-
Articles/Ads
Article AN HISTORICAL ESSAY ON LONGEVITY. ← Page 2 of 3 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
An Historical Essay On Longevity.
nqt forsake him till the last months of his life . He never ' used spectacles , and , when at a great age , would frequently walk a cc * taple of miles . His usual food was eggs ; he never tasted boiled flesh ; sometimes he ate a little roasted , but always in very small quantity ; and he drank abundance of tea , with vosa solis and sugar candy . Ant . Senish , a farmer in the village of Puy , in Limoges , died in 1770 in the 111 th year of his age . He laboured till within 14 days
, of his death ; had still his teeth and his hairs and his sight had not fijiled him . Plis usual food was chesnuts and Turkish corn . He had never been bled , nor used any medicine . These are the most remarkable instances of great age in modern times with which we are acquainted . Persons of 100 years we omit , for these are more common . A carpenter died a few years ago at
Burgel , near Jena , in his 104 th year . He worked daily till his death ; and his favourite employment , at last , was spinning yarn . One day , as he was sitting at his wheel , his daughter observed it motionless ; she immediately went up to him , and—found him dead . . Physicians ought to claim here a distinguished place . But , unfortunately , this is not the case . It may be said of them , in general ; Aliis inser-viendo consumuntur ; aliis medendo morinntiir .
At any rate , mortality is greater among praftical physicians than among men of any other profession . They have the least opportunity of observing those rules and precautions for preserving health , which they lay down to others ; and there are few employments in which the powers both of the body and mind are exposed to so ' much consumption as in this . Plead and feet must be always exercised in common . But the greatest mortality prevails during the first ten
years of their practice . A physician who has withstood that period , attains to a strength of constitution , a kind of insensibility to fatigue and the causes of disease ; by custom , noxious effluvia and the poison of disorders become less prejudicial ; and he acquires more indifference for the scenes of woe , and the miseries , the consequences oi moral evil , which his business condemns him to be a daily spectatoi of : and thus a physician , who has passed his time of probation , maj become an old man .
A striking instance of this is afforded by Hippocrates , who lived to the age of 104 . His-life was employed in the study of Nature , travelling , and visiting the sick ; but he passed more of his time in villages , and in the country , than in great cities . — : GaIen , Hoffmann , Haller , Van Swieten , and Boerhaave , all attained to a considerable age . In regard to shortness of life , miners , and those employed in melting-houses , are particularly distinguished , as well as those who .
live under the earth , or are continually exposed to poisonous effluvia . In some mines , which contain abundance of arsenic and cobalt , the . workmen do not live to be older than thirty . We shall now take a short view of the difference of age , as arising from climate . Sweden , Norway , Denmark , and . Englancl , have without doubt produced the oldest men . Instances of some who . attained ' to the . age of 130 , 140 , and 150 , have occurred in these countries , ¦ VOL . x . u -
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
An Historical Essay On Longevity.
nqt forsake him till the last months of his life . He never ' used spectacles , and , when at a great age , would frequently walk a cc * taple of miles . His usual food was eggs ; he never tasted boiled flesh ; sometimes he ate a little roasted , but always in very small quantity ; and he drank abundance of tea , with vosa solis and sugar candy . Ant . Senish , a farmer in the village of Puy , in Limoges , died in 1770 in the 111 th year of his age . He laboured till within 14 days
, of his death ; had still his teeth and his hairs and his sight had not fijiled him . Plis usual food was chesnuts and Turkish corn . He had never been bled , nor used any medicine . These are the most remarkable instances of great age in modern times with which we are acquainted . Persons of 100 years we omit , for these are more common . A carpenter died a few years ago at
Burgel , near Jena , in his 104 th year . He worked daily till his death ; and his favourite employment , at last , was spinning yarn . One day , as he was sitting at his wheel , his daughter observed it motionless ; she immediately went up to him , and—found him dead . . Physicians ought to claim here a distinguished place . But , unfortunately , this is not the case . It may be said of them , in general ; Aliis inser-viendo consumuntur ; aliis medendo morinntiir .
At any rate , mortality is greater among praftical physicians than among men of any other profession . They have the least opportunity of observing those rules and precautions for preserving health , which they lay down to others ; and there are few employments in which the powers both of the body and mind are exposed to so ' much consumption as in this . Plead and feet must be always exercised in common . But the greatest mortality prevails during the first ten
years of their practice . A physician who has withstood that period , attains to a strength of constitution , a kind of insensibility to fatigue and the causes of disease ; by custom , noxious effluvia and the poison of disorders become less prejudicial ; and he acquires more indifference for the scenes of woe , and the miseries , the consequences oi moral evil , which his business condemns him to be a daily spectatoi of : and thus a physician , who has passed his time of probation , maj become an old man .
A striking instance of this is afforded by Hippocrates , who lived to the age of 104 . His-life was employed in the study of Nature , travelling , and visiting the sick ; but he passed more of his time in villages , and in the country , than in great cities . — : GaIen , Hoffmann , Haller , Van Swieten , and Boerhaave , all attained to a considerable age . In regard to shortness of life , miners , and those employed in melting-houses , are particularly distinguished , as well as those who .
live under the earth , or are continually exposed to poisonous effluvia . In some mines , which contain abundance of arsenic and cobalt , the . workmen do not live to be older than thirty . We shall now take a short view of the difference of age , as arising from climate . Sweden , Norway , Denmark , and . Englancl , have without doubt produced the oldest men . Instances of some who . attained ' to the . age of 130 , 140 , and 150 , have occurred in these countries , ¦ VOL . x . u -