1937-08-06 — Page 10

This Article on

* LONGEVITY ⋆

Will

Give You An Idea of How Long You May Expect to Live

THINGS never happen sin

THING

Recently a correspondent who had been reading about the diet of the Venetian centenarian, Luigi Cornaro, asked if the food- stuffs one ate had anything to do with long life.

A day or two afterwards ar other correspondent who, it seems, detests his double set of false teeth, and was intrigued by read ing that another centenarian, the Countess of Desmond, had, at the mature age

100, actually cut of and grown a full natural teeth wa that was really

On the heels

tions came a third,

all our boasted

ledge, men and women now lived

longer than they used to.

The stage, I saw, was set for a

talk on longevity.

I shall begin with a paradox, cart before the horse.

putting

It is th

But I am not so sure about as we do not inherit equal from parents, but more from than the other, and also from sters further

one

your parents- died at a young age but

had estor your family tree an who had lived well on to 100. Perhaps his strain might arise again in you. I believe also that one can outwit heredity consider- ably if one does not burn the candle of life at both ends.

cover

that other

sticed how

tenarians, Cornaro among them started life with something for other wrong with them and decid- ed they wouldn't play ducks and drakes with the small quantity of vitality dealt out to them at birth?

even 70. But it is not the case that more people are exceeding the age of 12; in fact, in the Unit- ed States, slightly fewer people are now passing that age. There is thus no sign whatever that the traditional span of human hfe is lengthening in any way towards 100 years

If there is the least sign, it is among the female sex, as out of 1,510 centenarians in England and des, dura the 20 years from 1910 to

29 about three out of females, and lately the Commissioners have had the charges for their Yet there is some com fort that more men may hope to Teach 70.

Annu

let me turn to some cen- of more or less authen- ecord. Most of them, it may were small eaters, es- of flesh-meat

e famous Englishman, Tho- mas Parr, died in 1635 at an age years His diet was very

is also said to have remarried when she was 65, and very soon. afterwards to have born a daugh ter. I may say that this latter fact need not discredit the rest of the story, as there are at least two undoubted such an Italian and Spaniard, who bore their 69th year. rather exceptional belated chud wa

What of this third set

We know that the

of a

teeth appear, on the tween the SPY months, and the second permanent teeth between seventh and 25th year, though some people the wisdom teeth. last molars come through later. The marvellous however, these teeth ferent third

other cases, and planation

Com

the

content with

There this

In the human embry

simple, merey coarse bread, some lower animals, the

and milk. W

the discoverer of the car

the blood, examined body, he found it to be that of man in the prime of life. His

rows of tooth-bads or the vestiges of a third. does not erupt

though its undeveloped

contain so calcium. But they

And

"The best way to live in a word, they lived moderately Proves that

Proves that "One Should

long is to choose long-lived par-

ents and grandparents"

But if Providence has chose them for you, you won't be able to help yourself. For instance, I had as a patient a septuagenarian who had been thus lacky, and al- though he had, since he was a young man, - drunk daily not far off a bottle of brandy, he continu- ed to go on living gaily and heal thily in utter contradiction of all the laws of physiology. Nothing would kill him.

Some people say that if you total up the ages of your parents and grandparents and divide the sum by four, that is about the number of years. you will live.

If the thread of your life were a wire of gold, a skilful worker could draw it out to an extreme length.

What is the average expecta- tion of life at our birth? In the Middle Ages it was 21 years, in the 18th century 29, in the 19th century (1850) 40 for men, 12 for women, and now it is about 56 years for men and 60 for women.

That looks as if men and women' are living longer. But one reason for it is that fewer infants and children are dying, and that brings up the average.

It must be admitted, however, that more people than are Tex

STATIONERY

that is

DIFFERENT

ng the age of 60

CHIVALRI ANTIENT SCRIPT

IN FOUR FAS

COLOURS

Choose Long-Lived

Ancestors

premature death occurred when

did erupt in the Countess. Recent

capable of in the Dionne quintup lets and the American 8ft high at IT of which

he came to London to see the Kingly we have seen what humanity is and was feted with rich food and wines. Then there was Henry Jenkins, who died in 1670, aged 169 years. He too, a poor man and lived temperately on the plainest of food.

was

Most centenarians have been men living in country dis-

entenarians,

o married men with families. It would

t of a list of

30 to three out men and of six And apart from vital statistics do

Frove that to continue being a bachelor means, on the average, a

Spinsters,

the other hand, five on

poor folk

yet it

five long-

there is

quoted,

bute to a unique pituitary gland. parathyroid gland agent in healthy den exceptional, when Desmond years of

found

ing

third layer

what they

how that the

Countess of

the

There has cases of Ninon de Eenclos, at 90, had a complexion, and figure of such perfec youths proposed

at 70 years

girl

the Com

at 65

FLATS