VI CENTENAHIANISM 227 



teach us than the man who exceeds eight feet in 

 height : both are monstrosities, and attain their 

 special distinction by no particular behaviour on their 

 part. A certain amount of care will produce its due 

 effect on the longevity of any individual ; but there 

 is a set limit beyond which it cannot be extended. 

 In some individuals this limit is at a greater distance 

 than it is in the most of mankind, and if they escape 

 the accidents of disease and violence they live longer 

 than other men : the cases of these men must be 

 looked upon as distinctly abnormal ; they are to be 

 held as freaks of nature, monsters giants of age ; 

 just as we have converse cases recorded of dwarfs of 

 age human beings who became old after twelve 

 years of life, and began to exhibit senile decay at a 

 time when ordinary men are still growing children. 



Longevity, as we have elsewhere pointed out, 1 is of 

 several kinds, which need to be distinguished. There 

 is the longevity characteristic of species of plants and 

 animals, men included, that is to say, the age which 

 each individual of the species born may be expected 

 to reach ; this is average specific longevity, and is a 

 very low figure indeed as compared with other kinds 

 of longevity. For Europeans it does not appear to 

 be above forty years. This average longevity is 

 brought to so low a figure by the great amount of 

 death in the first years of life. By an excess of 

 deaths in early life the average longevity of a species 

 or of any given group of individuals might be brought 

 down to a year or two, though the individuals which 

 1 Comparative Longevity in Man and Animals. Macmillan, 187,0. 



