536 THE MOUNTAIN. 



more in power than in act, 'plus in posse, quam in actu;' 

 but were it given to us to offer it in act, would the com- 

 plaints of man cease ? It is a fact, a law that is to say, 

 from general experience in this class, (the mammifera,) that 

 extraordinary life can be prolonged to double that of ordi- 

 nary life." 



Buffon says, " The man who does not die of accidental 

 causes, reaches, everywhere, the age of ninety or a hundred 

 years.-' 7 * He asserts this to be true irrespective of varieties 

 of races and external conditions, " duration of life depend- 

 ing solely on internal constitution, or intrinsic virtue of 

 organs." 



Haller places man among the animals which live the 

 longest, and thinks " he might live not less than two centu- 

 ries." He says, "Man should be placed among the animals 

 that live the longest; how very unjust, then, are our com- 

 plaints of the brevity of life !"f He collected a great many 

 instances of extreme old age, the two oldest being 152 and 

 169. The first, Thomas Parr, of Shropshire, comes in- 

 dorsed by Harvey. Charles I. killed him by feasting him. 

 " Harvey dissected him ; all the viscera were perfectly 

 healthy ; the cartilages were not ossified, etc. He might 

 have lived many years ; he died of an accident "\ 



Hufeland gives a particular account of Thomas Parr : 

 " He was a poor farmer's servant, and obliged to maintain 

 himself by daily labor. When above 120 years of age he 

 married a widow for his second wife, who lived with him 

 twelve years, and who asserted that during that time he 

 never betrayed any signs of infirmity or age. Till his 130th 

 year he performed all his usual work, and was accustomed 

 even to thrash. Some years before his death, his eyes and 

 memory began to fail ; but his hearing and senses continued 

 sound to the last. In his 152d year the king sent for him, 

 and he was treated at court in so royal a manner that he 



* Vol. ii. p. 76. 



f Elementa Physiologies, vol. viii. lib. xxx. p. 75. 



J Flourcns. 



