1897.] FIELD — THE SPAN OF LIFE. 421 



The editorial goes on to say, for instance, that the late Dr. Oliver 

 Wendell Holmes believed that the life of a poet is generally not 

 long; yet refers in his writings to Longfellow, Halleck and Whit- 

 tier, all of whom attained to over seventy-five years of age and 

 one of them to eighty-five, and that Holmes himself was eighty-five 

 when he died. Other well-known men are cited by Dr. TurnbuU 

 as examples of longevity ; for instance, Mr. Gladstone living at 

 eighty-five, Bismarck at eighty, Pope Leo XUI at eighty-five, and 

 in our country Senator Morrill, of Vermont, eighty-four; ex-Senator 

 Payne, eighty-five; Neal Dow, of Maine, ninety-one; Robert C. 

 Winthrop, eighty-seven ; ex-Secretary McCulloch, eighty, and ex- 

 Senator Thurman, eighty-one, in addition to whom he mentions 

 Dr. William H. Furness and the Hon. Frederick Fraley. The ap- 

 parent conclusion reached by the paper is that long life in America 

 is not uncommon, and that, therefore, the average age is greater 

 than the so-called three-score years and ten. 



This editorial was penned more than two years ago. My atten- 

 tion was called to it by Dr. J. Cheston Morris, who knew that I 

 was interested in such matters. The remark by Dr. Turnbull on 

 the " Biblical idea " aroused my curiosity and a desire for investi- 

 gation. As some of the names mentioned in this paper appear 

 upon the rolls of the American Philosophical Society, it seemed as 

 if the ''experience" of the Society in this direction would 'be 

 interesting. The ''experience" of the Society does ;/^/ bear out 

 the assertion of Dr. Turnbull if his statement be taken to mean that 

 nowadays the average life is greatly prolonged beyond the "three- 

 score and ten." 



In the general list of the members of the Society from 1743 to 

 1894, inclusive^ there have been 11 18 deaths where the ages have 

 been recorded. The average age at death is seventy and one-eighth 

 years. The youngest age is twenty-five (25) years. Two deaths are 

 recorded at that age. Dr. John Pennington and Joel B. Reynolds. 

 The oldest age at death was Dr. Ed. Holyoke, of Massachusetts 

 Bay, having died at the advanced age of one hundred and one 

 (loi). 



The average length of membership is found to have been twenty- 

 two and sixty-four one-hundredths years (22.64). The shortest 

 membership is that of Capt. Karl Chevalier Rousseau d'Happon- 

 court, who was a delegate from K. K. Military and Geographical 

 Institute of Vienna on the occasion of the Society's sesqui-centen- 



PROC. AMER. PHILOS. SOC. XXXVI. 156. 2 C. TRIKTED FEB 18, 1898. 



