im 
Mary Noble ^ in the lOTfA year of her age. 
nien to live to so great an age, or that men in general lived at 
any time longer than at present : indeed, we have strong reasons 
to believe that mankind live longer now than formerly ; in Eng- 
land, at least, this is undoubtedly the case. The salubrity 
of England has considerably increased, and the mortality dimi- 
nished, for many vears past. The results of the population-acts 
afford satisfactory evidence, that our ancestors did not enjoy the 
same degree of health and longevity that we do at present. The 
annual mortality has decreased nearly one-third in forty years. 
In 1780, the rate of mortality was taken at one in forty ; in 
1795, at one in forty-five ; in 1801, at one in forty-seven ; in 
1811, at one in fifty-two; and in 1821, the results of the census 
shew a mortality of one in fifty-eight. The limits of human life 
are the same now as formerly, and will probably always continue 
the same, but more persons live now to an advanced age than in 
former times. 
Man is by nature a mortal being, and it is not in the power 
of art to make him immortal ; yet art has done much in pre- 
serving and restoring his health, and in increasing the duration 
of his life. Various have been the measures that have contri- 
buted to produce these effects ; the principal of which are, the 
improvements that have been made, in modern times, in our 
food and clothing, in the cleanliness of our houses and towns, 
in the drainage of the country, and in the treatment and pre- 
vention of diseases. This country has become more favourable 
to health and longevity, since more attention has been paid to 
the cleanliness and ventilation of our houses and large towns ; 
and since warmer clothing, and a more nourishing and more easily 
digestible diet, have been employed. Some of the most formida- 
ble and fatal diseases that prevailed in formers times are now 
either extinct, rarely met with, or much mitigated in their vio- 
lence ; such as the plague, dysentery, scurvy, malignant, inter- 
mittent, and remittent fevers, and smallpox. A few diseases, 
it is true, have lately become more frequent and fatal ; such as 
consumption and apoplexy, but these not being infectious, like 
some of the others, are of- much less consequence. 
On reviewing the various instances of longevity on record, it 
appears, that the circumstance most necessary to secure long life, 
is to be born of parents who enjoy good health, and are predis-- 
VOL. X. ISO. 19. JAN. 1824. ^ 
