The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1910-07-16
I'VE Haze OUR BOOTS" OF DANIEL.

Detroit, Mich, July 10-Daniel OConnell
1O5 years DID, the oldest Elk in the world, pressed
the button starting the Examinations at Grand Cir
Gus park.
Dr. Cressy L. Wilbur, of the United States cen
sus bureau, who enjoys exceptional facilities for
investigating the age of any given resident of the
United States; Professor Starr of the University
of Chicago, and our scientific authority, Dr.
Woods Hutchinson, assert that centenarians
myths. They contend that in the worlds history
only three persons ever lived to be 100 years old,
and that not of these three reached no. The
centenarian, they believe to be nature fakir, and
assert that he is candidate for the Ananias club
Dr. W. Hutchinson has been examining the claims
of some historic centenarians, and concludes that
only three of them are genuine. The Countess of
Desmond, he says, probably 100 years old, al
though she claimed to be 145. Sir Isaac Pitman,
the inventor of shorthand was 101, and Sir Moses
Montefore was 100 years and 10 days. DR.. Hutch
inson accepts the claims of these centenarians be-
cause they were well known people of intelligence
who probably knew their ages as well as any well in
formed person knows his.
It is because centenarians as a class belong to
lower order of intelligence that the Doctor throws
out their claims None of them could furnish any
documentary proof of the day of his birth. 1t is
significant that in 1000 years not single member
of Europes royal families has lived to 100 Only
six kings ever reached the age of 80. Not single
one of 800 Pdpes was a centenarian; only five
passed the age of so.
With three exceptions, reputed centenarians
have been obscure persons who never attracted at
tention until they advanced claims to extreme old
age. Often who does not know exactly when
he born is told at 60 that he looks to be 80 and
afterwards computes his age that basis, so
that he says he is 102 when he is only 80. Similar
ly man in doubt about his age will try to estab-
lish it by youthful recollection. He remembers as
a lad of 10 or - seeing soldiers marching off to
war; and he comes to the conclusion that it was
the war of 1912. On this basis he can figure him
self out to be more than 100. Doctor Hutchinson
the boy marching probably engaged in
some Indian skirmish thirty years or SO after the
war of 1872
Insurance companies everywhere have the same
story to tell In the history of life insurance in
the United States only one policy holder ever
reached the age of g. In the past 1876 years no
English company has ever paid death claim on
anybody than SO years old Insurance COM
panies never make calculations ON anyone ever
reaching the age of 100. They do calculate that
ignorance tends to shorten fe yet it is in the Bal
kans, where ignorance is densest and most widely
diffused, that centenarians are found to be most
numerous. In the Balkans, we are told there is
one centenarian for every 100 population This
calculation has been proved to be manifestly alb
surd, yet it relied upon by Professor Metchni-
koff to prove the value of his buttermilk and sour
milk diet. DR.. Hutchinson says that Balkan cen
tenariansm is more to be attributed to gall than