52 



MAN THE ANIMAL 



stalwarts of 1890. At that time six hundred out of every 10,000 

 white males alive at age seventy lived on to ninety or more. 

 Now, on the basis of the 1929-31 experience, only 563 manage 



this feat. 



So it becomes plain that the important achievements in alter- 



i90atf-u«ye90 



SS3 ai/—^9e90 



SO0aii-^g»90 



/?^^-jr/ 



§UI^VIVAL AT THE HIGHER ADULT AGE^ 



/S90 



I 



Fig 3 The number of survivors at the later ages from an equal number startmg at age 40 and 

 at age 70, as shown by the U. S. Life Table (exclusive of Texas and South Dakota) of 1929-31, 



and the Massachusetts Life Table of 1890 White males. 



ing the shape of the Ladder of Life in the last fifty years, have 

 been mainly in regard to the lower rungs. And it is chiefly 

 the lowest, or ten-year rung that has been improved. In 1890 

 only 72 per cent of the boy babies starting got a foothold on 

 that 10-year rungj now 91 per cent do. This is splendid and 

 must certainly be warmly approved of by every small boy. But 

 there is extremely little in it to bring cheer to the man at forty 

 who would like to buy an annuity and look forward to gloating 

 over the issuing insurance company as a nonagenarian. ^ i 



In the common way of thinking longevity really means liv- 



