THE HABITS AND HISTORY OF CENTENARIANS. 619 



supervene, when means of communication with others are stopping, 

 when the " sans everything " condition is impending, he is content to 

 quit ; and, when the tenement becomes distressing or painful, he is 

 anxious to do so. Still, though the capacities for activity and work 

 may be passing away, and life's " fretful fever " with them, the old 

 person may comfort himself with the reflection that a useful mission 

 still remains in the benign influence of a serene and benevolent dispo- 

 sition, which calmly estimates the things of time and sense at their 

 true value, and which, leniently regarding the short-comings of others, 

 gives the true crown of glory to the hoary head. 



It is most satisfactory to find that the exercise — even the full exer- 

 cise — of the various powers, mental and bodily, is not merely compat- 

 ible with, but is conducive to, great age ; that, as has been well said, 

 ." the harmonious development of the many-sided aspects of man is 

 conducive to health and the prolongation of life," and that there need 

 be no fear of entering heartily and actively, and with full interest and 

 energy, into the assigned work of life, physical or mental. The body 

 is made, not for ease and sloth, but for labor and play, for work and 

 enjoyment, better still for enjoyment of work. Work, enjoyed as 

 it should be, promotes health in body, and especially if stimulated 

 by other motives than personal ambition and gain, engenders that 

 cheerful, placid frame of mind which is one of the adjuncts of cente- 

 narianism. 



France has lately celebrated the centenary of a philosopher and a 

 chemist, M. Chevreul, who the same night occupied the President's 

 box at the opera ; and we are told that a Chinese centenarian recently 

 passed the examination which qualified him to enter the highest acad- 

 emy of the Mandarins. Delightful was the account of Lady Smith, in 

 whom a bright, intelligent mind and a brisk, healthy body had been in 

 uninterrupted harmonious action for a hundred and three years, and 

 who to the last took a lively interest in the world's political and other 

 movements.* 



* The original report of the committee of the British Medical Association, of which 

 these observations by Professor Humphry are a part, was accompanied by a series of 

 elaborate tables, in which all the details here summarized in the paper were given sepa- 

 rately for each person. As the results and lessons of the investigation are clearly pre- 

 sented by Professor Humphry, in all their important bearings, with estimations of the 

 value of each of them, we omit the tables, which, however useful they may be for refer- 

 ence, are not pleasant reading. In introducing the table the author remarks that in " their 

 publication it is not meant to be implied that each of the fifty-two persons positively 

 attained to the age of one hundred years. Some, no doubt, did so ; and in eleven (two 

 males and nine females) the age was confirmed by baptismal certificates or other records. 

 Respecting others, there is necessarily more or less uncertainty; but these may reasonably 

 be assumed to have reached nearly to that age. The name is given in each case ; and 

 the names are also given of the informants. These were nearly all medical men who 

 volunteered the information which they would not have done unless they believed it to be 

 correct, and who, in many cases, were well acquainted with the persons respecting whom 

 they gave the particulars. The well-known pride of longevity and the tendency to ex- 



