New-York tribune., 1905-07-07


about valuable as some of the maxims and
rules laid down by those who have passed the
century mark Still, notwithstanding Jocular
estimates and the contradictory maxims OF the
centenarians themselves the interest Of the
many in these veterans In the army OF life Is
undeniable and increases rather than oininishes
with the years. Men like Professors Loeb and
Burke are studying in the laboratory the origin
Of lfe but there have probably never before
been so many intelligent persons who seized
with avidity upon every plausible plan or ruie
TO prolong life. The prediction is frequently
made that the ordinary mortal span will event.
ually be so heightened that man will be at MS
best from seventy to one hundred. and that
those who die at less than the latter age Will
be deemed guilty OF culpable negligence. Some
find the secret in a return to what they call
the natural simple life of the patrfarchs OF
Scripture, and would have US grind between
rude stones the grain for our daily food. some
assert that in uncooked foods lies the ROAD
leading to the century gate, while others Wouio
have live please and take no thougnt
of long life the surest means of reaching II
No rules maxims too absurd 10 nave
their followers. and the one conclusion that may
safely be adduced is that the majority OF people
would gladly live long, provided the usual IN
frmittes of age could be avoided. Mr. zeitlin
this respect. His senses are still acute and he Is
still able to read without glasses his favorite
book Virgins History of Asia"
Whether the Old World with its settled ways
and life ordered by centuries Of precedent, or
the New World. with it's different climatic and
governmental. agricultural and industrial cond1-
tions Is conducive to the greater longevity re-
mains mooted question. Certainly many seem
to have found, II not the Fountain of Youth. at
least the Fountain of Years in the New World
Indians in California and Mexico credibly
declared to have reached ages from one hundred
and twenty to one hundred and forty, and at
Toluca, Mexico, few years ago. lived man
whose claim to be one hundred and ninety
two did not. perhaps require a discount OF
more than 33s per cent. That New-Tork,
the busiest city on the continent, is not
unfavorable to longevity is shown in the large
list Of centenarians it has numbered among It's
citizens, while a popular saying In the Con-
necticut Valley is that the inhabitants never die.
but dry up and blow away.
On the other hand. 1t must be admitted that
many centenarians of the New World were
born in Europe, Mr. Zeitlin among the number
In the obituary columns Of THE London Times
one day a few years ago twenty three deaths
were recorded, and the united ages of seventeen
of those long-lived individuals amounted to
1889 years. an average of nearly seventy
nine. Ireland has furnished a liberal list OF
centenarans. including not only persons who
lived and died in the Emerald Isle but also
goodly number who eugrated to America and
helped to swell the records of longevity in the
New World The chances for living to be
hundred. therefore. to be equally divided
between Europe and America, and also between
men and women. which seems to be only equi-
table That, at least, is comfortable
fiection in regard to centenarianism. because it
is OF general application and refers the ques-
tion of years to the personal equation