PHASES IN THE LIFE OF THE INDIVIDUAL 723 



appears to be aljout thirty-four iiionthw.' The white mouse is stated 

 to have a uoriual life of two years, and this whether it has Ijred or 

 not, I)ut females are slightly shorter lived than males.- 



For man the traditional duration of life is seventy, Ijut, as every 

 one knows, this age is very often much exceeded. Women on the 

 average live to be somewhat older than men. 



Many instances are on record of extraordinary longcvit}', but 

 perhaps the most trustworthy is the famous case of Tliomas Parr, 

 descriljcd by Harvey in the FJiilowpliinil Transudions oi the Toyal 



Fig. 180. — Ixmk sheep, aged eighteen years, witli her last lamli. This sheep, 

 whieh belonged to Sir. William Peel of Ivnowlemere Manor, Clitheroe, 

 lived to be twenty-one years. It had tliirty-tive lambs, nine of which 

 were triplets.'' 



Society.* His death is said to ha\"e liecn due to the change in his 

 mode of life, resulting from his migration from Shropshire to London, 

 "where he fed high and drunk plentifully of the liost wines." "He 

 died after he had outlived nine princes, in the tenth year of the tenth 

 of them, at the age of one hundred and tifty-two years and nine 

 months." ■' 



^ Donaldson, lor. fit. 



- Kirkham, lor. fit. 



'' I am indebted to my friend Mr. W. E.alph Peel, of Trinity College, 

 Cambridge, for this photograph (taken liy his sister. Miss Peel), and for the 

 information which accompanied it. 



•• Harvey, "Anatomical Account of Thomas Parr," P/d/. Trans., vol. iii., 

 1700. A jjortrait of Pari' painted by van Dyck may lie seen in the Koyal 

 Gallery at Dresden. 



■^ For much further information aliout old age, longevity, etc., in man, see 

 Lnciani, Ilnuiitii I'lii/siuJogy, \o\. v., English Edition, London, 1921. See also Pearl, 

 "On the Mean Age at Death of Centenarians," L'roc. Xat. Acad. iSci., vol. v., 1919. 



