MISCELLANEOUS ESSAYS^ 



407 



«cnts us an example : nor is it ne- 

 cessary to look in print for these 

 Stored-up allusions ; every counting- 

 house exhibits choice of metaphor, 

 beyond all that Sancho's proverbs 

 can pretend to ; and I once was 

 witness to a conversation of that 

 kind, where a string of disjointed 

 metonymy sent me out of the room 

 to laugh, when I had heard what 

 follows. 



" Milo is expected to become a 

 bankrupt soon, — ^have you endea- 

 voured to get that money from him 

 which is owing to our house ?" 



Ans. " Why, sir, that fellow 

 did run upon a rope to be sure, till 

 at length he came to a stand-still ; 

 and they say, will now very soon 

 stick in the mud : when I heard 

 that, being determined to strike a 

 great stroke, you may be sure I 

 thought it proper to purge him 

 pretty briskly ; but finding that the 

 grey mare was the better horse, I 

 resolved to wait till this morning, 

 and then begin to plough with the 

 hrifer ; which I shall most certainly 

 set about directly tooth and nail," 



This jargon, whicli I defyr a so- 

 litary scholar to construe, meant 

 only, that Milo had been expensive, 

 and was in consequence of his ex- 

 travagance expected to stop pay- 

 ment ; tliat the clerk had tormented 

 him for the money, but that Milo 

 leaving his pecuniary affairs in the 

 hand of liis wife, the clerk resolved 

 to call on her next morning, and 

 either fright or persuade her to dis- 

 charge the d^bt, by every method 

 in his power. 



^n account of the xtate nf the body 

 and mind in oldui^'^, with nbierva- 

 tioit on itr diseast'f, and their re- 

 madies ; from Mediatl Inquiries 



aid Observations, hy Dr. Rush, 

 of Philadelphia. 



MOST of the facts, which I shall 

 deliver upon this subject, 

 are the result of observations made 

 during the last five years, upon per- 

 sons of both sexes, who have passed 

 the 80th year of their hves. I in- 

 tended to have given a detail of 

 their names, manner of life, occu- 

 pations, and other circumstances of 

 each of them : but, upon a review 

 of my notes, I found so great a 

 sameness in the history of most of 

 them, that I despaired, by detail- 

 ing them, of answering the inten- 

 tion which I have proposed in the 

 following essay. 1 shall, therefore, 

 only deliver the facts and principles, 

 which are the result of enquiries and 

 observations I have made upon this 

 subject. 



I. I shall mention the circum- 

 stances wliich favour the attainment 

 of longevity : 



II. I shall mention the pheno- 

 mena of body and mind which at- 

 tend it : and, 



III. I shall enumerate its pecu- 

 liar diseases, and the remedies which 

 are most proper to remove, or mo- 

 derate them. 



I. The circumstances which fa- 

 vour longevity, are, 



1. Descent from long-lived ances- 

 tors, 



I have not found a single instance 

 of a person wlio has lived to be 

 eiglity years old, in whom this was 

 not the case. In some instances, I 

 found the descent was only from 

 one, but in general it was from 

 both parents. The knowledge of 

 this fact may serv , not only to assist 

 in calculating what are called the 

 chances of lives, but it may be made 



D d 4 useful 



