HUMAN LONGEVITY. 123 



Professor Tucker's analysis of the American census from 

 1790 to 1840, published a year ago, we derive the strange 

 result, if true, that the chances of living above 100 are 13 

 times as great among the slaves, and 40 times as great in 

 the free negroes, as in the white population of the country. 



These results however, as we have just hinted, are too 

 anomalous to be readily accepted. Scarcely half a century 

 has elapsed since the importation of slaves from Africa was 

 prohibited by law ; and we may therefore safely presume, 

 that most of those whose alleged ages exceed 100, were of 

 African birth; a circumstance which bars in limine all 

 certain conclusions on the subject. Even with respect to 

 those born in the States, there is much likelihood of faulty 

 registration, added to by the frequent transference of slaves 

 from one estate to another. And yet, further, we have to 

 consider here the habits of the negroes themselves ; their 

 curious inaccuracy as to all matters of numbers ; and their 

 proneness to exaggeration, especially when by applying this 

 to age, they may hope to obtain some interest in their fate, or 

 mitigation of their labours. Professor Tucker goes farther, 

 and speaks of the temperate and easy life of a large part of 

 the slave population as adding to the chances of longevity. 

 We should gladly believe that it was so ; but the much larger 

 proportion of centenarians among the free blacks weakens 

 the force of the inference. 



For these and other reasons we cannot draw just conclu- 

 sions from the American census ; while the general evidence 

 from other sources (confirmed by personal enquiry we have 

 ourselves made in the country) leads to the belief that the 

 average longevity of the Negro and European races differs 

 but little in amount. The extreme cases of longevity in the 

 former, furnished us from our own West Indian Islands, 

 closely tally with those recorded in the registers of the white 



