THE CURIOSITIES OE LONGEVITY. 
41 
will meet it. Eighteen centuries ago 
(with reverence be it remarked) “ doubting 
Thomas ” said : “ Except I shall see in his 
hands the print of the nails, and put my 
finger into the print of the nails, and thrust 
my hand into his side, I will not believe.” 
So with the doubting Thoms 
of our day. Unless he can 
search in person the register 
of birth, marriage and death, 
and, poring over at every 
point the records of vital 
statistics, can meet his man 
properly indexed, he would 
state the case not proven. : 
In the city of New Y ork at 
the present day resides Cap- 
tain Frederick Lahrbush, 
formerly of the British army, 
said to be aged 109 years, 
and enjoying good health. 
A gentleman of the most 
engaging manners and nat- 
ural refinement, he receives 
a large number of visitors, 
and relates a history of ro- 
mantic interest. He resides 
in Third Avenue, and almost 
every Sabbath, at the Church 
of the Ascension on Fifth 
Avenue, the childish treble 
of his worn out voice may 
be heard above the worship 
of the congregation. He 
rises before five in the morn- 
ing, and retires shortly after 
seven in the evening. He 
is abstemious in his habits, v."' 
though in the daily practice 
of eating opium, to which ca 
drug, it is believed, he attrib- 
utes his long life. Captain Lahrbush claims 
to have fought under Wellington in the Pen- 
insula, and to have witnessed the signing of 
the famous Treaty of Tilsit, which took place 
in 1807 (on a raft moored in the River Nie- 
men) between Napoleon, Alexander of Rus- 
sia, and the King of Prussia. It is but fair 
to add in regard to this case of longevity 
that Mr. Thoms has written across its record 
with an unrelenting hand, and with a pen of 
iron, and those curious about such matters 
are referred to his work, “ Longevity of Man.” 
Another interesting character is thus de- 
scribed : “ The Irish Countess of Desmond fell 
from a fruit tree, broke her thigh and died in 
1609 — aged 145 years. She danced at 
Court with the Duke of Gloucester, after- 
ward Richard the Third. Indeed she con- 
tinued gay and lively in her tastes, dancing 
even beyond her hundredth birthday. She 
cut three new sets of teeth. Her family be- 
ing ruined by rebellion, she made the long 
journey to London to seek relief from the 
Court of James the First.” 
We may ask, in closing, is it desirable that 
all men and women should become cente- 
narians ? Manifestly not. These shrunken, 
shriveled relics of a past age, in the knotted 
and tangled line of whose life personal iden- 
tity has barely been preserved, would, if 
familiar to our eyes, produce a depressing 
effect on the living. Useful lives are to be 
desired rather than mere length of days. 
implet c 
wgnibus annis. ” 
A quarter or half a centuiy of sleeping ex- 
istence, feeble superannuation, an exception 
to the sound laws of health and the rule of 
accidents, these childish, antiquated people, 
have long ceased to be a pleasure to them- 
selves or to the world. Their own testimony 
shows an anxious waiting for their time of 
