23C A HISTORY OF 



gevity, were peasants accustomed to the greatest fatigues, wno had nc 

 settled rules of diet, but who often indulged in accidental excesses. 

 Indeed, if we consider that the European, the Negro, the Chinese, 

 and the American, the civilized man and the savage, the rich and the 

 poor, the inhabitant of the city and of the country, though all so dif- 

 ferent in other respects, are yet entirely similar in the period allotted 

 them for living; if we consider that neither the difference of race, of 

 climate, of nourishment, of convenience, or of soil, makes any differ- 

 ence in the term of life; if we consider that those men who live 

 upon raw flesh or dried fishes, upon sago or rice, upon cassava or 

 upon roots, nevertheless live as long as those who are fed upon bread 

 and meat, we shall readily be brought to acknowledge, that the dura- 

 tion of life depends neither upon habit, customs, nor the quantity of 

 food ; we shall confess, that nothing can change the laws of that me- 

 chanism which regulates the number of our years, and which can 

 chiefly be affected only by long fasting or great excess. 



If there be any difference in the different periods of man's existence, 

 it ought principally to be ascribed to the quality of the air. It has 

 been observed, that in elevated situations there have been found more 

 old people than in those that were low. The mountains of Scotland, 

 Wales, Auvergne, and Switzerland, have furnished more instances of 

 extreme old age, than the plains of Holland, Flanders, Germany, or 

 Poland. But, in general, the duration of life is nearly the same in 

 most countries. Man, if not cut off by accidental diseases, is often 

 found to live to ninety or a hundred years. Our ancestors did not 

 live beyond that date ; and, since the times of David, this term has 

 undergone little alteration. 



If we be asked, how in the beginning men lived so much longer 

 than at present, and by what means their lives were extended to nine 

 hundred and thirty, or even nine hundred and sixty years; it may be 

 answered, that the productions of the earth, upon which they fed, 

 might be of a different nature at that time from what they are at pre- 

 sent. " It may be answered, that the term was abridged by Divine 

 command, in order to keep the earth from being overstocked with 

 human inhabitants; since, if every person were now to live and gene- 

 rate for nine hundred years, mankind would be increased to such a 

 degree, that there would be no room for subsistence: so that the plan 

 of Providence would be altered ; which is seen not to produce life, 

 without providing a proper supply." 



But to whatever extent life may be prolonged, or however some 

 may have delayed the effects of age, death is the certain goal to which 

 all are hastening. All the causes of decay which have been men- 

 tioned, contribute to bring on this dreaded dissolution. However, 

 nature approaches to this awful period by slow and imperceptible de- 

 grees ; life is consuming day after day ; and some one of our faculties, 

 or vital principles, is every hour dying before the rest; so that death 

 is only the last shade in the picture; and it is probable that man suf- 

 fers a greater change in going from youth to age, than from age into 

 the grave. When we first begin to live, our lives may scarcely be 

 aid to be our own ; as the child grows, life increases in the same 

 proportion; and is at its height in the prime of manhood. But as noon 



