504 THEPHILOSOPHy 



CHAPTER XXI. 



Of the Longevity and Dijfolution of Organifed Bodies. 



IT is a law of Nature, though a melancholy one, that all orga- 

 nifed bodies fhould be diflblved. The periods of diflblution, 

 however, are as various as the fpecies, and the intentions of Nature 

 in producing them. 



In the human kind, the brevity of life is regarded as an objed of 

 regret. One half of mankind die before they arrive at eight years 

 of age. From that early period to eighty, befide the deftruftion of 

 war, and other accidents, Nature kills them annually in millions. 

 Some inftances may be given of men whofe lives were prolonged 

 beyond the ufual period of human exiftence. Such men are not to 

 be envied ; nor fhould they be confidered as favourites of Nature. 

 With refpedt to maturity of judgment, and a knowledge of the 

 world, no man can be faid to exift till he pafTes thirty years of age. 

 Give him thirty or thirty- five more, and, in general, both mind and 

 body are vifibly declined. Thofe people, therefore, who arrive at 

 an extraordinary age may be faid to exift, but they do not live. All 

 intellectual enjoyments and exertions, which conftitute the chief 

 dignity and happinefs of man, are gone. There are exceptions; 



but 



