LIFE INSURANCE 



3419 



LIFE-SAVING SERVICE 



control of the attention. "He that ruleth him- 

 self is greater than he that taketh a city." 



Thoroughly carried out, individual hygiene, 

 as practiced five hundred years ago by Cor- 

 naro, and as now being practiced by hundreds 

 of thousands of modern men and women, im- 

 plies high ideals of health, strength, endurance, 

 symmetry, and beauty ; it enormously increases 

 their power to work, to be happy and to be 

 useful; it develops not only the body, but the 

 mind and the heart; it ennobles the man as a 

 whole. E.L.F. 



Related Subjects. The reader is referred to 

 the following" articles in these volumes : 

 Alcoholic Drinks Medicine and Drugs 



Health Habits Mental Handicaps 



Hygiene of Education 



(subtitle, page 1944) 



LIFE INSURANCE. See INSURANCE. 



LIFE, Length of, or LONGEVITY, Ion jev'i ti, 

 terms which are used to denote the average 

 duration of life in man, different animals and 

 plants. Since almost all forms of life differ 

 from each other in the rapidity with which 

 they develop, it is logical that few forms 

 should have the same span of life. Plants, for 

 instance, ordinarily grow up and die in a few 

 months; yet spruce trees may live for 150 

 years, and a native tree of the Cape de Verde. 

 Islands, known as the bavbab, lives 5,000 years. 

 The Big Trees of the Yosemite Valley in Cali- 

 fornia are also centuries old (see page 1059). 



In the case of animals it is usually those 

 which take longest to reach maturity which 

 have the longest lives. Below is given the esti- 

 mated length of life in years of a representa- 

 tive number of animals. The extreme ages 

 are not given, but the ages which the animals 

 may be expected to reach under normal con- 

 ditions appear as follows : 



Animals 



Whale 500 Pig 25 



Tortoise 350 Cow 25 



Crocodile 300 Ox 15-20 



Elephant 100 Goat 15 



40 Frog 12-16 



40 Dog . 15 



. v . . 36 Cat 13 



27 Sheep 12 



Lion 

 Camel 

 Toad 

 Horse 



Leopard 25 Hare 10 



Bear 25 Squirrel 6 



25 Mouse 6 



Birds 



100 Goose 50 



Swa n 100 Sparrow 40 



Crow 100 Skylark 30 



Heron 60 Peacock 24 



Parr t 60 Crane 24 



Pelican 50 Canary 24 



Linnet 23 Goldfinch 15 



Pigeon 20 Hen 14 



' Nightingale 18 Blackbird 12 



Lark 18 Robin ;... 12 



Pheasant 15 Thrush 10 



Partridge 15 Wren 3 



Fish 



Carp 150 Eel 60 



Pike 150 Lamprey 60 



Salmon 100 Crayfish 20 



According to statistics the average age at 

 which man dies is about forty years, but be- 

 cause of advance in knowledge of medicine and 

 sanitation this average will gradually rise (see 

 MORTALITY, LAW OF). A considerable number 

 of the human race live to be from seventy to 

 eighty years of age, and there are occasional 

 instances of people attaining the age of one 

 hundred years. 



LIFE-SAVING SERVICE. Those who "go 

 down to the sea in ships" from the ports of 

 nearly all countries in the world north of the 

 equator, except China, know that everywhere 

 dangerous shores are patrolled by men skilled 

 in the most scientific means of saving life. In 

 most countries this humane service is supported 

 by private contributions. In four only does 

 the government assume its organization, man- 

 agement and expense. The South American 

 republics, the vast stretches of African coasts 

 and the semi-civilized Asiatic countries afford 

 no means of saving life other than unorganized 

 effort. 



In the United States. The life-saving serv- 

 ice of the American Union is the most notable 

 example of government-controlled systems in 

 the world, and is unsurpassed in efficiency. It 

 was established by the Federal government in 

 1871. As early as 1807 benevolent organiza- 

 tions established life-saving apparatus on the 

 Massachusetts coast; and the New Jersey 

 shores, approached by a greater number of 

 vessels, were equipped by the government with 

 apparatus for the use of volunteers. From 

 such a small beginning the service has been ex- 

 tended to include the eastern and western 

 coasts, the Gulf territory, the Great Lakes and 

 Alaska. Most of the stations are maintained 

 all the year, but some, particularly on the 

 Great Lakes, are in operation only seven or 

 eight months of each year. 



Each life-saving station is equipped with a 

 serviceable building, sufficiently large to pro- 

 vide living quarters for the men and space for 

 boats. A surf-boat is usually made of cedar, 

 about twenty-five feet long and six to eight 

 feet wide. Air chambers make it practically 



