LON 



LON 



tural order of Filices, or ferns. Generic 

 character : capsule disposed in lunulated 

 lines, lying under the sinuses of the frond. 

 There are five species, all natives of very 

 hot climates. 



LONCHURUS, in natural history, a 

 genus of fishes of the order Thoracici. 

 Generic character : the head scaly ; ven- 

 tral fins separate ; the tail lanceolated. 

 The bearded lonchurus is a native of 

 Surinam, about twelve inches in length, 

 has a slightly lengthened nose, two beards 

 at the lower jaw, and the first ray of the 

 ventral fins elongated into a bristle. Its 

 colour is a ferruginous brown. 



LONG (ROGER,) D. D. Master of Pem- 

 broke-hall in Cambridge, Lowndes's pro- 

 fessor of astronomy in that university, &c. 

 was author of a well known and much 

 approved treatise of astronomy, and the 

 inventor of a remarkably curious astro- 

 nomical machine. This was a hollow 

 sphere of eighteen feet diameter, in which 

 more than thirty persons might sit conve- 

 niently. Withinside the surface, which 

 represented the heavens, was painted the 

 stars and constellations, with the zodiac, 

 meridians, and axis parallel to the axis 

 of the world, upon which it was easily 

 turned round by a winch. He died 

 December 16, 1770. at ninety-one years of 

 rage. 



A few years before his death, Mr. Jones 

 gave some anecdotes of Dr Long, as fol- 

 lows : " He is now in the 88th year of his 

 age, and for his years vigorous and ac- 

 tive. He was lately put in nomination 

 for the office of vice-chancellor : he exe- 

 cuted that trust once before, I think in 

 the year 1737. He is a very ingenious 

 person, and sometimes very facetious. 

 At the public commencement, in the year 

 1713, Dr Greene (master of Bennet Col- 

 lege, and afterwards Bishop of Ely) being 

 then vice-chancellor, Mr. Long was pitch- 

 ed upon for the tripos performance : it was 

 witty and humorous, and has passed 

 through divers editions. Some that re- 

 membered the delivery of it, told me, 

 that, in addressing the vice-chancellor, 

 (whom the university wags usually styled 

 Miss Greene) the tripos orator, being a 

 native of Norfolk, and assuming the Nor- 

 folk dialect, instead of saying, ' Domine 

 vice-cancellarie,' archly pronounced the 

 words thus, * Domina vice-cancellaria ;' 

 which occasioned a general smile in that 

 great auditory. His friend, the late Mr. 

 Boufoy, of Ripton, told me this little inci- 

 dent: 'That he and Dr. Long, walking 

 together in Cambridge, in a dusky even- 

 ing, and coming to a short post fixed in 



VOL. IV. 



the pavement, which Mr. Boufoy, in the 

 midst of chat and inattention, took to be 

 a boy standing in his way, he said, in a 

 hurry, Get out of my way, boy.' 'That 

 boy, sir,' said the Doctor, very calmly 

 and slyly, 'is a post-boy, who turns out 

 of his way for nobody.' 1 could recollect 

 several other ingenious repartees, if there 

 were occasion. One thing is remarkable, 

 he never was a hale and hearty man, al- 

 ways of a tender and delicate constitution, 

 yet took great care of it ; his common 

 drink water ; he always dines with the 

 fellows in the hall. Of late years he has 

 left off eating flesh-meats ; in the room 

 thereof puddings, &c. sometimes a glass 

 or two of wine," 



LONGEVITY, the continuance of life 

 beyond its ordinary period of duration. 

 The term of human life does not in gene- 

 ral much exceed 80 years, but it is well 

 known that instances occasionally occur 

 of persons living to the age of 100 years 

 and upwards. ' Such instances, however, 

 have not excited that general attention, 

 which from the nature of the subject 

 might be expected, and it is only of late 

 years that any extensive collection of 

 them has been formed, or attempts made 

 to ascertain the circumstances and situa- 

 tions in which the different individuals 

 preserved their lives to an age so much 

 beyond the usual lot of man. The most 

 extensive catalogue of this kind, is that 

 published by J. Easton, which, though 

 very defective, contains the names and 

 some particulars of 1712 persons, who had 

 attained to a century and upwards, hav- 

 ing died at the following ages : 



From 100 to 110 years .... 1310 



110 to 120 277 



120 to 130 84 



130 to 140 26 



140 to 150 

 150 to 160 

 160 to 170 

 170 to 185 



1712 



The circumstances which chiefly tend 

 to promote longevity may be reduced to 

 the following heads : 



1. Climate. A large majority of the re- 

 corded instances of great age were inha- 

 bitants of Great Britain or Ireland, of 

 France, Germany, or the north of Europe, 

 from which it appears, that moderate or 

 even cold climates are the most favoura- 



