquieu
oncludes that we should shed tears
Or men when they are. born and not
hen they die" re ID 4osrt 81 I
M. Henry de varigny examines the
nestion of longevity insL'Ilfustration
'om another point of view. He asks:
Has the man of to-day Chance tosI
We longer than the man of 1000 years.
go? He bases his conclusions upon
Iarts and statistics published by Prof.
arl Pearson in Biometrika and upon
e researches made by w. Spiegel-
'rg. OF Strassburg, on the age of
gyptian mummies. These concIu- ,
ons are that an Egyptian who 1000
ars ago lived to be So years old was
kelly to live longer than modern ,
nglishman of the same age. M. de
arigny gives the following explana-
IN:
Evidently there was among the 4
yyptians natural selection, result
from environment, that does not 4
ke place to-day at least to the same
gree among civilized people. The n
yyptians who reached the age of So :