The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-05-28
From the New York Sun.

VN HEN a man between 50 and 70 \O years old can perform the feat
 W accomplished the other day by Edward Payson Weston, who walked from city hall, Philadelphia, to city hail. New York, A distance of ninety-six miles, in less than twenty-three hours and half, thereby beating the record made by himself when in the prime of life the most impatient youngster will scarcely presume to say of him. "Superiuous lags the veteran on the stage" Nor Is this by any means the onlys pedestrian achievement which appears to refute Pro- lessor Oslers dictum that after forty a mans physical and mental powers de- cline so rapidly as sensibly to impair his fitness for effective work. It Is a matter of record that in 1911 an Englishman, one Thomas Standen, at the age of sixty, walked HOO miles in HOO consecutive hours The ancient Greeks had to their credit some remarkable feats of endur- ance. as for example the conveyance of the news of the victory at Marathon to Athens but those were attributed to young men.
 History is full of demonstrations of the retention of physical power far beyond the age which Professor Osler was inclined t., regard as the time for retiring from active life. Julius Caesar was consid- erably more than 40 when he entered upon his arduous ten-year campaign in Gaul, the hardships and privations of which he shared with his soldiers. Indeed, if we expect the two Scipios, who bore the surname of Africanus and Pompeius Mag nus. all the great generals of the Roman republic did what they did when over 40. Turenne was 47 when he beat the much younger Condo in the battle of the Dunes: he was 6l when he overran part of the Netherlands, and 63 when he defeated the imperialist generals on the Rhine. Oliver Cromwell was 43 when he first drew sword. and he was 55 when he cplucked "worcesters laureate wreath" Prince Eugene was 53 when he beat the Turks at Peterwardein. Marlborough was 54 at Blenheim, and 59 at Malplaquet. Still fresh In remembrance Is the fact that Von Moltke was over 70 when he planned and carried out the campaign of 1870, which has no parallel in history as regards the number of soldiers made prisoners at &c., dan and Metz. Among naval commanders, Blake was over 50 before he set foot on a ship of war, and Jervis had passed that age when he won the fight off Cape St. Vincent. No toll can put a severer tax on physical stamina than that of mariner. yet Columbus at 56 gave Castile and Leon a new world, and Magellan was 50 when he discovered the strait that bears his name
 If we turn to the field of thought, and especially that part of 1t in which, pre- sumably, Professor Osler Is most inter- ested. we find cumulative proof of the rashness of his assertion that if all the men credited with having rendered great services had been retired at forty the plane of progress, material and intel- lectual, attained by mankind would not have been sens.bly lower than 1t is now. Among the achievements wrought by men over forty in the domain of science. pure and applied, we may recall that all of Aristotle's writings which have come down to us were composed between his fiftieth year and the age of sixty three, when ne ueu. FTaiIclS 6dcOn was fifty mine when he published the "Novum Organum,' and sixty-two when he brought out the De Augmentis." Des- cartes was forty-eight when he finished his "Prncipia,' and Kant was already an old man when he brought forth his 'Critique of Pure Reason Darwin was long past forty when he published "The Origin of Species" and almost all that will live of Herbert Spencers writings was penned after he had passed the age at which. according to Professor Osler. men are comparatively useless" Coper- nicus was ffty-seven when he completed the system of astronomy which bears his name. Kepler was fifty-six whom his 'Rudolphine Tables were finished. The first part of the "Mecanique Celeste" was published when LaPlace was fifty; the fifth part when he was seventy-four. Sir Isaac Newton was forty-five when he completed the "Principia." and Lavoisier was forty-six when he published his 'Ele- mentary Treatise of Chemistry James Watt was nearly fifty before he proved the courmerciol value of his steam en-