ing the age of man in his day as arbitrarily fixing its limit in all ages. The general statement there made still holds good; but none can doubt that it is being more frequently exceeded every day, as hygiene continues to lessen the number of premature deaths.

Out of every 1,000 people nearly 100 reach 75, 38 reach 85, and 2 reach 95. The number of persons in proportion to the whole population that reach 70 in Norway is, in England nearly t, in France, and in Ireland. As far as can be calculated, the average length of life which is computed in the seventeenth century to average only 13 years, is in the eighteenth increased to 20, and in the nineteenth to 36. Men used to be considered old when they passed 50. Old John of Gaunt was 59, old Admiral Coligny but 53.

VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL LONGEVITY.

It is interesting to compare the age of man with that of other parts of the organic kingdom. In the vegetable world it is enormously exceeded. Among trees, according to de Candolle's tables, the elm reaches an age of 335 years; the ivy 450; the chestnut 600; the olive 700; the cedar 800; the oak 1,500; the yew 2,800; while Humboldt computed the age of a baobab tree (a species of banyan) to be 5,700 years!

Among fish, Dr. Richardson finds no deaths from old age, and does not believe they have any term to their lives, save as they fall a prey to one another. Carp and other fish that have been isolated and watched are still living at enormous ages. As long as they live they increase in size. Even among the invertebrata we have a record of a sea anemone in Edinburgh of over 70 years of age; that belonged to Sir John Dalyell. Among animals we have an elephant of the reputed age of 1,007 years.

Coming to men, we find many remarkable instances of longevity. The long lists given by the old writers of very aged people (including one of over 300 years of age) have been proved to be most unreliable. Many cases, however, are beyond suspicion, and such unimpeachable centenarians as Sir Moses Montefiore silence all sceptics who doubt that human life can attain to three figures. Old Parr still remains as one of the most wonderful of

these veterans. He was a poor farm servant, and, like Henry Jenkins (who was supposed to be 160 years old at death), led a hard and laborious life in a country village on scanty fare. At 120 Parr married a widow for his second wife, and at 130 could thresh corn. He died at 152, but not of old age. He had been sent for up to Court by the King; and the change to the rich and liberal diet proved too much for him In all probability, had he remained at home he would have lived much longer, for Dr. Harvey (the discoverer of the circulation of the blood), who examined his body, found every organ in vigorous health, all the cartilages soft and flexible, and the cause of death solely his too liberal dietary.

CLIMATE AND HABITS.

Longevity appears to depend to a certain extent on country and climate. While a cold, bracing climate like Norway gives a very high general average of age, the climate of Western Italy seems most favorable to very advanced life. As early as A. D. 76 we find that in this district in the Emperor's census 54 were returned at 100, 57 at 110, 2 at 125, 4 at 130, and 3 at 140. at 140. In Ireland, though the general average is low, we get many instances of centenarians. A country life is conducive to old age; while it is extremely rare to find persons of ninety years and upward who have led sedentary town lives. gevity cannot be said, however, to be dependent on any condition or vocation, but is found in the most opposed circumstances.

Lon

M.

St. Anthony, who died at 105, ate a few ounces of bread soaked in water, never washed or changed his garments, and lived always alone in a desert. Chevreuil, the great French chemist, at nearly the same age, ate for breakfast two eggs, some chicken-pasty, and had a pint of café-au-lait daily; for dinner, tapioca soup with grated cheese, a cutlet, a bunch of grapes, cheese, and three glasses of water. No fish and no wine. He was scrupulously clean, and lived in or near Paris surrounded by his friends.

Some people survive in spite of their habits. One old man of 97 all his life. drank quantities of neat gin, and smoked the strongest and rankest tobacco; while the Rev. W. Davis, who died in 1790 at 105, and who ought to have known better,

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for the last 35 years of his life never took exercise, and began the day on hot but tered rolls, and ended it with a supper hot roast meat with plenty of wine. a woman's tongue can be survived to a great age, for John Wakes, a centenarian, had had no less than ten wives. John Ross, again, and his wife are said to have celebrated their 148th wedding day, but this must be received with caution.

Spinsters will be pleased to know that single women live as long as married.

CHARACTERISTICS OF SEX.

In 1873 out of

Sex influences old age. 89 dying at or over 100 only 10 were males. This is due partly to less exposure to injuries, and partly to a greater tenacity of life. Girls die slower than boys; and though more boys than girls are born each. year, this difference maintains the balance. We may notice one or two other points of comparison between the sexes, as observed in some hundreds of recorded cases lately collected. The average height of an old man over 80 is 5 ft. 6 in., of an old woman, 5 ft. 3 in.; the pulse rate in the man is 73, in the woman 78; the breath rate in the man 18, in the woman 22. The average number of teeth in the men is 6, in the women 3, while a fourth of the men and half the women had none at all.

DURATION OF LIFE

It is believed that there are traces in the animal kingdom of a law that fixes the extreme duration of life at five times that of growth. This latter period in man may be said to average 21 years; hence the full span of a perfectly healthy man's life should range from 100 to 105 years. As, however, none are born perfectly free from taint, the expectation of life varies greatly. Every human being starts on his life's journey with a certain life force-or, in other words, like a clock, he is constructed to run a certain time under given conditions. The duration of life may be approximately found by adding together the ages at death of the parents and four grandparents, and dividing by six. If the result be over 60, 1 year may be added for every 5; if under, 1 year subtracted in like manner. Most people, however, as we have said, die prematurely, so that few have the opportunity of seeing how long they might have lived. No reason is known why when a certain balance is

reached, and maturity arrived at, it should not be maintained forever, especially as our machinery is all self-repairing.

CAUSES AFFECTING LONGEVITY.

The two chief requisites for attaining longevity appear to be

1. A sound quality of tissue, free from any inherent disease or weakness, and with an equally proportioned power of resist

ance.

2. Freedom from exposure to injury.

In 500 cases of people over 80, most came from long lived families, enjoyed good homes, good appetites, and good digestions, were moderate or small eaters, consumed little alcohol or medicine, were good sleepers, and showed at death no trace of gout or rheumatic gout. Nevertheless, in 82 cases the near relatives were consumptive.

SIGNS OF OLD AGE.

We will now consider one or two of the more prominent physical and mental characteristics of old age.

We find the changes from 50 to 100 go on as regularly and as surely as they did from 1 to 25, but in an inverse order, and more slowly. There is a steady lessening of material, of activity, and of strength. All three get less, though their relative proportions should remain the same.

The bones get lighter, and the muscles feebler, equally with the loss of desire for great activity. The weakened heart and arteries provide the less active circulation that old age requires.

The loss of appetite and teeth corresponds with the failure of digestive power. A healthy old age depends on all threestructural solidity, muscular force, and nervous energy-diminishing in the same ratio.

There is general wasting, and drying, and stiffening of all the tissues. The jaw wastes and returns to the infantile shape, while the skull thickens. The skin gets thinner, and the capillaries disappear; hence, we get loss of hair, and change in the color of the skin. The tissues also degenerate. We get the arcus senilis, or the white ring, round the iris. There is a loss of elasticity in all the cartilages, as can easily be seen by pressing the breastbone to test its flexibility. A lean old age is best. Dr. Southey gives as a sign

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of old age : "A man looking back frequently as he walks along, turning his feet out, and treading on the whole base of his feet." He says a shoemaker can often guess the age of his customer from the way the soles of his boots are worn.

Many of the aged have very keen faculties. As the brain reaches its maturity and continues to develop much later than the body, so its powers are often at the maximum when the rest of the frame is wasting, the judgment is often keen, and the talent brilliant. Titian was painting a large fresco when he was cut off by the plague at 99. On the other hand, the memory is often defective. In a child the interest in bis surroundings is the marked features; in the aged it is frequently ab

sent.

During the whole of life we gradually get more and more automatic in all our actions, as they become habits. At first all the actions of life were controlled by direct exercise of will-power at the last but few remain so. We have within us two lives the vegetative function of digestion, assimilation, and storage of food or force; and the animal, or the spending of it in nervous or muscular energy. old age creeps on, the animal life gradually ceases, the actions unnecessary to life get fewer and fewer, and the man retires. more and more within himself. He gets isolated and shut out bit by bit from all his surroundings, and taken up entirely with his own interests.

As

This is beneficial in part, as his hold on things around is thus gently loosened, each tie broken little by little, so that he suffers less when the final severance comes. Toward the close little but a vegetative automaton remains, and thus in those who really die of old age the launching into eternity is very gentle at the last.

OLD AGE AND DISEASE.

Old age has its special dangers and its special safety with regard to disease. For instance, whereas in a child the temperature goes up on the slightest provocation, in old age it can hardly be moved at all. The aged body is not, as a rule, prone to any acute disease. If a person passes 80, it is rare for him to be seized with any special malady. In injuries such as fractures, though from the lightness and brittleness of the bones they are easily met with they are repaired solidly and quick

ly, even in centenarians. Slight shocks cause severe depression, but greater injuries are surmounted, and surprising recoveries made from severe maladies. Wounds and ulcers often heal quicker than in the young; the aged recover from attacks of congestion, paralysis, apoplexy, pneumonia, erysipelas, and other affections in a surprising way. Diseases, as we have said, often pass them by. A man may live to 100 in a house in which he had typhoid fever himself, and in which many of his children and grandchildren have since died from it.

It is probable these favorable results are due to the long time the organs have worked unitedly and helped each other, like old soldiers who pull well together and bear reverses under which younger troops would succumb. There is, on the other hand, a tendency in old age for slight diseases to become chronic.

CARE OF OLD AGE. FOOD.

Now as to the care of old age, the chief points are moderate and digestible food, sufficient warmth, and an even, quiet life. The chief of the three is the food, or fuel for the lamp of life. While all fixed dieting is bad, where it can possibly be avoided, a few hints can be given that may prove of value. The older a person is after 50, the less food he requires. Luigi Cornaro, who lived to 100, though of a feeble constitution, took 12 ounces of solid food and 14 ounces of fluid daily during the latter part of his life; and his most severe illness was caused by his increasing his allowance, through the continual entreaties of his friends. Very little proteid or animal food is required, and though in many respects false teeth are a great boon to the aged, they may lead to too great a consumption of animal food. It is not the amount of coals we put in a grate that warms the room, but the amount that can be burnt; and the great point is to avoid choking the digestive and excretory organs with excess of food. The food of the nursery is the best in old age. Bread and milk and honey is a capital diet. Milk agrees with nearly all. Hot milk with a little Mellin's food forms an admirable drink at night, and can be kept warm in a hot-water jug covered with a cosey. Fruit is wholesome if ripe or well cooked. Fat is good, as cream or fresh butter. Warm food is very suitable. Soup en

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riched with cream or marrow is light and nourishing. All meals should be regular, and all excesses avoided. Of 800 persons over 80, 60 per cent. were moderate eaters, 30 per cent. small, and only 10 per cent. large. If weight is being gained the diet should be decreased. In addition to the after-dinner nap as years creep on, a doze after breakfast and before dinner is often helpful.

CLOTHING AND WARMTH.

As to clothing, it should be both warm and light. Fur is an admirable material. The underclothing should be of wool. A sealskin waistcoast is useful, and the feet and hands should be well and warmly clothed. An eider-down quilt on the bed, which should be warmed in winter, is a good covering. No aged person should be suffered to get cold in bed; 2 A. M. is the hour when most deaths take place, when the temperature of the body is lowest and its powers feeblest. The warmth of the bed is of great importance in old age. We are all expected to warn our beds, but old people cannot always do it, so it must be warmed for them. A bath (warm) should be taken every day, and a warmer bath, with plenty of a pure mild soap to keep the skin supple and soft, should be used twice a week. It is better for old people, who have the opportunity, to winter in the south of Europe, if possible. If not, the aged should shut theinselves up in a well-warmed house at this season. All habits of old people should be respected, and not lightly altered.

Whatever excites exhaustion should be forbidden. Early rising is therefore bad. Drinking hard water is not good, as it tends to hasten the calcareous changes in the body.

COMMON ERRORS.

Certain common errors in the care of the aged may be here pointed out some we have already touched on.

1. That the aged require rich and very nourishing diet.

2. That early rising is good for them. 3. That cold baths invigorate them : whereas they are fraught with imminent danger, and are often fatal.

4. That continual medicines and dinner pills are needed to digest the food where as, instead, less should be eaten.

5. That the rooms should be hot: where

Old age is, as we have said, of two sorts that which is natural, and that which is prematurely acquired in youth; and it need hardly be observed that it is only of the former variety we now speak.

CARE PROLONGS LIFE.

Self-denial often requires to be practised by the aged in many ways, though not arbitrarily. All known weak points in the constitution should be be jealously watched. No care as a rule surrounds the aged such as guards the young, because they are not in many ways the same objects of interest. But this is not as it should be, nor is it consistent with the Christian profession.

In animals death when it comes is, as a rule, swift. There is, with the vast majority, no old age and debility suffered among them. No long wasting or disease, or slow tumors, embitter their lives; they are killed by their fellows when their powers fail, and are thus delivered from all these slow tortures by one sharp stroke. This apparent cruelty of nature is thus a merciful provision for those beings who know not the meaning of sympathy.

in early ages and in savage life it was the same with man. The skulls found in the gravel beds are all full of teeth, as of those who died early. Now, in advanced civilization, love and care prolong life to a great age. This is not an unmixed good. Almost the very existence of slow decay and long disease has been brought about by the love and care that distinguish humanity. Hence, it is a peculiarly noble and Christian work to lessen the sufferings that in a sense our own care has inade possible; and, as far as we are able, to make old age a period of serene sunshine, and an unmixed blessing.