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Article ON LONGEVITY. ← Page 3 of 5 →
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On Longevity.
phical subjects , _ to produce this influence upon human life . Business , politics , and reli gion , which are the objects of attention of men of all classes , impart a vigour to the understanding , which by being conveyed to every part of the bod y , tends to produce health and long life . 4 . EQJJANIMITY OF TEMPER .
Theviolent and irregular actions of the passions tend to wear away ' the springs of life . Persons who live upon annuities in Europe have been observed to be longer lived in equal circumstances , than other people . This is probably occasioned- by their being exempted by the certainty of their subsistence from those fears of wantwhich so frequentldistract the
, y minds , and thereby weaken the bodies of all people . Life-rents have been supposed to have the same influence in prolonging life . Perhaps , thedesireof life , , in order to enjoy as long as possibfe that ' property , which' cannot be enjoyed a second time by a child or relation , may be another cause of the longevity of persons who live upon certain incomes . It is a fact , that the desire of life is a very powerful stimulus in prolongit
ing , especially when-that desire is supported b y hope . This is obvious to physicians every day . —Despair of recovery is the beginning of death in all diseases . But obvious and reasonable as the eft ' eCts of the equanimity of temper are upon human life , _ there are some exceptions in favour of passionate men and women having attained to a great age . The morbid stimulus of anger in these cases , was probably obviated b y less degrees , or less active exercises of the understanding , or by the ' defect or weakness of some of the other stimuli which kept up the motion of life .
5 . MATRIMONY . In the course of myenquiries , ! onlymet with one person beyondSo years of age-who had never , been married . I met with several ' women who had bore from ten to twenty children , and suckled them all . I met with one woman a native of Hertfordshire in England , who is now in the 1 ooth year of her agewho bore a child at 60 menstruated till
, , 80 , and frequently suckled two of her children ( though born in sucr cession to each other ) at the same time . She had passed the greatest . part of her life over a washing-tub . 6 . I have not found sedentary employments to prevent lono- liftwhere they are not accompanied b y intemperance in eutir . i- or drinkiiTv ' . This observation is not confined to literary mennor to women onl
, y , in whom longevity without much exercise of bod y has been frequently observed . 1 met with one instance of a weaver ; a second of a silversmith , and a third of a shoe-maker , among the number of old people , whose histories have suggested these observations ' . 7 . I have not found that acute , nor that all chronic diseases shorten life . Dr . Franklin had two successive vomicas in his lungs before he
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Longevity.
phical subjects , _ to produce this influence upon human life . Business , politics , and reli gion , which are the objects of attention of men of all classes , impart a vigour to the understanding , which by being conveyed to every part of the bod y , tends to produce health and long life . 4 . EQJJANIMITY OF TEMPER .
Theviolent and irregular actions of the passions tend to wear away ' the springs of life . Persons who live upon annuities in Europe have been observed to be longer lived in equal circumstances , than other people . This is probably occasioned- by their being exempted by the certainty of their subsistence from those fears of wantwhich so frequentldistract the
, y minds , and thereby weaken the bodies of all people . Life-rents have been supposed to have the same influence in prolonging life . Perhaps , thedesireof life , , in order to enjoy as long as possibfe that ' property , which' cannot be enjoyed a second time by a child or relation , may be another cause of the longevity of persons who live upon certain incomes . It is a fact , that the desire of life is a very powerful stimulus in prolongit
ing , especially when-that desire is supported b y hope . This is obvious to physicians every day . —Despair of recovery is the beginning of death in all diseases . But obvious and reasonable as the eft ' eCts of the equanimity of temper are upon human life , _ there are some exceptions in favour of passionate men and women having attained to a great age . The morbid stimulus of anger in these cases , was probably obviated b y less degrees , or less active exercises of the understanding , or by the ' defect or weakness of some of the other stimuli which kept up the motion of life .
5 . MATRIMONY . In the course of myenquiries , ! onlymet with one person beyondSo years of age-who had never , been married . I met with several ' women who had bore from ten to twenty children , and suckled them all . I met with one woman a native of Hertfordshire in England , who is now in the 1 ooth year of her agewho bore a child at 60 menstruated till
, , 80 , and frequently suckled two of her children ( though born in sucr cession to each other ) at the same time . She had passed the greatest . part of her life over a washing-tub . 6 . I have not found sedentary employments to prevent lono- liftwhere they are not accompanied b y intemperance in eutir . i- or drinkiiTv ' . This observation is not confined to literary mennor to women onl
, y , in whom longevity without much exercise of bod y has been frequently observed . 1 met with one instance of a weaver ; a second of a silversmith , and a third of a shoe-maker , among the number of old people , whose histories have suggested these observations ' . 7 . I have not found that acute , nor that all chronic diseases shorten life . Dr . Franklin had two successive vomicas in his lungs before he