HUMAN LONGEVITY. Ill 



regard with doubt that of the Countess of Desmond, whose 

 age is recounted at 148 ; yet we cannot equally reject the evi- 

 dence as to the 152 years of Thomas Parr's life, accredited as 

 it is by the testimony of Harvey, who examined his body after 

 death, and states that there were no obvious reasons why he 

 might not have lived yet longer, but for those changes in his 

 habits of life which followed his removal to London and to the 

 kitchens of the palace. 



Instances of this extraordinary kind, indeed, are fully 

 admitted by some of the most eminent physiologists ; and 

 Haller and Hufeland respectively, after citing several especial 

 cases of life exceeding 150 years, affirm it as probable that 

 the organisation and vital forces of man may be capable in 

 some cases of reaching 200 years of age. No proof, however, 

 is given by them of such age having ever been attained ; nor 

 is there any record of it, except in one or two instances, so 

 utterly without attestation that they must at once be dis- 

 carded. We note one of them below, simply to show how 

 loose is the evidence often received on these matters.* But 

 we cannot refuse belief to a certain proportion of cases in 

 those Registers of longevity which, comprising many thou- 

 sand instances, must contain some average of truth, however 

 difficult it may be to discriminate or define it. Dr. Van 

 Oven, in tables which he has drawn up with great diligence, 

 gives seventeen examples of age exceeding 150 years. In 

 another of the volumes before us (the ' Records of Longevity,' 

 by Mr. Bailey) we have a catalogue of three or four thousand 

 cases of longevity verging closely upon, or exceeding 100 

 years, and several of them reaching 150 years. Without 

 seeking to impeach the good faith with which these tables 

 are constructed, we cannot but feel the great want of any 



* This case is derived from a parish register in Somersetshire, where the 

 record appears of the 'burial, in Dec. 20, 1588, of Jane Britten, a maiden 

 as she affirmeth at the age of 200.' 



