The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-04-27
AVERAGE LIFE JUMPS
FROM 20 TO SO YEARS

sing. in fact has increased thirty
8 already and made thus far only
.3ol start An article in the
ll.-.h number Of Worlds Work tells
r.. il is coming about. Here is Il
- Of the story
IN wears ago, q university professor
.-a Il line future before him found
...-elf facing possible death through
5.+- r~rulOSis at the Very outset of his
....r. He gave up his professional
ua-> tor the time and applied him
81. exclusively to the business of
..--n- Well. He sought out the
.> latest methods for the treatment
a. ne naIady. and put them INTO prac-
.. with rare cOnScientiOuSnesS. Be
l.r- very long. he found himself out
e. anger, but still lacking in the en-
..Esnce necessary for the performance
.- lis duties. But life was of no
>..ua to him without work, and SO ne
about getting back his workine
...< r as Systematically as he had be-
.ur. st about saving his life.
It this, he found. was not such q
SIMPLE matter as merely curing him
~a OF consumption. Il involved an
exhaustive study OF the whole subject
hygiene. However. he went into
IT, He Investigated the subjects OF
rtrt and exercise, bathing, reSt-all
jh- themes of hygienic science. and all
in relation to their effect upon work
ft- poWer-and he religiously applied
everything that he Learned The re-
~Htt was that in time he achieved an
endurance that more than doubled
the working capacity OF his best days,
u3t he did more. He made certain
discoveries of the very highest value
ia his work.
This man is Prof. Irving Fisher.
mead Of the Department of Political
Economy at 1ale-and it is to HIM
that President Roosevelt has entrusted
al, task of making a report on ma
ttonal vitality to the commission for
the ConserNa alton Of Natural Resources.
This report is now ready.
1t should be productive of practical
results. The document not only de-
clares that man need no longer re-
main the prey OF inetticiency, disease
and premature death-and that
through all recorded history he has
jm. = gaining greater and greater con-
c~al over these things-but it points
,.t specific Methods for securing at
.o,lnd an improvement equal to the
s,nayements Of all the centuries that
uaT. gone before.
gr0f. she political economy is
.-.tainly no dismal science He
~ao.s that. right down through the
aces. mans lite has been heightened
.at his rate of mortality and disease
DECREASING. He asserts that the OLD
t~tg-"ine that sickness and death must
go n forever, claiming relatively the
~,n-a toll year after year, Is
:uc must be discarded. on the con-
5~-ry, he says both the length and
an .trcngth OF mans life are depend
ut apOn definite conditions. and these
.onGirions are within the power OF
W#n t. control.
H. the sixteenth century. the aver
.-- length Of human life in European
yurrtrics was betWeen eighteen ana
t"vgtE years. Today, it is et"ee
,orty and fifty years. During the
--Et nteenth and eighteenth centuries.
when hygiene and sanitary science had
not yet been born. the rate OF increase
ua> about four years per century.
Our.ng the first half OF the nineteenth
century, when those sclences Were
liking their first uncertain steps, the
rate of increase was extended to nine
lays Der century. During the latter
ualL Of the nineteenth century, when
they had attained a fairly robust
-rowth, the rate Of increase practlcaiiE
douolcI. At the present time, IN
Germany. where hygiene and santa
'ton have been highly developed ana
wisely applied. the rate OF increase Is
fwtnty-seven years per century While
IN fnIia, where practically notnlhS
oaS been lone along these lines, there
has been no increase at all.
A13. rs mans life has lengthened'
his death rate has fallen. In the
~@}entcenth century. the mortality fa.e
al London was so persons per l,ooo
al population. Today it is 10 per
I9G0 Of population. Within a cen
ury, Vienna has reduced its death
rate from 60 to 90 per 900 OF
l7tion. In the year 1900, the NOR
talty rate Of Boston was "a per LOU
T"Gay. it is 10. Within a century,
london. Berlin and Munich have all
vut their death rates about in hall.
AID there are other figureS-ait
frn5ing to demonstrate that. just eN-