V Duration of Human Life
Longevity of man—Theory of Ebstein on the normal duration of human life—Instances of human longevity—Circumstances which may explain the long duration of human life
Man has inherited from his mammalian ancestors his organisation and qualities. His life is notably shorter than that of many reptiles, but longer than that of many birds and most other mammals. None the less he has inherited a capacious large intestine in which a most abundant intestinal flora flourishes.
Gestation and the period of growth are long in the human race, and from the point of view of theoretical considerations, human longevity should be longer than it generally is. Haller, a distinguished Swiss physiologist of the 18th century, thought that man ought to live to 200 years; Buffon was of the opinion that when a man did not die from some accident or disease he would reach 90 or 100 years.
According to Flourens, man takes 20 years to grow and ought to live 5 times 20, that is to say, 100 years.
The actual longevity is much below these figures, which are based on theory. I have shown, moreover, that even if the rule based on the theory of growth can be accepted as generally true, it cannot be applied in every case, as the factors controlling duration of life are very variable.
Statistics show that the highest human mortality occurs in the earliest years of life. In the first year after birth alone, one quarter of the children die. After this period of maximum mortality, the death-rate slowly falls until the age of puberty, and then rises again slowly and continuously. It reaches a second maximum between the ages of 60 and 75, and then slowly falls again to the extreme limit of longevity.
Bodio,61 an Italian man of science, holds the view that the great mortality of infants is a natural adaptation to prevent too great an increase of the human race. This view, however, cannot be supported, and rational hygiene readily brings about a great diminution in the mortality of children. The cause of mortality is in most cases maladies of the intestinal canal, produced by erroneous diet, and with the advance of civilisation, infant mortality has been very greatly reduced.
I find it impossible to accept the view that the high mortality between the ages of 70 and 75 indicates a natural limit of human life. As a result of investigations into mortality in most of the European countries, Lexis came to the conclusion that the normal duration of human life was not more than 75 years. Dr. Ebstein62 accepts this statistical result and announces that “we now know the normal limit set by nature to the life of mankind. This limit is at the age of maximum mortality. If man dies before then, his death is premature. Everyone does not reach the normal limit; life ends generally before it, and only in rare cases after it.”
The fact that many men of from 70 to 75 years old are well preserved, both physically and intellectually, makes it impossible to regard that age as the natural limit of human life. Philosophers such as Plato, poets such as Goethe and Victor Hugo, artists such as Michael Angelo, Titian and Franz Hals, produced some of their most important works when they had passed what Lexis and Ebstein regard as the limit of life. Moreover, deaths of people at that age are rarely due to senile debility. In Paris, for instance, in 1902, of cases of deaths between the ages of 70 and 74, only 8·5 per cent. were due to old age.63 Infectious diseases, such as pneumonia, tuberculosis, diseases of the heart and the kidneys, and cerebral hæmorrhage, caused most of the deaths of these old people. Such cases of death, however, can often be avoided and must be regarded as accidental rather than natural.
Confirmation of the view that the natural limit is not at 70 to 75 years is to be found in the fact that so many men reach a greater age. Centenarians are really not rare. In France, for instance, nearly one hundred and fifty people die every year, after having reached the age of 100 or more. In 1836, in a population of thirty-three millions and a half (33,540,910), there were 146 centenarians, that is to say, one in about 220,000 inhabitants. In some other countries, particularly in Eastern Europe, the number of centenarians is still greater. In Greece, for instance, there is a centenarian for each set of 25,641 living persons, that is to say, nine times as many as in France.64
What age can be reached by the human species? Formerly it was supposed that individuals might live for several centuries; to say nothing of Methuselah, whose age of 969 years, mentioned in the Bible, is the result of a mistake in calculation, I may mention Nestor, who, according to Homer, lived for three human ages, that is to say, 300 years, or Dando, the Illyrian, and the King of the Lacedaemon, who were supposed to have reached ages of five or six centuries. These ancient records are, of course, quite incorrect. Much more confidence can be placed in some facts relating to more modern times, according to which the extreme old age reached by man was 185 years. Kentigern, the founder of the Cathedral of Glasgow, known by the name of St. Mungo, died at the age of 185, on Jan. 5th, 600.65 Another astonishing case of longevity is related from Hungary, where an agriculturist, Pierre Zortay, born in 1539, died in 1724. The Hungarian records of the 18th century contain other cases of death at ages between 147 and 172 years.
The case of Drakenberg is still more authentic; he was born in Norway in 1626 and died in 1772, at the age of 146. He was known as the Old Man of the North. He had been captured by African pirates and was held by them for fifteen years, and was engaged as a sailor for ninety-one years. His romantic history attracted contemporary attention, and the journals of the time (Gazette de France, 1764, Gazette d’Utrecht, 1767, etc.)66 contain information regarding him. The well-known instance of Thomas Parr appears to rest on good authority. Parr was a poor Shropshire peasant, who did hard work until he was 130 years old, and who died in London at the age of 152 years and 9 months. The celebrated Harvey examined the body after death and was unable to discover organic disease; even the cartilages of the ribs were not ossified and were elastic as in a young man. The brain, however, was hard and resisting to the touch, as its blood-vessels were thickened and dry. Parr was buried in Westminster Abbey.67
It appears, then, that human beings may reach the age of 150, but such cases are certainly extremely rare, and are not known from the records of the last two centuries. I cannot accept without a good deal of reserve the statements as to two persons who died in the beginning of the 19th century at the ages of 142 and 145. On the other hand, cases of duration of life from 100 to 120 years are not very rare.
Extreme longevity is not limited to the white races. According to Prichard,68 negroes have lived respectively to 115, 160, and 180 years. In the course of the 19th century there have been observed, in Senegal, eight negroes ranging from 100 to 121 years old. M. Chemin69 saw himself in 1898 at Foundiougne an old man, whom the natives stated to be 108 years of age; although he was in good health, he had been blind for several years. The same author, on the authority of the New York Herald of June 13th, 1895, mentions the case of a coloured woman in North Carolina, who was more than 140 years old, and of a man 125 years old.
Women more frequently become centenarians than men, although the difference is not very great. For instance, in Greece, in 1885, in a population of nearly two millions (1,947,760), there were 278 persons aged from 95 to 110 years, of whom 133 were male and 145 female.
In the seven years, from 1833 to 1839 inclusive, according to Chemin, there were in Paris twenty-six men over the age of 95, and forty-five women. Such facts, and many others, support the general proposition that male mortality is always greater than that of the other sex.
In most cases centenarians are notably healthy and of strong constitution. There are instances, however, of abnormal people having reached a great age. A woman, called Nicoline Marc, died in 1760, at the age of 110. Since she was two years old, her left arm was crippled. Her hand was bent under the arm like a hook. She was a hunch-back, and so bent that she appeared to be no more than four feet high. A Scotch woman, Elspeth Wilson, died at the age of 115 years. She was quite a dwarf, being only a little over two feet high. On the other hand, although they usually have a very short life, giants have been known to reach the age of 100.
Haller, in the eighteenth century, remarked that centenarians often occurred in the same family, as if longevity were a hereditary quality. It is certainly the case that the descendants of centenarians frequently reach extreme age. Thomas Parr, for instance, left a son who died in 1761, at the age of 127 years, having retained his mental faculties until death. In M. Chemin’s list of centenarians, there are eighteen cases of extreme old age having been reached by their relations. As all innate characters can be transmitted, the influence of heredity and longevity must be admitted. At the same time, it is necessary to remember the important influence of the similarity of conditions in the case of parents and children. Many cases of tuberculosis and leprosy, which used to be assigned to heredity, are now known to be due to infection in the same conditions of life, and some of the examples of the attaining of a great age by more than one member of a family may be explained by the influence of surrounding circumstances. Very frequently the husband and wife, although not related by blood, both attain extremely advanced age. I found 22 cases of this kind in M. Chemin’s list; I will give a few of them. A widow, Anne Barak, died at the age of 123, in Moravia; her husband died at the age of 118. In 1896, there was alive in Constantinople, M. Christaki, a retired army doctor of the age of 110; his wife was 95 years old. In 1886, M. et Mme. Gallot, aged respectively 105 years and 4 months, and 105 years and one month, died within two days of each other at Vaugirard, 54, Rue Cambronne. Lejoncourt mentions a South American of 143 years old, whose wife had lived to the age of 117.
It is worth enquiring if there be any relation between longevity and locality. There are some countries in which very many of the natives reach old age. It appears that Eastern Europe (Balkan States, and Russia), although its civilisation is not high, contains many more centenarians than Western Europe. I have already mentioned that Dr. Ornstein had shown the existence of many extremely old people in Greece. M. Chemin states that in Servia, Bulgaria and Roumania there were more than 5,000 centenarians (5,545) living in 1896. “Although these figures appear to be exaggerated,” wrote M. Chemin, “it is undoubtedly the case that the pure and keen air of the Balkans, and the pastoral or agricultural life of the natives, predisposes to old age.” The same author mentions several localities in France, notable for the numbers of very old people. In 1898 in the commune of Sournia (Pyrénées-Orientales) the total population was 600, amongst which there was one woman of 95 years, a man of 94, a woman of 89, two men of 85, two of 84, and two of 83, three women of 82, and two men of 80. At St. Blimont in the Department of the Somme, amongst the 400 inhabitants alive in 1897, there were six men between the ages of 85 and 93 years and one woman in her 101st year.
It cannot be accepted that it is the keen air which lengthens the life, because Switzerland, a mountainous country, is notable for the rarity of centenarians. It is more likely that some circumstance in the mode of living influences longevity.
It has been noticed that most centenarians have been people who were poor, or in humble circumstances, and whose life has been extremely simple. There are instances of rich centenarians, such as Sir Moses Montefiore who died at the age of 101, but such are extremely rare. It may well be said that great riches do not bring a very long life. Poverty generally brings with it sobriety, especially in old age, and it has been often said that most centenarians have lived an extremely sober life. They have not all followed the example of the celebrated Cornaro, who brought himself to subsist on a daily diet of no more than twelve ounces of solid food, and fourteen ounces of wine, and who, although his constitution was weak, lived for about a century. He has left extremely interesting Memoirs, and retained his intelligence until his death on the 26th April, 1566 (Lejoncourt, p. 146).
In M. Chemin’s list I have counted twenty-six centenarians, distinguished by their frugal life. Most of them did not drink wine, and many of them limited themselves to bread, milk and vegetables.
Sobriety is certainly favourable to long life, but it is not necessary, because quite a number of centenarians have drunk freely. Several of those who are catalogued by Chemin, drank wine and spirits even to excess. Catherine Reymond, for instance, who died in 1758 at the age of 107 years, drank much wine, and Politiman, a surgeon who lived from 1685 to 1825, was in the habit, from his twenty-fifth year onwards, of getting drunk every night, after having attended to his practice all day. Gascogne, a butcher of Trie (Hautes-Pyrénées), died in 1767 at the age of 120, and had been accustomed to get drunk twice a week. A most curious example is that of the Irish land-owner Brawn, who lived to the age of 120, and who had an inscription put upon his tombstone that he was always drunk, and when in that condition was so terrible that even death had been afraid of him. Some districts, even, are distinguished at once for the longevity of their inhabitants and for the large local consumption of alcohol. In 1897, village of Chailly in the Côte-d’Or had no less than twenty octogenarians amongst 523 inhabitants. This village is one of the localities in France where most alcohol is consumed, and the old people are very far from being distinguished from their younger fellows by any special sobriety.
In some cases centenarians have been much addicted to the drinking of coffee. The reader will recall Voltaire’s reply when his doctor described the grave harm that comes from abuse of coffee which acts as a real poison. “Well,” said Voltaire, “I have been poisoning myself for nearly 80 years.” There are centenarians who have lived longer than Voltaire, and have drunk still more coffee. Elisabeth Durieux, a native of Savoy, reached the age of 114. Her principal food was coffee, of which she took daily as many as forty small cups. She was jovial and a boon table companion, and used black coffee in quantities that would have surprised an Arab. Her coffee-pot was always on the fire, like the tea-pot in an English cottage (Lejoncourt, p. 84; Chemin, p. 147).
It has been noticed that many centenarians do not smoke, but this like all other traits is not universal. M. Ross, who gained a prize for longevity in 1896 at the age of 102, was an inveterate smoker. In 1897, a widow named Lazennec, died at La Carrière, in Kérinou, Finistère, at the age of 104. She lived in a hovel on charity, and she had smoked a pipe ever since she was quite young.
It is plain that any factor to which long duration of life has been attributed disappears when many cases are examined. Naturally a sound constitution and a simple and sober life are favourable to longevity, but apart from these, there is something unknown which tends to long life. The celebrated physiologist of Bonn, Pflüger,70 came to the conclusion that the chief condition of longevity is something “intrinsic in the constitution,” something which cannot be defined exactly, and which must be set down to inheritance.
In the present state of knowledge, we cannot denote the chief cause of human longevity, but the proper course will be to seek it out as we would seek out that of animal longevity. As human longevity is often local in its character, and is exhibited by married people who have nothing in common except their mode of life, we may enquire into the intestinal flora and the mechanism by which the organism resists its harmful effect as factors which influence the duration of life. It is reasonable to suppose that in persons living in the same district or under the same roof, the intestinal flora may be similar. The problem can be settled only by a series of laborious researches which have yet to be made. At present I can do no more than bring together a large number of facts regarding the duration of life in man and in animals, with the hope of suggesting the lines for future investigation.