Are We a Declining Race ? 



the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries ; of 

 these, no less than 



277 were above no years, & under 1 20 years of age 



8 4 120 130 



26 130 140 



7 14 150 



3 15 160 



2 160 170 



3 170 185 



Dr. Fothergill and Mr. Whitehurst give the 

 names of many of these people, and the counties 

 where they resided. 



To go back to an earlier date, Lord Bacon 

 assures us, from most incontestable evidence, 

 that in A.D. 76, when a general taxation was 

 made over the Roman Empire by Vespasian, 

 there were found living, in Italy, between the 

 Appenines and the river Po, no fewer than 124 

 persons aged 100 and upwards. Of these, four 

 were 130, four were 136, and three were 140 

 years old. 



And, even on this island, things were very 

 different to what they are now. Rapin, in the 

 introduction to his " History of England," says : 

 " The Britons were generally tall and well 



made Their constitutions were so good, 



that, according to Plutarch, they frequently lived 

 1 20 years. This length of days was due more 

 to their sobriety and temperance, than to the 

 wholesomeness of the air." 



It may be objected that in the absence or un- 

 certainty of records, these figures are unreliable. 

 Possibly, this may be so in point of accuracy, 



M 



