LIFE. 
the moft remote regions, the Author of Nature has wifely 
enabled the inhabitants to endure great and furprifing 
changes of temperature, without material injury. 
2. Though foods and drink of the moft Simple kinds are 
allowed to be the beft calculated for fupporting the body in 
health, yet it can hardly be doubted but variety may be 
fafely indulged occasionally, provided men would restrain 
their appetites within the bounds of temperance; for 
bountiful Nature cannot be fuppofed to have poured 
forth fuch a rich profufion of provifions, merely to tanta¬ 
lize the human fpecies, without attributing to her the part 
of a cruel ftepdame, in (lead of that of the kind and in¬ 
dulgent parent. Befides, we find, that, by the wonderful 
powers of the digestive organs, a variety of animal and 
vegetable fubftances, of very difcordant principles, are 
happily aflimilafed into one bland homogeneous chyle ; 
therefore it feems natural to diftrnft thofe cynical writers, 
who would rigidly confine mankind to one fimple difi), 
and their drink to the mere water of the brook. Nature, 
it is true, has pointed out that mild infipid fluid as the 
uni verbal diluent, and therefore molt admirably adapted 
for our daily beverage. But experience has equally proved, 
that vinous and fpirituous liquors, on certain occafions, 
are no lefs falutary and beneficial, whether it be to fup- 
port ftrength againft licknefs or bodily fatigue, or to ex¬ 
hilarate the mind under the preffure of heavy misfortunes. 
But, alas! what Nature meant for innocent and ufeful 
cordials, to be ufe'd only occasionally, and according to 
the direction of reafon, cuftom and caprice have by de¬ 
grees rendered habitual to the human frame, and liable to 
the mod; enormous and deftruitive abufes. Hence it may 
be juftly doubted, whether gluttony and intemperance 
have not depopulated the world more than even the fword, 
peftilence, and famine. True, therefore, is the old maxim, 
Modus utendi ex veneno facit medicamentum, ex medicamento ve¬ 
nerium. 
3, 4. It is allowed on all hands, that alternate motion 
and refl, and fleep and watching, are neceffary conditions 
to health and longevity; and that they ought to be 
adapted to age, temperament, conftitution, temperature of 
the climate, &c. but the errors which mankind daily com¬ 
mit in thefe refpects become a fruitful fource of difeafes. 
While fome are bloated and relaxed with eafe and indo¬ 
lence, others are emaciated, and become rigid through 
hard labour, watching, and fatigue. 
5. Where the animal functions are duly performed, the 
fecretions go on regularly; and the different evacuations 
fo exactly correfpond to the quantity of aliment taken in, 
in a given time, that the body is found to return daily to 
nearly the fame weight. If any particular evacuation 
happen to be preternaturally diminished, fome other eva¬ 
cuation is proportionally augmented, and the equilibrium 
is commonly preferved ; but continued irregularities, in 
thefe important functions, cannot but terminate in dileafe. 
6 . The due regulation of the paflions, perhaps, contri¬ 
butes more to health and longevity than that of any other 
of the particulars we have noticed. The animating paf- 
fions, fuch as joy, hope, love, See. when kept within 
proper bounds, gently excite the nervous influence, pro¬ 
mote an equable circulation, and are highly conducive to 
health ; while the deprefling affeftions, fuch as fear, grief, 
and deSpair, produce the contrary effect, and lay the foun¬ 
dation of the moft formidable difeafes. 
From the light which hiftory affords us, there is great 
reafon to believe, that long-life is in fome meafure here¬ 
ditary ; and that healthy long-lived parents would com¬ 
monly tranfmit the fame to their children, were it not for 
intemperance, and the frequent errors in medical advice, 
which fo evidently tend to the abbreviation of human life. 
Whence is it, but from thefe caufes, and the unnatural 
modes of living, that, of all the children which are born 
in the capital cities of F.urope, nearly one half die in 
early infancy ! To what elfe can we attribute this extra- 
®rdinary mortality ? Such an amazing proportion of pre¬ 
635 
mature deaths is a circumftance unheard-of among Savage 
nations, or among the young'of other animals! How 
few perfons, in thefe times, arrive at that period which 
nature teems to have defigned ! Man is by nature a field- 
animal, and feems deftined to rife with the fun, and to 
Spend a large portion of Iris time in the open air, to inure 
his body to robuft exercifes and the inclemency of the 
feafons, and to make a plain homely repaSt only when 
hunger dictates. But art has ftudioufly defeated the kind 
intentions of nature ; and, by enflaving him to all the 
blandishments of fenfe, has left him, alas ! an eafy victim 
to folly and caprice. To enumerate the various abufes 
which take place from the earlieft infancy, and which arc 
continued through the fucceeding Stages of modiSh life, 
would carry us far beyond our preSent intention. Suffice 
it to obferve, that they prevail more particularly among 
people who are the moft highly polished and refined. 
To coinpare their artificial mode of life with that of na¬ 
ture, or even with the long-livers in the following lift, would 
probably afford a very Striking contrast; and at the lame 
time fupply an additional reafon why, in the very large 
cities, instances of longevity are fo very rare. 
Immediately after the creation, when the world was to 
be peopled by one man and-one woman, the ordinary age 
was 900 and upwards. Immediately after the flood, when 
there were three perfons to Stock the world, their age was 
cut Shorter, and none of thofe patriarchs, but Shem, ar¬ 
rived at 500. In the fecond century we find none that 
reached 240 -. in the third, none hut Terah that came to 
200 years; the world, at leaft a part of it, by that time 
being fo well peopled, that they had built cities, and were 
cantoned out into diftinff nations. By degrees, as the 
number of people increafed, their longevity dwindled, till 
it came down at length to 70 or 80 years : and there it 
Stood, and has continued to Stand ever Since the time of 
Mofes. This is found a good medium ; and by means 
hereof the world is neither overstocked nor kept too thin ; 
but life and death keep a pretty equal pace. 
That the common duration of man’s life has been the 
fame in all ages fince the above period, is plain both from 
facred and profane hiftory. To pals by others, Plato 
lived to 81, and was accounted an old man ; and the in¬ 
stances of longevity produced by Pliny, lib. vii. c. 48. 
as very extraordinary, may molt of them be matched in 
modern hiftoijes, as the following lift will abundantly 
evince. 
Thomas Cockrum, aged 103 years, died at LoweftoSF irv 
Suffolk, in the year 1755. 
William Lecomte, a Shepherd, died fuddenly in 1776, in 
the county of Caux in Normandy, at the age of no. 
Cramers, phyfician to the emperor, Saw at Temefwar two 
brothers, the one aged no and the other nz, both of 
whom were fathers at that age. 
Saint Paul the hermit was 113 at his death. 
Ifwan-Horwarths, knight of the order of St. Louis, died 
at Sar-Albe in Lorraine, in 1775, aged almcft in ; he 
was a great hunter; he undertook along journey a 
Short time before his death, and performed it on horfe- 
back. 
Rofin Iwiwaroufka died at MinSk in Lithuania, aged 113, 
Fockjel Johannes died at Cldeborn in FrieSland, aged in 
years, and 16 days. 
MarSk Jones died in the year 1775, at Villejac in Hun¬ 
gary, aged 119. 
John Niethen, of Bakler in Zealand, lived to the age of 120. 
Eleonora Spicer died in 1773, at Accomack in Virginia, 
aged 121. 
John Argus was born in the village of Laftua in Turkey, 
and died the 6th of March, 1779, at the age of 123 ; his 
father died at the age of 120. 
In December 1777, there lived in Devonshire a farmer 
named John Brookey, who was 134 years of age, and 
had been fifteen times married. 
The Philosophical TranfaClions mention an Englishman 
of 
