1875.] Longevity of Brain-Workers. 433 
but from the farming, mercantile, and artisan class, that the 
ranks of the professions are filled. 
Great Longevity of Great Men.—I have ascertained the 
longevity of five hundred of the greatest men in history. 
The list I prepared includes a large proportion of the most 
eminent names in all the departments of thought and 
activity. 
It would be difficult to find more than two or three hun- 
dred illustrious poets, philosophers, authors, scientists,. 
lawyers, statesmen, generals, physicians, inventors, musi- 
cians,, actors, orators, or philanthropists, of world-wide and 
immortal fame, and whose lives are known in sufficient 
detail, that are not represented in the list. My list was 
prepared, not for the average longevity, but in order to 
determine at what time of life men do their best work. It 
was, therefore, prepared with absolute impartiality ; and in- 
cludes, of course, those who, like Byron, Raphael, Pascal, 
Mozart, Keats, &c., died comparatively young. Now the 
average age of those I have mentioned I found to be 64°20. 
The average age at death at the present time of all classes 
of those who live over twenty years is about fifty. There- 
fore, the greatest men of the world have lived longer, on the 
average, than men of ordinary ability in the different occu- 
pations by fourteen years; six years longer than physicians 
and lawyers ; nineteen or twenty years longer than mechanics 
and day labourers; from two to three years longer than 
farmers ; and a fraction of a year longer than clergymen, 
who are the longest-lived class in our modern society. The 
value of this comparison is enforced by the consideration 
that longevity has increased with the progress of civilisa- 
tion, while the list I prepared represents every age of recorded 
history. A few years since I arranged a select list of one 
hundred names, comprising the most eminent personages, 
and found that the average longevity was over seventy years. 
Such an investigation any one can pursue; and I am sure 
that any chronology, comprising from one to five hundred of 
the most eminent personages in history, at any cycle, will 
furnish an average longevity of from sixty-four to seventy 
years. Madden, in his very interesting work, ‘‘ The Infirmi- 
ties of Genius,” gives a list of two hundred and forty 
illustrious names, with their ages at death. The average I 
found to be sixty-six and a fra¢tion. 
In view of these facts, it may be regarded as established 
that ‘the world’s hardest workers and noblest benefactors ” 
have usually been very long lived. 
