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Article ON LONGEVITY. ← Page 2 of 5 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Longevity.
have given a detail of their names—manner of life— -occupations—and other circumstances of each of them ; but , upon a review of my notes , I found so great a sameness in the history of most of them , that I dispaircd by detailing- them , of answering the intention which I have proposed in the following essay . I shall , therefore , only deliver the facts and princip les which are the ' result of enquiries and observations I have
made upon this subjeCt . I . I shall mention the circumstances which favour the attainment of longevity . . II . I shall mention the phenomena of body and mind which attend it : and , ,. , III . I shall enumerate its peculiar diseases , and the remedies which
are most proper to remove , or moderate them . I . The circumstances which favour longevity , are , i . DESCENT FROM LONG- LIVED ANCESTORS . - I have not found a sing le instance of a person who has lived to be 80 ' oldin whom this not the case In some instancesI
years , was . , found the descent was only from one , but in general it was from both parents . The knowledge of this fact may serve not only to assist in calculating what are called the chances of lives , but it may be made useful to a physician . He may learn from it to cherish hopes of his patients in chronic , and in some acute diseases , in proportion to the capacity of life they have derived from their ancestors .
2 . TEMPERANCE IN EATING AND DRINKING . To this remark I found several exceptions . I met with one man of 84 years of age , who had been intemperate in eating ; and four or five persons who had been intemperate in drinking ardent spirits . They had all been day-labourers , or had deferred drinking until they be ^ an to feel the languor of old age . —I did not meet with a smgie of their livesused
person who had not , for the last forty or fifty years , tea , coffee , and bread and butter twice a day , as part of their diet . I am disposed to believe that those articles of diet do not materially affect the duration of the human life , although they evidently impair the strength of the system . The duration of life does not appear to depend much the strength of the bodor upon the quantityof its
so upon y , excitability , as upon the exact accommodation of stimuli to each of them . A watch spring will last as long as an anchor , provided the forces which are capable of destroying both are in an exact ratio to their strength . The use of tea and coffee in diet seems to be happily - suited to the change which has taken place in the human body , by sedentary occupationsby which means less nourishments and stimulus are required than
, formerly to support animal life . 3 . THE MODERATE USE OF THE UNDERSTANDING . It has long been an established truth , that literary men ( other circumstances being equal ) are longer lived than other people . — -But it is not necessary that the understanding should be employed upon philoso-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Longevity.
have given a detail of their names—manner of life— -occupations—and other circumstances of each of them ; but , upon a review of my notes , I found so great a sameness in the history of most of them , that I dispaircd by detailing- them , of answering the intention which I have proposed in the following essay . I shall , therefore , only deliver the facts and princip les which are the ' result of enquiries and observations I have
made upon this subjeCt . I . I shall mention the circumstances which favour the attainment of longevity . . II . I shall mention the phenomena of body and mind which attend it : and , ,. , III . I shall enumerate its peculiar diseases , and the remedies which
are most proper to remove , or moderate them . I . The circumstances which favour longevity , are , i . DESCENT FROM LONG- LIVED ANCESTORS . - I have not found a sing le instance of a person who has lived to be 80 ' oldin whom this not the case In some instancesI
years , was . , found the descent was only from one , but in general it was from both parents . The knowledge of this fact may serve not only to assist in calculating what are called the chances of lives , but it may be made useful to a physician . He may learn from it to cherish hopes of his patients in chronic , and in some acute diseases , in proportion to the capacity of life they have derived from their ancestors .
2 . TEMPERANCE IN EATING AND DRINKING . To this remark I found several exceptions . I met with one man of 84 years of age , who had been intemperate in eating ; and four or five persons who had been intemperate in drinking ardent spirits . They had all been day-labourers , or had deferred drinking until they be ^ an to feel the languor of old age . —I did not meet with a smgie of their livesused
person who had not , for the last forty or fifty years , tea , coffee , and bread and butter twice a day , as part of their diet . I am disposed to believe that those articles of diet do not materially affect the duration of the human life , although they evidently impair the strength of the system . The duration of life does not appear to depend much the strength of the bodor upon the quantityof its
so upon y , excitability , as upon the exact accommodation of stimuli to each of them . A watch spring will last as long as an anchor , provided the forces which are capable of destroying both are in an exact ratio to their strength . The use of tea and coffee in diet seems to be happily - suited to the change which has taken place in the human body , by sedentary occupationsby which means less nourishments and stimulus are required than
, formerly to support animal life . 3 . THE MODERATE USE OF THE UNDERSTANDING . It has long been an established truth , that literary men ( other circumstances being equal ) are longer lived than other people . — -But it is not necessary that the understanding should be employed upon philoso-