170 An EJJhy on Longevity, 



At prefent, the powers of phytic, it is generally acknow- 

 ledged, are extremely bounded. The medical art, however, 

 is probably Mill in its infancy, and it is impofiible yet to fay 

 to what perfection it may reach, not only in confequence of 

 the new improvements which chemiftry daily fumiihes, but 

 alio of thole which may be made by the difcovery of new 

 and valuable plants in countries either already known or hi- 

 therto unexplored, and indeed the new ufes to which old me- 

 dicinal plains may be applied. Perhaps fuch difcoveries will 

 be much accelerated, when, inftead of being left to the zeal 

 and induftry of individuals, they (hall meet with that public 

 encouragement and protection to which they are fo pecu- 

 liarly well entitled. 



7. Difpofition of mind. — In the laft place, nothing is more 

 conducive to longevity than to preferve equanimity and good 

 fpirits, and not to link under the difappointments of life, to 

 which all, but particularly the old, are necevTarily fubje&ed. 

 Indeed this is a point which cannot be too much inculcated ; 

 for experience fufficiently demonftrates that many perim from 

 defpondency, who, if they had preferved their fpirit and vi- 

 gour of mindj might have furvived many years longer. 



III. Countries remarkable for Longevity. 



The countries the mod remarkable for long life are thofe 

 of a hilly nature. We are informed by Pallas that the in- 

 habitants of the mountainous diftri&s of the province of 

 Ifefk, in the northern parts of Siberia, live to a great age; 

 that people of 100 years are very common, and that he law 

 an invalid foldier aged 120. The inhabitants of the plains 

 in their neighbourhood are, at the fame time, by no means 

 fo healthy or fo long lived. BurTon places the mountainous 

 diftricts of Scotland at the head of a lift containing thofe 

 parts of Europe the mod diftinguifhed for longevity; and, 

 indeed, there is no country in Europe where, in proportion 

 to its population, a greater number of individuals reach ttf 

 60, and thence to 80, and even 90 years of age, in full pof- 

 feflion of all their faculties, both perfonal and mental, than 

 is the cafe in that part of Great Britain*. There is alfo 



every 



• In a work containing a collection of inftances of longevity for no lefs 

 a period than 733 years, namely, from A. D. 1066 to 1799, (by J.Eafton) 

 in which there is given the name, age, place of refidence, &c. of 1712 

 perfons, from all parts of the world, who had attained to a century and 

 upwards, 170 are dated to have been natives of Scotland, and the two 

 mod remarkable in the whole lift are Kentigern, a native of Scotland, and 

 Ptter Torton, of Tetnefwar, in Hungary, both of whom attained the great 

 age of 185 vears. This Kentigern, alfo known under the name of Saint 



Mungo, 



