Evening star., 1903-10-30
SECRET OF LONG LIFE
SIMPLICITY OF HABIT THE WAY
TO OLD AGE.
Notable Examples of Plain Living and
High Thinking-Abstemiou
ness in Diet.

From the London Standard.
| Though it is generally true that II the
| years Of a man be extended TO four score
| they become towards the end a burden and
| wearisome. there a notable exception
| in the long life of the late pope His Sc
| rene and lucid enjoyment of existence was
| as remarkable his heroic resistance 10
| death. Plain living and high thinking
| achieved yet another triumph in his ninety
| four years. His simple life and unclouded
| mind have been too recently set forth to
| need exposition. A shilling day covered
the cost of his food. which consisted of milk
and eggs, with an occasional chicken. a few
| vegetables and little wine Every morn
| Ing he rose at six. and ii was midnight or
| later before he retired to rest His inter
Vening hours were filled with the duties of
| his high office and literary composition IL
| there be any highway to long life and a
| happy one. it lies in some such simplicity.
Cornaro of Venice
| So Carnaro the Venetian nobleman. who
lived to 10S. discovered. At forty-five lac
| found life a burden. and medicine failing TO
ease his ills. he drew up a strict dietary
| Twelve ounces of solid food per diem with
three-uuarters of a pint of new light wine
| was henceforth his only food. Upon this
he recovered vigorous health and enioycd
| his life for half century after his physician
| had pronounced him moribund Sis Isaac
| Holden. who died a few years go at the age
| OF ninety-one was Of similar theory
| and action as Leo XIII. His first rule was
never to spend less than two hours in the
| open air. When he entered his first sttua-
| ton he asked his employer for an hours
absence every afternoon agreeing to re-
nounce all holidays in return for this privi-
| lege Thus every day Sir Isaac had his
| walk. In the matter of food. he believed in
| fruit and eschewed farinaceous fare He
| was not vegetarian, but. on the contrary
n nCfl mad from, l,.II
made I'D as follows:
For breakfast baked apple an orange
twenty grapes and a biscuit made from
bananas. The midday meal consisted of
three ounces of beef or mutton. occasional
| ly a little soup or fish. Supper was practi-
cally repetition of breakfast Wine he
never took. but he smoked two or three
cigars day to his great comfort and bene-
fit. and returning from the house of com
| mons at night he had a tumbler of whiskey
and hot water before going to bed. To most
people this diet would be an excuse for
starva ton. but on it Sir Isaac reached the
| age of ninety-one. active and vigorous to
the last.
Gladstone.
Though Mr.. Gladstone had no peculiar
hyglenc theory. similar abstemiousness
marked his diet. He disliked fine cookery
and chose the simpler fare. to each mouth
full of which he gave thirty-two bites. thus
ensuring thorough mastication and reliev-
ing the digestion of ''bolted' food daily
walk in all weathers he regarded as also
conducive to the greenness of his old age
Moreover, though attendance at the House
of Commons prevented anything like early
retirement. yet Mr.. Gladstone made early
rising a feature of his routine NJ Chey-
reuil, the great French chemist. sustained
the close of his nearly hundred years on a
frugal diet. Two eggs and some chicken
formed his breakfast and for dinner he had
tapioca soup. outlet bunch of grapes.
cheese and three glasses of water. Fish
and wine he never touched. In far
instances of longevity have a common fea-
ture. il is this principle of moderation in
eating. The Chinese proverb that most
men dig their graves with their teeth is
a truth especially applicable to this gem
Grafton. which esteems quantity rather than
quality, and forgets that il is the food
simulated and not the food eaten that pro-
duces vitality. Nearly all people forty
eat far too much. and. moreover, eat the
wrong food. In the dietaries OF long-lived
men outlined above. the small quantity OF
meat and the prominence of fruit
table. They Were not Vegetarians; but
simply most moderate in the use of fesh
which. admirable in youth is unsuitable for
the aged.
The Question of Food.
All foods rich in earth salts and starchy
matter are to be avoided as ossifying and
clogging the tissues. But the pre-eminent
virtue is moderation. No special dietary
agenarianism. Some centenarians give the
credit of their long lives to. abstinence from
meat alcohol. tobacco and what not. AS
many point to their Indulgence in the very
same things. Bacon commended "a suf-
fumigat ton of tobacco. ling. aloes, dried
leaves of rosemary and a little myrrh'
every morning; and the famous old Parr.
who married his second wife at the age OF
12D could thresh corn ten years later, and
died al IJ0 ascribed great virtues TO butter
and garlic Equally curious is the declara-
ton of a latter-day American professor
that human life would average four or five
times its present length If people would eat
their food raw. Animals and fowls live much
longer than man i'm proportion to the period
of full development. and this. he argues is
due to mans consumption of dead cells
cooked cells) TO replace the dead cells of
the exhausted body. Apart from all indi-
vidual ,idiosyncrasies spare eating can be
discerned the golden rule of longevity.
Eat what you like. and what you have
been accustomed to" says noted physician;
"but do so sparingly., Faddsm is bad
Regularity Is a sound principle; but it.
should tie regularity from year to year and
not merely from day day"