VI CENTENAKIANISM 237 



centenarians, there is yet a longevity which they can 

 most materially influence which they can check or 

 extend by deliberate acts most directly, having it in 

 their power to add years, hundreds of years, of life 

 to the community of active, vigorous life, too, not 

 such as the common seeker of longevity would gain ; 

 and this longevity it is no less our interest than our 

 duty to work for. Men can diminish the mortality 

 of populations by attention to simple laws of health, 

 and, by increasing the average longevity, give that 

 increased happiness and prosperity which security of 

 life and health brings. It is in sanitary action that 

 the elixir vitce has been discovered in these days, 

 which, though it perhaps has not as yet increased the 

 roll of centenarians, has no limit to its operations, 

 until the time shall have come when man will no 

 longer, as Buffon said, " die of disappointment," but 

 " attain everywhere a hundred years." 



