﻿LENGTHENING 
  OF 
  HUMAN 
  LIFE 
  IN 
  EETROSPECT 
  AND 
  

  

  PROSPECT 
  1 
  

  

  By 
  Irving 
  Fisheb, 
  Fellow, 
  A. 
  P. 
  11. 
  A. 
  

   Professor 
  of 
  Economics, 
  Yale 
  University, 
  New 
  Haven, 
  Conn. 
  

  

  At 
  its 
  Cleveland 
  meeting 
  in 
  1922, 
  the 
  American 
  Public 
  Health 
  

   Association 
  adopted 
  a 
  long 
  resolution, 
  prompted 
  by 
  the 
  death, 
  at 
  

   the 
  age 
  of 
  99, 
  of 
  Dr. 
  Stephen 
  Smith, 
  one 
  of 
  its 
  founders. 
  I 
  quote 
  

   from 
  this 
  resolution: 
  

  

  * 
  * 
  * 
  his 
  [Dr. 
  Stephen 
  Smith's] 
  last 
  request 
  and 
  advice 
  to 
  this 
  associa- 
  

   tion 
  a 
  year 
  ago 
  was 
  ; 
  * 
  * 
  * 
  " 
  To 
  send 
  messengers 
  of 
  hope 
  in 
  a 
  new 
  scien- 
  

   tific 
  standard 
  of 
  long 
  life. 
  * 
  * 
  * 
  " 
  In 
  New 
  Zealand 
  they 
  have 
  all 
  but 
  

   attained 
  for 
  their 
  people 
  an 
  average 
  length 
  of 
  life 
  of 
  65 
  years, 
  and 
  this 
  is 
  

   10 
  years 
  more 
  than 
  we 
  reached 
  in 
  the 
  registration 
  States 
  of 
  the 
  United 
  States 
  

   in 
  1920. 
  * 
  * 
  * 
  -yye, 
  the 
  health 
  workers 
  of 
  our 
  communities, 
  are 
  confident 
  

   that 
  there 
  is 
  nothing 
  inherently 
  impracticable 
  or 
  extravagant 
  in 
  the 
  proposal 
  we 
  

   make 
  that 
  many 
  nations 
  may 
  attain 
  such 
  knowledge 
  of 
  the 
  laws 
  of 
  health, 
  

   appropriate 
  to 
  each 
  age 
  and 
  occupation, 
  to 
  each 
  climate 
  and 
  race, 
  that 
  within 
  

   the 
  next 
  50 
  years 
  as 
  much 
  as 
  20 
  years 
  may 
  be 
  added 
  to 
  the 
  exi)ectancy 
  of 
  life 
  

   which 
  now 
  prevails 
  throughout 
  the 
  United 
  States, 
  and 
  to 
  this 
  goal 
  we 
  dedicate 
  

   the 
  efforts 
  of 
  our 
  association, 
  as 
  urged 
  by 
  our 
  departed 
  leader, 
  Stephen 
  Smitli. 
  

  

  So 
  far 
  as 
  in 
  me 
  lies, 
  I 
  wish 
  to 
  further 
  the 
  objects 
  of 
  this 
  resolution. 
  

  

  First, 
  let 
  me 
  confess 
  that 
  my 
  own 
  studies 
  in 
  health, 
  which 
  may 
  seem 
  

   a 
  little 
  outside 
  the 
  range 
  of 
  my 
  profession, 
  were 
  first 
  stimulated 
  by 
  

   my 
  having 
  had 
  tuberculosis 
  27 
  years 
  ago. 
  From 
  this 
  personal 
  in- 
  

   terest 
  I 
  was 
  gradually 
  led 
  to 
  see 
  the 
  great 
  economic 
  importance 
  of 
  

   health 
  and 
  to 
  appreciate 
  Emerson's 
  dictum 
  that 
  "the 
  first 
  wealth 
  is 
  

   health." 
  

  

  In 
  1908 
  I 
  was 
  made 
  a 
  member 
  of 
  President 
  Roosevelt's 
  Conserva- 
  

   tion 
  Commission 
  for 
  the 
  express 
  purpose 
  of 
  adding 
  to 
  its 
  study 
  of 
  the 
  

   economic 
  conservation 
  of 
  forests, 
  minerals, 
  soils, 
  and 
  waters, 
  that 
  

   of 
  human 
  life. 
  In 
  my 
  Report 
  on 
  National 
  Vitality, 
  published 
  by 
  the 
  

   National 
  Conservation 
  Commission 
  in 
  1909, 
  I 
  utilized 
  all 
  the 
  expert 
  

   opinion 
  and 
  data 
  then 
  available 
  as 
  to 
  the 
  preventability 
  of 
  various 
  

   diseases 
  in 
  order 
  to 
  reach 
  a 
  conservative 
  estimate 
  of 
  possible 
  life 
  

  

  1 
  Read 
  at 
  the 
  second 
  general 
  session 
  of 
  the 
  American 
  Public 
  Health 
  Association 
  at 
  the 
  

   fifty-fifth 
  annual 
  meeting 
  at 
  Buffalo, 
  N. 
  Y., 
  Oct. 
  13, 
  1926. 
  Reprinted 
  by 
  permission 
  from 
  

   American 
  Journal 
  of 
  Public 
  Health, 
  January, 
  1927. 
  

  

  535 
  

  

  