LONGEVITY. 



535 



does not seem so well calculated for giving the neces- 

 sary degree of strength and elasticity to the fibre ; 

 for although in warm countries more children 

 live to be men and women, yet, as the age of puberty 

 comes on very early, they seldom exceed sixty years. 

 This fact was ascertained, in China, in 1784, when 

 Kien Long ordered all the oldest men in the empire 

 to be brought before him, when, out of a population 

 of two hundred millions, only four persons could be 

 found, whose ages exceeded a hundred ; whereas, in 

 Russia, Norway, and other cold countries, instances 

 of longevity are frequent. Thus, in Norway, in 

 1761, of 6929, who died, 63 were 100 years old : 

 and, in Russia, in 1801, of 726,278 persons, who 

 died, 216 were 100 years old, and 220 had exceeded 

 that age ; and one, indeed, was more than 1 30. 

 The districts of Arcadia, ^Etolia, and other parts of 

 Greece, were formerly celebrated for instances of 

 long life; and many of the most distinguished Greeks, 

 such as Pythagoras, Plato, Sophocles, Pindar, &c., 

 attained to a very advanced period of life. 



In Italy, when a general census of the inhabitants 

 was made in the year 79, by order of the emperor 

 Vespasian, lord Bacon says there were then living, 

 between the river Po and the Apennines, 



54 of 100 

 57 110 

 2 125 

 4130 

 4136 

 3 140 

 3 120 



Placentia, 

 Faventia, 



2 of 130 

 1 125 

 1 131 

 6 110 

 4 120 

 1 - 132 

 1 - 150 



Rimini, 



The bills of mortality, in Pinsask, in Russia, 

 showed, as follows: 



5 persons of 110 



1 113 



4 120 



1 128 



1 130 



1 150 



The climate of the British islands is very friendly, 

 in general, to the human body; and, in proportion to 

 their size and population, show almost more instances 

 of long life than any other country. Carew, the 

 historian of Cornwall, says, thut in that country its 

 inhabitants frequently reach 90 with unimpaired 

 strength of body and mind : but these are the fann- 

 ers ; for the miners seldom live more than 40 years, 

 the fumes of the sulphur, copper, and arsenic, and 

 the damp, killing them all of consumption. But 

 Brown, the Cornish beggar, lived to be 120; and a 

 man, called Polenow, to 130. In Scotland, old age 

 is common ; 12 persons, in the lower parts of Gal- 

 loway, were living, a few years ago, of from 100 to 

 115 years of age. Old William Marshall, a tinker, 

 walked through that county, at 118, with all his 

 faculties perfect. In Montrose, too, in 1812, there 

 were five persons alive from 100 to 110. Small 

 islands and peninsulas, if quite free from marshes, 

 are generally very favourable to long life, and in all 

 latitudes. In the Bermuda islands, many natives 

 reach 100 and more ; and in the hurricane at Barba- 

 does, in 1780, four people were killed who were 

 above 100, and one of 115. Madeira has always 

 been noted for its healthy climate ; and a new born 

 infant's chance of life, is there about thirty-nine 

 years, or about a third more tlian that of one in Lon- 

 don. Martin, in his description of the Western 

 islands, speaks of a person in the island of South 

 Uist, aged 130, retaining his appetite and under- 

 standing ; and also of one Gilbert M'Craw, in the 

 island of Jura, who spent 180 Christmasses in his 

 own house. 



Here follows a list of the names of some of the 

 best known instances, with the domiciles, and authori- 

 ties annexed. 



