398 DIFFERENCES IN DISEASE. 



life. Very old persons are sometimes seen among tlie dark 

 as well as among the white people. 



" It is by no means uncommon," says Humboldt, " to 

 see in Mexico, in the temperate zone, half-way up the Cor- 

 dillera, natives, and especially women, reach a hundred 

 years of age. This old age is generally comfortable ; for 

 the Mexican and Peruvian Indians preserve their strength 

 to the last. While I was at Lima, the Indian Hilario 

 Pari died, at the village of Chiguata, four leagues distant 

 from the town of Arequipa, at the age of 143. He re- 

 mained united in marriage for 90 years to an Indian of the 

 name of Andrea Alea Zar, who attained the age of 117. 

 This old Peruvian went, at the age of 130, from three to 

 four leagues daily on foot." 



Mr. Edwards informs us that the Negroes in the West 

 Indies often attain a great age*; and Mr. Barrow saw 

 Hottentots more than a hundred years oldf. 



Although the general uniformity in structure and func- 

 tions, throughout the species, must be expected to produce 

 a general similarity in diseases, the obvious organic varia- 

 tions in the several races lead us to look for some modifica- 

 tions in the morbid phenomena. But the concurring in- 

 fluence of other causes, such as climate, diet, mode of life, 

 and moral agencies, renders it difficult to distinguish what 

 maybe owing simply to peculiarity of organization. This 

 discrimination can only be accomplished by a long series of 

 patient observations on numerous individuals of each race, 

 and under similar circumstances in different parts of the 

 world. 



In his Treatise on Tropical Diseases, Dr. Mosely ob- 

 serves that "the locked jaw appears to be a disease entirely 

 of irritability. Negroes, who are most subject to it, what- 

 ever the cause may be, are void of sensibility to a surprising 

 degree. They are not subject to nervous diseases. They 



* History of the West Indies^ v. ii. p. 100, an example of a Negress 

 onehundrcd and twenty years old; v. iii. p. 247, another strong and hearty 

 at the age of ninetj-five at least. 



+ Travels in the Interior of Southern Africa, v. i. pp. 383, 398. 



