534 



LONGEVITY. 



occupations do not appear to be more injurious to 

 long life than many others. Many of the first literati, 

 most distinguished for application throughout life, 

 have attained old age, both in modern and ancient 

 times. In the ancient authors, numerous instances 

 of this kind are recorded, many of which may be 

 found collected in the work of I In IV land, alluded 

 to. 



There are several essential circumstances which 

 must combine, to give any individual a chance of 

 exceeding the usual period assigned to human exis- 

 tence. These may be comprehended under the fol- 

 lowing' heads : a proper configuration of body ; being 

 born of healthy parents ; living in a healthy climate 

 ; mi good atmosphere ; having the command of a 

 sufficient supply of food ; constant exercise ; a due 

 regulation of sleep ; a state of marriage ; and due 

 command of the passions and temper. 



Most of these particulars seem to be so well 

 established, and are, in themselves, so apparent, 

 that it seems hardly requisite to do more than men- 

 tion them, to obtain the assent of the mind to their 

 immediate reception. Thus, a deformed person can 

 hardly expect a very long life, nor one born of 

 unhealthy parents ; neither can a person inhabiting 

 an unhealthy city or district, expect to escape the 

 dangers with which he is perpetually surrounded. 

 There are some districts, both in Europe and Ame- 

 rica, where the inhabitants scarcely ever survive 



an eminent surgeon, of Leeds. Out-of-door occupations. 

 Butchers are subject to few ailments and these the result 

 of plethora. Though more free from diseases thin other 

 trades; they, however, do not enjoy greater longevity : 

 on the contrary, Mr Thackrah thinks their lives shorter 

 than those of other men who spend much time in tlie open 

 air. Cattle and horse-dealers are healthy, except when their 

 habits are intemperate. Fish-mongers, though much exposed 

 to the weather, are hardy, temperate, healthy and long-lived ; 

 cart-drivers, if sufficiently fed, and temperate, the same. La- 

 bourers in husbandry, &c., suffer from a deficiency of nourish- 

 ment. Brickmakers, with full muscular exercise in the open 

 air, though exposed to vicissitudes of cold and wet, avoid 

 rheumatism and inflammatory diseases, and attain good old age. 

 Paviors are subject to complaints in the loins, increasing with 

 age, but they live long. Chaise-drivers, postilions, cnaehmen, 

 guards, &c., from the position of the two former on the saddle, 

 irregular living, &c., and from want of muscular exercise, in 

 the two latter, are subject to gastric disorders, and, finally, 

 to apoplexy and palsy, which shorten their lives. Carpen- 

 ters, coopers, wheelwrights, &c., are healthy and long-lived. 

 Smiths are often intemperate, and die comparatively young. 

 Rope-makers and gardeners suffer from their stooping pos- 

 tures. In-door -occupations. Tailors, notwithstanding their 

 confined atmosphere and bad posture, are not liable to acute 

 diseases, but give way to stomach complaints and consumption. 

 The prejudicial influence of their employment is more insidious 

 than urgent : it undermines rather than destroys life. Stay- 

 makers have their health impaired, but live to a good age. 

 Milliners, and dress-makers and straw-bonnet-makers are 

 unhealthy and short-lived. Spinners, cloth-dressers, weavers, 

 &c., are more or less healthy, according as they have more or 

 less exercise and air. Those exposed to inhale imperceptible 

 particles of dressings, &c., such as frizers, suffer from disease, 

 and are soonest cut off. Shoemakers are placed in a bad pos- 

 ture. Digestion and circulation are so much impaired, that the 

 countenance marks a shoemaker almost as well as a tailor. 

 We suppose that, from the reduction nf perspiration, and other 

 evacuations, in this and similar employments, the blood is 

 impure, and, consequently, the complexion darkened. The 

 secretion of bile is generally unhealthy, and bowe. complaints 

 are frequent. In the few shoemakers who live to old age, 

 there is often a remarkable hollow at the base of the breast- 

 bone, occasioned by the pressure of the last. Curriers and 

 leather-dressers are very healthy, and jive to old age. Saddlers 

 lean much forward, and suffer, accordingly, from headache and 

 indigestion. Printers (our worthy co-operators) are kept in a 

 confined atmosphere, and generally want exercise. Pressmen, 

 however, have good and varied labour. The constant applica- 

 tion of tlie eyes to minute objects gradually enfeebles these 

 organs. The standing posture, long maintained here, as well 

 as in other occupations, tends to injure the digestive organs. 

 Some printers complain of disorder of the stomach and head, 

 and few appear to enjoy full health. Consumption is fre- 

 quent. We can scarcely find or hear of any compositor above 

 the age of fifty. The exhalation of the types.is injurious. Book- 

 binders, a healthy employment. Carvers and gilders look 

 pale and weakly, but their lives are not abbreviated in a 

 marked degree. Clock-makers are generally healthy and long- 

 lived ; watch-makers, the reverse. House servants, in large 

 imok jr towns are unhealthy. Colliers and well-sinkers, a class 



thirty-five or forty years. And it is well known that 

 some counties in England, particularly Shropshire, 

 Devonshire, Warwickshire, and Yorkshire, are much 

 more healthy than the rest ; whilst Essex, Lincoln- 

 shire, and some parts of Kent, are, from the swamps, 

 rendered particularly noxious to human life. All 

 tracts liable to be visited by severe epidemics, too, 

 have seldom produced instances of long life. 



It has been remarked, also, that certain families 

 are gifted by Heaven with better stamina and 

 strength, and, therefore, live longer. Quakers, and 

 persons of moderate passions, may be expected to be 

 longer lived than others ; but these, in the decline 

 of life, are subject to accessions of low spirits and 

 melancholy, so that they become indolent, and do 

 not resist the attacks of disease. One very singular 

 fact, and well established, is this, that no unmarried 

 person has ever been known, at least in Great Bri- 

 tain, to exceed the age of 100 years. Keeping the 

 passions under due control, and bearing, with forti- 

 tude and resignation, the evils of life, is a great 

 means of attaining long life. Longevity is not con- 

 fined to any nation or country, for instances of it 

 are to be found all over the world ; but they are 

 more abundant in cold and temperate climates. 

 Heat seems to relax and enfeeble the body too 

 much ; the heart, it may be conceived, is made to 

 beat too rapidly, and the vital power is too soon 

 expended. The vegetable diet, too, of hot countries, 



by themselves, seldom reach the age of fifty. Employment* 

 producing dust, odour, or gaseous exhalations. These are nut 

 injurious, if they arise from animal substances, or from the va- 

 pour of wine or spirits. Tobacco manufacturers do not appear 

 to suffer from the floating poison in their atmosphere. Snuff 

 making is more pernicious. Men in oil-mills are generally 

 healthy. Brush-makers live to a great age. Grooms and 

 hostlers inspire ammoniacal gas, and are robust, healthy, and 

 long-lived. Glue and size boilers, exposed to the most nox- 

 ious stench, are fresh-looking and robust. Tallow-chandler , 

 also exposed to offensive animal odour, attain considerable age. 

 Tanners are remarkably strong, and exempt from consumption. 

 Corn-millers, breathing an atmosphere loaded with flour, are 

 pale and sickly, and very rarely attain old age. Maltsters cannot 

 live long and must leave the trade in middle life. Tea-men 

 suffer from the dust, especially of green teas ; but this injury 

 is not permanent. Coffee-roasters become asthmatic, and sub- 

 ject to heailache and indigestion. Paper-makers, when aged, 

 cannot endure the effect of the dust from cutting the rags. 

 The author suggests the use of machinery in this process. In 

 the wet and wear and tear of the mills, they are not seriously 

 affected, but live long. Masons are short-lived, dying generally 

 before forty. They inhale particles of sand and dust, lilt 

 heavy weights, and are too often intemperate. Miners die 

 prematurely. Machine-makers seem to suffer only from the 

 dust they inhale, and the consequent bronchial irritation. The 

 (iron) filers are almost all unhealthy men, and remarkably 

 short-lived. Founders (in brass) suffer from the inhalation of 

 the volatilized metal. In the founding of yellow brass, in 

 particular, the evolution of oxide of zinc is very great. They 

 seldom reach forty years. Copper-smiths are considerably 

 affected by the fine scales which rise from the imperfectly 

 volatilized metal, and by the fumes of the spelter, or solder of 

 brass. The men are generally unhealthy, suffering from dis- 

 orders similar to those of the brass-founders. Tin-plate- 

 workers are subjected to fumes from muriate of ammonia, and 

 sulphureous exhalations from the coke which they burn. These 

 exhalations, however appear to be annoying, rather than 

 injurious, as the men are tolerably healthy, and live to a con- 

 siderable age. Tinners, also, are subject only to temporary 

 inconvenience from the fumes of the Noldering. Plumbers are 

 exposed to the volatilized oxide of lead, u hich rises during 

 the process of casting. They are sickly in appearance, and 

 short-lived. House-painters are unhealthy, and do not gen- 

 erally attain full age. Chemists and druggists, in laboratories, 

 are sickly and consumptive. Potters, affected through the 

 pores of the skin, become paralytic, and are remarkably subject 

 to constipation. Hatters, grocers, bakers, and chimney 

 sweepers (a droll association) also suffer through the skin; but 

 although the irritation occasions diseases, they are not, except 

 in the last class, fatal. Dyers are healthy and long-lived. 

 Brewers are, as a body, far from healthy. Under a robust and 

 often florid appearance, they conceal chronic diseases of the 

 abdomen, particularly a congested state of the venous system. 

 When these men are accidentally hurt or wounded, they are 

 more liable than other individuals to severe and dangerous 

 effects. Cooks and confectioners are subjected to considerable 

 heat. Our common cooks are more unhealthy than house- 

 maids. Their digestive organs are frequently disordered : Uiey 

 are subject to headache, and their tempers rendered irritable. 

 Glass-workers are healthy. .Glass-blowers often die suddenly. 



