HUMAN LONGEVITY. 137 



ceptional; and fairly subject in each case to the common 

 and obvious explanation, that life would have been longer 

 extended had the habit been otherwise. The drunkard who 

 dies at 70, might have reached 80, if sober. 



But while thus associating moderation of life with length 

 of life, we are bound to add that there may be excess even in 

 this laudable direction. A constant and anxious care for 

 existence, and rigid rules of living founded upon this, tend in 

 their own way to curtail what it is sought to prolong. There 

 is some practical truth in the story in the Spectator, of the 

 gentleman who cut short his life by weighing or measuring 

 every article of his food. Of the famous case of Cornaro we 

 have already spoken, as not justifying all that M. Flourens 

 seeks to derive from it. The truth we consider to be and 

 it is a physiological fact that whatever leads the mind to 

 give close and minute attention to the stomach and organs 

 of digestion, does more or less embarrass that great function, 

 and impair the nutrition of the body. Temperance must not 

 be made to march in manacles and fetters, or with steps of 

 unbroken uniformity. We degrade the virtue by this manner 

 of using it ; and attempt what is impossible under the endless 

 changes incident to the life of man. 



It remains for us to speak of exercises of the body, in 

 their reference to longevity. Under the definition of vitality 

 already given, it will be obvious that whatever tends to 

 maintain the organs generally in their healthy state, tends in 

 the same proportion to preserve and prolong life. Exercise 

 is one of the great means to this end. An organ destined to 

 a particular function is best kept in its integrity by the ex- 

 ercise of this function, with a due regard to those progressive 

 and inevitable changes which time brings upon every man. If 

 we take the term exercise in its ordinary sense, as expressing 

 the muscular actions of the body, the conclusion is the 

 same ; rendered still more explicit by our knowledge of the 



