Evening star., 1934-04-15
LONGEVITY DUE
TO HEREDITY
SAYS BIOLOGIST
Scientist Reaches
Conclusion after
Study.
BY r. b. COTTON.

By the Associated Press.
BALTIMORE, April 1i.-The secret
Of long life Is having long lived par
ents and grandparents. Heredity, more
than anything else, governs whether
q man will live to be 90 or more.
These are conclusions of DR.. Ray
mond Pearl, noted biologist Of Johns
Hopkins University, who has just
completed an exhaustive study Of why
and how people live to be very old.
Studying 365 men and women who
had lived to be from 80 to more than
100 years old, he found that their
parents and grandparents all had
lived to a greater average age than
the parents and grandparents of an
other group Of l67 persons selected
more or less at random. The length
Of all the lives of the parents and
grandparents of the Soto l00-year-
old group was 16 per cent greater
than for the similar ancestors of the
other group.
Resistance Inherited.
Heredity, more than a persons
habits during life, decides to what
age he will live, DR.. Pearl concludes.
A person with long-lived parents and
grandparents seems to inherit from
them the power of resistance to dis
ease and bodily wear and tear that
enables him to achieve greater age
than others.
The rule seems to be, DR.. Pearl
explained, that for every 81 years
lived beyond the normal limit of 70
by a mans parents and grandparents
together he may expect one addi-
tional year of life.
Use Of alcoholic drinks, DR.. Pearl
found. apparently does not influence
length of life directly Among the
365 persons 80 years old and more
whom he studied, Ala per cent had
been moderate drinkers during their
lives. This was Al per cent more
than the percentage of moderate
drinkers among the random group.
Furthermore, says DR.. Pearl,
"3.7 per cent OF the nonagenarian
and centenarian males are heavy
drinkers. While this percentage is
less than that of heavy drinkers in
the sample of the general population
with which they were compared, it
is significant that there are as many
as 81 per cent of these extremely
longevous males who have been
heavy drinkers. The evidence from
this study clearly indicates that the
moderate use of alcoholic beverages
throughout life is not incompatible
with the attainment of great longev-
ity.'
Many Total Abstainers.
On the other hand. DR.. Pearl
found. 56.6 per cent Of the group
over 80 were total abstainers, as COM
pared with 45.3 per cent of teetotalers
among the general group used for
comparison.
The very old persons whom DR..
Pearl studied were Queried not only
about their drinking habits, but also
use of tobacco, diseases and
operations they had had, their habits
OF eating, sleeping and exercise, oc-
cupations, localities where they lived,
bodily build and racial stock, but none
OF these things seemed to have had
any very important relation to their
great age.
The parents of the very old group
In DR.. Pearls study lived 20 to 80
per cent longer than the parents of
the group selected for comparison,
and the grandparents lived 10 to IA
per cent longer. More than 86 per
cent Of the long-lived people had had
at least one long-hved parent diving
beyond 70), but on the other hand
both the parents Of Is per cent were
short Lived,