I THE TONER LECTURES. 



be borne. lu every circle he saw the sufferers from nervous col- 

 lapse, or heard of the victims of over-work. Mitchell, Beard, 

 Jewell, and others have dwelt upon the same fact, and have shown 

 that brain work and brain strain are, in this country, the not in- 

 frequent cause of the downfall of health. , 



That intellectual work -per se does not injure health or shorten 

 life may, I think, at once be admitted. The longevity of intel- 

 lectual workers is a subject that has frequently claimed the atten- 

 tion of statisticians, psychologists, and alienists. Madden^ gives a 

 series of tables showing the relative longevity of medical authors, 

 philologists, authors on revealed and natural religion, and on law 

 and jurisprudence, miscellaneous and novel writers, moral philoso- 

 phers, dramatists, natural philosophei'S. poets, artists, and musical 

 composers. The general average age at death for the whole list is 

 66 years. 



Tuke^ has collected from various sources the ages at death of 

 fifty-four men who were distinguished for intellectual achievements. 

 These ages gave an average of 80 years. 



Caspar (quoted by Tuke) gives the average age of clergymen at 

 65; merchants, 62; clerks and farmers, 61 each; military men, 59; 

 lawyers, 58 ; artists, 57 ; medical men, o6. 



Beard'^ ascertained the longevity of five hundred of the greatest 

 men of history — poets, philosophers, authors, scientists, lawyers, 

 statesmen, generals, physicians, inventors, musicians, actors, orators, 

 and philanthropists. His list was prepared impartially, and in- 

 cluded those who, like Byron, Raphael, Pascal, Mozart, Keats, etc., 

 died young. The average age was found to be 64.20 years. Sher- 

 wood (quoted by Beard) ascertained at great labor the ages at death 

 of ten thousand clergymen, the average being 64 years. The average 



^ Inilrmities of Genius. 



^ Illustrations of the Influence of the Mind upon the Body in Health and 

 Disease. By Daniel Hack Tuke, M. D., etc. Second Edition. 1884. 



* A Practical Treatise on Nervous Exhaustion (Neurasthenia). By George 

 M. Beard, A. M., M. D. Second and Revised Edition. 1880. 



