Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1916-06-21
THE LONG LIVED SEX.

The longevity tables given out by
Director Rogers of the United States
census bureau and prepared by Pro-
fessor Glover of the University OF
Michigan are interesting in several
repects, but, in none more so than in
the evidence which they supply of
the superior tenacity of life on the
part of women and girls, as compared
with men and boys.
A girl baby's expectation of life at
birth is 532 years; that of boy ba-
by, 499 years. At the age of 10 years,
/ the average American native white
males expectation of life is 50.2 years;
that of the average native white fe-
male is 52.6 years. Nor is this differ
ence due to the fact that men and boys
above the age of ten are more likely
to perish by accident, on account OF
their more risky diversions and en-
pigments, than women; for not mere
/ " in the first ten years of their life,
but in the first year of their life, the
death rate of males is much higher
than that of females. The tables, which
are based upon the vital statistics of
all the states which have such statis-
tics and have had them for a sufficient
| length of time to base corporations
upon, establish clearly enough the su-
perior vitality of the female sex, and
| its sturdier resistance to disease.
However, when we speak of sturdy
resistance to disease, we do not mean
~ oF,dc q ar
the woman has that resistance merely
by virtue of her sex. If Metchnikoff
is right, longevity is dependent in a
considerable measure on the use and
assimilation of food. A great proper
ton of men are continually engaged
in the task of slowly poisoning them
selves with their food and drink. Not
so great a proportion of women are
embark ed in this form of suicide. The
average woman is much more temper
ate and much more sensible in the
use of her food and drink than the
average man. In a sense, she has to
be. She is not so free to indulge her
self as the man. In the domestic in
terror, which is still the habitat OF
the majority of women, there is still
little opportunity for or temptation to
self-indulgence or diatetic eccentricity.
The demon alcohol gets a much less
proportion of women than of men.
This much as to women adults. But
what about the superior resistance to
disease shown by the girl babies, who
are nourished in the same manner as
the boy baby? Here another great
scientist comes to our aid, at least
with a suggestion. Weissman main
tains that there is an advantage of
the phenomena of death to the necces-
sary perpetuation of the species, and
that natures general tendency is to
eliminate those individuals who are no
longer of use in this regard. Under
this suggestion, we may suppose that
if girl babies are more tenacious of
life than boys it must be because they
are more essential to natures farSee
ing scheme. How she does it we do
not know, but nature looks out, after
long war which has killed off
great proportion of the men, that more
boy babies shall be born than in nor
NAL periods. She has her subtle ways !
of maintaining the balance of life and
society; and if she favors with a
higher vitality female adults, who are
more temperate than male adults, she
also bestows this superior vitality, |
outright, upon the girl babies in or
der that the stock of mothers shall
not run low.
An interesting moral suggestion is
to be found in these statistics. The
life of women is much more distinctly |
and directly a life of personal service
than that of men. Women's life is
more thoroughly one of pure devotion
than mans. Just logged, useful go
ing on is her watchword. Does ma
ture reward her with a more valid eX-
pectation of life on account of this?
1t would seem so. We are finding out
that service is life-and woman is
apparently demonstrating that it is
strength.-Boston Transcript.