128 Dr Barnes'* Notice of 
their own intemperance, to unwholesome occupations, to severity 
of climate, to infectious diseases, and dangerous accidents. Tliis 
w^oman has been singularly fortunate in possessing originally a 
good constitution, in living an active and temperate life, and in 
escaping the diseases and accidents to which the human body is 
so often exposed. Notwithstanding the many circumstances that 
abridge life, it is not at present a very rare thing to meet with 
persons upwards of 100 years of age ; and it is a mistaken notion 
to suppose, that men do not live so long now as formerly. 
When the population of Great Britain was taken in 1821, there 
were in England 57 men and 111 women, of 100 years of age 
and upwards; in Wales, there were 3 men and 18 women ; and 
in Scotland, 40 men and 62 women ; making a total of 291 per- 
sons. But the ages of one-ninth part of the population were not 
obtained, nor is the exact age of any individual mentioned ; so 
that we cannot ascertain, from the returns, how much some of 
them might exceed a century. It is stated, that many of them 
were upwards of 100 ; but as no question was proposed by the 
returning officers, respecting the age of any person above 100, 
so no answer has been made to that effect. The counties of 
England, in which the most cases of longevity were met with, 
in proportion to the number of inhabitants, were Durham, 
Northumberland, Cumberland, Monmouth, Hereford, and the 
North Riding of York. In Scotland, the shires of Ross and 
Cromarty, and Inverness, furnished the greatest number of in- 
stances; and in Wales, the counties of Brecon and Pembroke. 
The age of man, as recorded in history, has been nearly the same 
since the time of Moses. Before his time, it is stated in the Bible 
that some men lived many hundred years ; but the natural pe- 
riod of human life, or the limit of old age, as marked out by 
him in his prayer, is as applicable to men in the present day, as 
it could be at the time in which he lived. The days of our 
age,” says he, are three score years and ten, and if, though 
men be so strong, that they come to four score years, yet is their 
strength but labour and sorrow.” Moses himself lived 120 
O 
years ; and several persons, after his time, are mentioned in Scrip- 
ture, who lived to a much greater age. Profane history also 
affords us many instances of persons above 100 years old, but 
it is not stated, that it was at any time a common occurrence for 
