AN ESSA Y ON LONGEVITY. roi 



of opinion that the natives of all classes have a much 

 less potential longevity than Europeans, being very- 

 old at 60.^ Mr. Hendriks states that the assurance 

 companies will not take native lives at all, there 

 being a general impression that they are bad, and 

 a certainty that the natives lie so determinedly that 

 no proper tables can possibly be framed.^ From 

 many places we have such loose and valueless state- 

 ments as the following, which relates to Nova Scotia, 

 and is the only one that need be quoted, ' its inhabit- 

 ants, often live to extreme age, many attaining 90 and 

 even 100 years ;'^ a statement that could be made 

 with equal truth and equal futility of any area within 

 the limits of civilization. 



There are some definite statements in poetic and 

 other authors, which are of more value as reflecting 

 the common judgment of a place, people, or time, 

 on this question. Thus the Psalmist and the writer 

 in Genesis give authoritative statements so far as 

 their day and nationality ; whilst Shakespeare's,, 



' It appears from the writer's special enquiries that medical army 

 officers are of this opinion. Dr. Lawson has prepared a report for the 

 Government on the mortality of natives and whites of the West African 

 coast, but he can give no information as to longevity, except from general 

 impression. 



^ A writer in the ' Statistical Society's Journal ' states that women as a 

 rule have an advantage in their dealings with assurance societies, 

 which he attributes to their deceit, since they conceal diseases from 

 the physicians, and are guided by the anticipation of coming disease 

 to insure! 



' Stat. Soc. Joi^mal, vol. xvii. p. 74, 



