THE HABITS AND HISTORY OF CENTENARIANS. 621 



soon take the numerical lead, and they maintain it with almost stead- 

 ily increasing ratio to the end. It is also to be learned from the 

 analysis of the tables that the elasticity of the thorax, as evinced by 

 the condition of the costal cartilages, and its capacity for dilatation 

 during inspiration, is better preserved in women than in men. In the 

 matter of the arcus senilis, also, the woman has the advantage ; but 

 in the condition of the arterial system, much difference is not shown. 



Of the 36 women, 26 had been married, and 11 had large families ; 

 and it may be some consolation to young mothers and their friends to 

 find that 8 of the 26 married before they were twenty — 1 at sixteen 

 and 2 at seventeen. The dangers, happily diminishing, which are inci- 

 dental to child-bearing, must not be forgotten ; but, irrespective of 

 these, the process itself and the attendants thereon do not seem to 

 militate against longevity. Indeed, the capacity for the full exercise 

 of this, like that of the other normal functions, is one of the qualities 

 in those who have the other requisites for attaining to great age. 

 One only of the married women was childless ; but neither the age at 

 which she was married nor the duration of her married life are given. 



It might be anticipated, indeed, from the matrimonial tendency, and 

 the prolific quality evinced by the tables, the average number of chil- 

 dren born to each, whether male or female, being 6, that there would 

 be, through inheritance, a gradual increase in the centenarian breed ; 

 and it is probable that this is the case, and that the duration of life is, 

 from this and other favoring causes, gradually being extended. The 

 life-period of the children we have no means of determining with 

 accuracy, the returns being, from various causes, imperfect ; but we 

 may safely accredit them with, at least, an average longevity. It is, 

 moreover, a point of some interest that many of the centenarians were 

 members of large families, averaging, indeed, 7 or 8 ; those desig- 

 nated as " only children " being limited to 2. Of the 52, 41 had been 

 married, and 11, of whom 10 were women, had remained single ; but 

 we can not from this draw any inference as to influence of matrimony 

 upon longevity. Possibly something may be gleaned from the analy- 

 sis of the numerous reports I have received of persons between eighty 

 and one hundred. 



The fact that 12 of the centenarians were "first children " does 

 not accord with the idea entertained by some persons that first chil- 

 dren are at a physical disadvantage. The generally prevalent custom 

 of inheritance by the first-born, and the Mosaic injunction (Exodus 

 xii, 2), " Sanctify unto me all the first-born ; whatsoever opened the 

 womb among the children of Israel, both of man and of beast, it is 

 mine," are also scarcely in harmony with such a view. Nevertheless, 

 some confirmation of the view is furnished by the feeling on this mat- 

 ter, founded, it may be presumed, on experience in racing- stables, 

 which, I have been informed, is not in favor of firstlings. In the case 

 of one of our centenarians, the parents were first cousins. 



