ANiMALS. 'AHS 



that those men who live upon raw flesh, or dried fishes, upon 

 sago, or rice, upon cassava, or upon roots, nevertheless live as 

 long as those who are fed upon bread and meat -, we shall readily 

 De brought to acknowledge, that the duration of life depends 

 neither upon habit, customs, or the quantity of food ; we shall 

 confess, that nothing can change the laws of that mechanism which 

 regulates the number of our years, and which can chiefly be af- 

 fected only by long fasting, or great excess. 



If there be any difference in the different pei'iods of man's 

 existence, it ought principally to be ascribed to the quality of the 

 air. It has been observed, that in elevated situations there have 

 been found more old people than in those that were low. The 

 mountains of Scotland, Wales, Auvergne, and Switzerland, 

 Iwve furnished more instances of extreme old age, than the 

 plains of Holland, Flanders, Germany, or Poland. But, in 

 general, the duration of life is nearly the same in most countries. 

 Man, if not cut off by accidental diseases, is often found to live 

 to ninety or a hundred years. Our ancestors did not live be- 

 yond that date : and, since the times of David, this term has 

 undergone little alteration. 



If we be asked, how in the beginning men lived so much 

 longer than at present, and by what means their lives were ex- 

 tended to nine hundred and thirty, or even nine hundred and 

 sixty years ; it may be answered, that the productions of the 

 earth, upon which they fed, might be of a different nature at that 

 time from what they are at present. " It may be answered, that 

 the term was abridged by Divine command, in order to keep the 

 earth from being overstocked with human mhabitants ; since, if 

 every person were now to live and generate for nine hundred 

 years, mankind would be increased to such a degiee, that there 

 would be no room for subsistence ; so that the plan of Provi- 

 dence would be altered ; which is seen not to produce life with- 

 out providing a proper supply." 



But to whatever extent life may be prolonged, or however 

 some may have delayed the effects of age, death is the certain 

 goal to which all are hastening. All the causes of decay which 

 have been mentioned contribute to bring on this dreaded disso- 

 lution. However, nature aj)proaches to this awful period by 

 slow and imperceptible degrees ; life is consumed day after day ; 

 and some one of our faculties, or vital principles, is everv hour 



