THE CURIOSITIES OE LONGEVITY. 
35 
daily practice, and retained his sight, hear- 
ing, and memory to the last. He was five 
times married, and had forty-nine children 
born to him. When about one hundred 
years old his white hair fell off, and was suc- 
ceeded by a crop of its original color, and 
at one hundred and twelve years of age he 
cut two teeth. As a marked contrast to this 
healthy old patriarch, witness the following 
instance which is certified to by the parish 
register. Margaret Krasiowna, a Polish 
woman, died in 1763, aged 108. When 
94, she married for her third husband 
Gaspard Raykolt, who was then 105. His 
father had previously died, aged 119. 
During the fourteen years they lived to- 
gether, she brought him two boys and a 
girl; and these three children, from their 
very birth, bore evident marks of the old 
age of their parents, their hair being gray, 
and a vacuity appearing in their gums like 
that which is occasioned by the loss of teeth, 
though they never had any. They had not 
strength enough, even as they grew up, to 
chew solid food, but lived on bread and 
vegetables. They were of proper size for 
their age, but their backs were bent, their 
complexion sallow, and they had all the 
other external symptoms of decrepitude. 
We have already noticed the astonishing 
tenacity with which these worthies hold on 
to life. Often the silver cord is loosened 
and the golden bowl broken by the in- 
terposition of some accident. An old 
woman in a tree gathering apples falls 
to her death ; others on horseback, or en- 
gaged in some other active exertion, quite 
unseemly in persons of great age, suddenly 
die. One of the most remarkable instances 
of the stubborn fight between Old Age 
and Death is found in John Tice, who died 
1774, aged 125. While he was felling a 
tree, at the age of 80, his legs were broken, 
but he speedily recovered, and at the age 
of 100, fell in a fainting fit upon some live 
coals and was shockingly burned. He sur- 
vived this scorching and retained the free 
use of all his faculties till his death, which 
took place on his hearing of the loss of a 
friend and patron. 
We shall now advert to one of the most 
difficult features of this curious study, viz. : 
the lack of reliable evidence in the cases of 
abnormal longevity. Perhaps this paragraph 
should have preceded what has already been 
said, for, if we cannot believe what has been 
written, any story of the romancer might 
prove far more interesting. But, though a 
very large degree of faith must be exercised 
in these matters, we cannot agree with Sir 
G. Cornewall Lewis, that no person ever lived 
one hundred years. Nor do we sympathize 
with a late writer, Mr. William J. Thoms, 
who will credit no centenarian, unless his 
stoty is supported by the evidence of sta- 
tistics. Mr. Thoms, in reviewing the sub- 
ject of longevity, claims that there have 
existed in latter days but four cases which 
have been satisfactorily proved : Mrs. Wil- 
liams, of Bridehead, died 1841, aged 102; 
age proved by parish statistics and family 
records; William Plank, of Harrow, died 
1867, aged 100 ; age proved by being in 
school with late Lord Lyndhurst, in 1780; 
bound apprentice in 1782, and received in- 
dentures of freedom in the Salters Company 
in 1789; Jacob William Luning, died 
1870, aged 103; age proved by statistics 
of birth, baptism, and testimony of disinter- 
ested friends, while his identity (the most 
difficult of all things to prove) has been es- 
tablished by statistics from the Equitable 
Assurance Society in London, where, at the 
age of 36, in 1803, he was insured for ;^2oo. 
This is the only case on record of an insured 
life extending to 100 years. The fourth was 
Catherine Duncombe Shafto, who died in 
1872, agedioi ; age proved by parish statis- 
tics, and identity established by the fact that, 
in 1790, she (being then 19 years of age) was 
selected as one of the Government nominees 
in the tontine of that year. Her husband 
and many of her sons were representatives in 
Parliament. Thus, the greatest skeptic with 
whom we meet, in the discussion of our sub- 
j ect, admits the fact of centenari anism. Some 
cases are proved. Records are not always 
kept of birth, or baptism, or marriage, nor 
do all men insure their lives. The early 
companions of the extremely aged are all 
dead, and their testimony cannot be pro- 
cured. Shall we therefore say, that none 
pass the hundredth nor the hundred and 
tenth birthday, but the select four referred 
to by Mr. Thoms ? 
Indeed there is a remarkable concurrence 
of all testimony in assigning 130 to 150 years 
to the most aged of various races and times. 
Dr. Van Oven, an authority of great ability, 
has given seventeen examples of age exceed- 
ing 150 years. So have written and believed 
Hufeland and Haller, the latter asserting 
that the vital forces of man are capable of 
reaching, in some cases, 200 years. There- 
fore, those kindly disposed toward history, 
and not anxious to examine the records too 
minutely, may, by an extraordinary effort of 
faith, believe the assertion that Thomas Parr 
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