130 EX VIRIBUS VIVIMUS. 



'Fortnightly Review' of April, 1869, contain details 

 on this matter which it would be, on that account, 

 superfluous to introduce here, and which, more- 

 over, have a very restricted interest. ^ Abnormal lon- 

 gevity must not be confused with normal potential 

 longevity, nor even with absolute potential longevity 

 (see anted). There is a normal potential height^ for 

 various groups and classes of men, namely, that which 

 they may be expected to reach, accidents of death, &c. 

 being avoided. There is an absolute potential height, 

 the greatest height which any one man of such a 

 group, under the most favourable conditions, could be 

 expected to attain ; and there is the abnormal height 

 of the giant, extending even to nine feet, and re- 

 cognized as monstrous. Just so with longevity, there 

 are three such terms possible, and there appears to 

 be no a priori reason for excluding the last or 



' I must again here draw the reader's attention to an admirable Essay 

 by Sir Henry Holland, Bart., M D., in the 'Edinburgh Review," 1857. 

 The whole question of human longevity is there discussed in a masterly 

 way, with reference to many authorities and records not here noted. 

 The article was brought to my notice while these pages were in the 

 press- and I can only point out that Sir Henry, by comparison of 

 abnormal human height and weight, is led to adopt the conclusion 

 arrived at above — that many men have exceeded 100 years of age. 

 He also points to the concurrence of all testimony in assigning 1 30 to 

 150 years to the most aged of various races and times. This con- 

 currence, he considers, gives credibility to the statements. One of the 

 last letters which Sir G. C. Lewis wrote was to Sir Henry Holland, in 

 which he acceded to Sir Henry's view of human life sometimes exceed- 

 ing 100 years. 



' The average height, corresponding to average longevity, would be 

 the average height of all h^jrn, Mhenever they might die. 



