The Washington herald., 1912-04-28
Women Live Longer Than Men,
According to Latest Statistics
Over Twice as Many of the Weaker Sex Reach the
Century Mark.

in early physical exhaustion serves to
protect her from the fatal crash that
often comes to man from overeSertion.
Women bear the hardships and priva-
tions of prison life better than men do.
Women seldom die OF nostalgia
In man, as in nearly all animals the
pulse rate IS rather lower in males than
in females. in proportion OF seventy
tive per minute for men and eighty for
women But as slowness Of pulse, like
sIowness of respiration, nearly always
goes with increasssweight, the difference
is probably no greater than would nat
urally be expected. In old age woman's
pulse rate Is inclined to increase more
than mans.
Woman excretes less carbonic acid.
and therefore Is less IN need Of oxygen
and needs II less vitality than man.
This is thought to be a factor in wom-
ans greater capacity to endure heat.
especially the heat OF rooms OF high
temperature. as is seen in bakeries and
In the manufacture Of charcoal, where
II Is said that women are little incon-
venienced by a temperature of 800 de-
grees Fahrenheit.
This is thought also to be one OF the
reasons why women experience less dis
comfort than men in breathing the rare
fed air OF high attitudes, and why. too,
"OLUtu suUtT leEh IEODl CllOEOIOTn an
esthetics, and for want OF a better ex-
PLANTATION It has been given as a reason
why women criminals more often sur
vive hanging than men.
DeEeneratIve Changes.
Degensrative changes In the blood YES
sells and rigidIty OF the thorax, both
characteristics OF senIlity. are found
much earlier in man than in woman.
Man dies suddenly much oftener than
woman. Man suffers from badness
much more frequently than woman.
This is not confined TO civilized races.
but is found among savages and semi
civilized tribes, as in many Of the tribes
os the North American Indians, even
where It Is the custom for the women.
instead OF the men. to wear their hair
short.
noted English statistician has cal
culated that Of two children. a boy and
girl, born on the same day, the boy
will have only seventeen chances against
eleven for living one year. while the girl
will have twenty-one chances against
eleven. From FIVE to fifteen there ap-
pears to be but little difference, but from
fifteen to nineteen, the critical period in
the life of the female, the boy will
have 80 chances and the girl "a chances
of living against one Of death.
The advantage in favor Of the female
increases, especially from thirty-ive to
seventy-five. when the ratio drops slight
ly till after eighty, when the man will
have only three chances OF life against
one of death, while the woman's chances
will be much greater.
II 1000 sble-bodied men and 1000 able
bodied women be uniformed, armed and
equipped for battle and ordered on a
long and weary march to the front, more
men would probably reach their destina-
tion, while more women would be found
exhausted. but more men found dead on
the roadside.
Owing to their peculiar psycho-physi-
cal organization women heed the warn
ings OF fatigue and avoid the fatal
crash, while man, with his iron will, af-
ter complete exhaustion, resolves TO take
another step II he dies in the attempt.
So after making all due allowances for
the greater mortality of man in war and
from accidents from dangerous occupa-
tions and from masculine excesses, there
are good reasons for believing that moth
ing short Of a constitutional difference
can account for the greater tenacity of
life in women.
Woman is physiological miser. she ac-
cumulates energy without expending II,
while man is a physiological prodigal, he
expends more energy than he accumu-
lates.