Anomalies And Curiosities Of Medicine Part 28

Abnormal Leanness.--In contrast to the fat men are the so-called "living skeletons," or men who have attained notice by reason of absence of the normal adipose tissue. The semimythical poet Philotus was so thin that it was said that he fastened lead on his shoes to prevent his being blown away,--a condition the opposite of that of Dionysius of Heraclea, who, after choking to death from his fat, could hardly be moved to his grave.

In March, 1754, there died in Glamorganshire of mere old age and gradual decay a little Welshman, Hopkin Hopkins, aged seventeen years.

He had been recently exhibited in London as a natural curiosity; he had never weighed over 17 pounds, and for the last three years of his life never more than 12 pounds. His parents still had six children left, all of whom were normal and healthy except a girl of twelve, who only weighed 18 pounds and bore marks of old age.

There was a "living skeleton" brought to England in 1825 by the name of Claude Seurat. He was born in 1798 and was in his twenty-seventh year.

He usually ate in the course of a day a penny roll and drank a small quant.i.ty of wine. His skeleton was plainly visible, over which the skin was stretched tightly. The distance from the chest to the spine was less than 3 inches, and internally this distance was less. The pulsations of the heart were plainly visible. He was in good health and slept well. His voice was very weak and shrill. The circ.u.mference of this man's biceps was only 4 inches. The artist Cruikshank has made several drawings of Seurat.

Calvin Edson was another living skeleton. In 1813 he was in the army at the battle of Plattsburg, and had lain down in the cold and become benumbed. At this time he weighed 125 pounds and was twenty-five years old. In 1830 he weighed but 60 pounds, though 5 feet 4 inches tall. He was in perfect health and could chop a cord of wood without fatigue; he was the father of four children.

Salter speaks of a man in 1873 who was thirty-two years of age and only weighed 49 pounds. He was 4 feet 6 inches tall: his forehead measured in circ.u.mference 20 1/2 inches and his chest 27 inches. His genitals, both internal and external, were defectively developed. Figure 175 represents the well-known Ohio "living skeleton," J. W. Coffey, who has been exhibited all over the Continent. His good health and appet.i.te were proverbial among his acquaintances.

In some instances the so-called "living skeletons" are merely cases of extreme muscular atrophy. As a prominent example of this cla.s.s the exhibitionist, Rosa Lee Plemons at the age of eighteen weighed only 27 pounds. Figure 177 shows another case of extraordinary atrophic condition of all the tissues of the body a.s.sociated with nondevelopment. These persons are always sickly and exhibit all the symptoms of progressive muscular atrophy, and cannot therefore be cla.s.sed with the true examples of thinness, in which the health is but slightly affected or possibly perfect health is enjoyed.

CHAPTER VIII.

LONGEVITY.

Scope of the Present Article.--The limits of s.p.a.ce in this work render impossible a scientific discussion upon the most interesting subject of longevity, and the reader is referred to some of the modern works devoted exclusively to this subject. In reviewing the examples of extreme age found in the human race it will be our object to lay before the reader the most remarkable instances of longevity that have been authentically recorded, to cite the source of the information, when possible to give explanatory details, and to report any relative points of value and interest. Throughout the article occasional facts will be given to show in what degree character, habit, and temperament influence longevity, and in what state of mind and body and under what circ.u.mstances man has obtained the highest age.

General Opinions.--There have been many learned authorities who invariably discredit all accounts of extraordinary age, and contend that there has never been an instance of a man living beyond the century mark whose age has been substantiated by satisfactory proof.

Such extremists as Sir G. Cornewall Lewis and Thoms contend that since the Christian era no person of royal or n.o.ble line mentioned in history whose birth was authentically recorded at its occurrence has reached one hundred years. They have taken the worst station in life in which to find longevity as their field of observation. Longevity is always most common in the middle and lower cla.s.ses, in which we cannot expect to find the records preserved with historical correctness.

The Testimony of Statistics.--Walford in his wonderful "Encyclopedia of Insurance" says that in England the "Royal Exchange" for a period of one hundred and thirty-five years had insured no life which survived ninety-six. The "London a.s.surance" for the same period had no clients who lived over ninety, and the "Equitable" had only one at ninety-six.

In an English Tontine there was in 1693 a person who died at one hundred; and in Perth there lived a nominee at one hundred and twenty-two and another at one hundred and seven. On the other hand, a writer in the Strand Magazine points out that an insurance investigator some years ago gathered a list of 225 centenarians of almost every social rank and many nationalities, but the majority of them Britons or Russians.

In reviewing Walford's statistics we must remember that it has only been in recent years that the middle and lower cla.s.ses of people have taken insurance on their lives. Formerly only the wealthy and those exposed to early demise were in the habit of insuring.

Dr. Ogle of the English Registrar-General's Department gives tables of expectancy that show that 82 males and 225 females out of 1,000,000 are alive at one hundred years. The figures are based on the death-rates of the years 1871-80.

The researches of Hardy in the thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries are said to indicate that three-score-and-ten was considered old age; yet many old tombstones and monuments contain inscriptions recording age far beyond this, and even the pages of ordinary biographies disprove the alleged results of Hardy's research.

In all statistical work of an individual type the histories of the lower cla.s.ses are almost excluded; in the olden times only the lives and movements of the most prominent are thought worthy of record. The reliable parish register is too often monopolized by the gentry, inferior births not being thought worth recording.

Many eminent scientists say that the natural term of the life of an animal is five times the period needed for its development. Taking twenty-one as the time of maturity in man, the natural term of human life would be one hundred and five. Sir Richard Owen fixes it at one hundred and three and a few months.

Censuses of Centenarians.--Dr. Farr, the celebrated English Registrar-General, is credited with saying that out of every 1,000,000 people in England only 223 live to be one hundred years old, making an average of one to 4484. French says that during a period of ten years, from 1881 to 1890, in Ma.s.sachusetts, there were 203 deaths of persons past the age of one hundred, making an average, with a population of 394,484, of one in 1928. Of French's centenarians 165 were between one hundred and one hundred and five; 35 were between one hundred and five and one hundred and ten; five were between one hundred and ten and one hundred and fifteen; and one was one hundred and eighteen. Of the 203, 153 were females and 50 males. There are 508 people in Iowa who are more than ninety years of age. There are 21 who are more than one hundred years old. One person is one hundred and fifteen years old, two are one hundred and fourteen, and the remaining 18 are from one hundred to one hundred and seven.

In the British Medical Journal for 1886 there is an account of a report of centenarians. Fifty-two cases were a.n.a.lyzed. One who doubts the possibility of a man reaching one hundred would find this report of interest.

The Paris correspondent to the London Telegraph is accredited with the following:--

"A census of centenarians has been taken in France, and the results, which have been published, show that there are now alive in this country 213 persons who are over one hundred years old. Of these 147 are women, the alleged stronger s.e.x being thus only able to show 66 specimens who are managing to still "husband out life's taper" after the lapse of a century. The preponderance of centenarians of the supposed weaker s.e.x has led to the revival of some amusing theories tending to explain this phenomenon. One cause of the longevity of women is stated to be, for instance, their propensity to talk much and to gossip, perpetual prattle being highly conducive, it is said, to the active circulation of the blood, while the body remains unfatigued and undamaged. More serious theorists or statisticians, while commenting on the subject of the relative longevity of the s.e.xes, attribute the supremacy of woman in the matter to the well-known cause, namely, that in general she leads a more calm and unimpa.s.sioned existence than a man, whose life is so often one of toil, trouble, and excitement.

Setting aside these theories, however, the census of French centenarians is not devoid of interest in some of its details. At Rocroi an old soldier who fought under the First Napoleon in Russia pa.s.sed the century limit last year. A wearer of the St. Helena medal--a distinction awarded to survivors of the Napoleonic campaigns, and who lives at Grand Fayt, also in the Nord--is one hundred and three years old, and has been for the last sixty-eight years a sort of rural policeman in his native commune. It is a rather remarkable fact in connection with the examples of longevity cited that in almost every instance the centenarian is a person in the humblest rank of life.

According to the compilers of these records, France can claim the honor of having possessed the oldest woman of modern times. This venerable dame, having attained one hundred and fifty years, died peacefully in a hamlet in the Haute Garonne, where she had spent her prolonged existence, subsisting during the closing decade of her life on goat's milk and cheese. The woman preserved all her mental faculties to the last, but her body became attenuated to an extraordinary degree, and her skin was like parchment."

In the last ten years the St. James' Gazette has kept track of 378 centenarians, of whom 143 were men and 235 were women. A writer to the Strand Magazine tells of 14 centenarians living in Great Britain within the last half-dozen years.

It may be interesting to review the statistics of Haller, who has collected the greatest number of instances of extreme longevity. He found:--

1000 persons who lived from 100 to 110 15 persons who lived from 130 to 140 60 " " " " 110 to 120 6 " " " " 140 to 150 29 " " " " 120 to 130 1 person " " " to 169

Effect of Cla.s.s-Influences, Occupation, etc.--Unfortunately for the sake of authenticity, all the instances of extreme age in this country have been from persons in the lower walks of life or from obscure parts of the country, where little else than hearsay could be procured to verify them. It must also be said that it is only among people of this cla.s.s that we can expect to find parallels of the instances of extreme longevity of former times. The inhabitants of the higher stations of life, the population of thickly settled communities, are living in an age and under conditions almost incompatible with longevity. In fact, the strain of nervous energy made necessary by the changed conditions of business and mode of living really predisposes to premature decay.

Those who object to the reliability of reports of postcentenarianism seem to lose sight of these facts, and because absolute proof and parallel cannot be obtained they deny the possibility without giving the subject full thought and reason. As tending to substantiate the mult.i.tude of instances are the opinions of such authorities as Hufeland, Buffon, Haller, and Flourens. Walter Savage Landor on being told that a man in Russia was living at one hundred and thirty-two replied that he was possibly older, as people when they get on in years are p.r.o.ne to remain silent as to the number of their years--a statement that can hardly be denied. One of the strongest disbelievers in extreme age almost disproved in his own life the statement that there were no centenarians.

It is commonly believed that in the earliest periods of the world's history the lives of the inhabitants were more youthful and perfect; that these primitive men had gigantic size, incredible strength, and most astonishing duration of life. It is to this tendency that we are indebted for the origin of many romantic tales. Some have not hesitated to ascribe to our forefather Adam the height of 900 yards and the age of almost a thousand years; but according to Hufeland acute theologians have shown that the chronology of the early ages was not the same as that used in the present day. According to this same authority Hensler has proved that the year at the time of Abraham consisted of but three months, that it was afterward extended to eight, and finally in the time of Joseph to twelve. Certain Eastern nations, it is said, still reckon but three months to the year; this substantiates the opinion of Hensler, and, as Hufeland says, it would be inexplicable why the life of man should be shortened nearly one-half immediately after the flood.

Accepting these conclusions as correct, the highest recorded age, that of Methuselah, nine hundred years, will be reduced to about two hundred, an age that can hardly be called impossible in the face of such an abundance of reports, to which some men of comparatively modern times have approached, and which such substantial authorities as Buffon, Hufeland, and Flourens believed possible.

Alchemy and the "Elixir of Life."--The desire for long life and the acquisition of wealth have indirectly been the stimulus to medical and physical investigation, eventually evolving science as we have it now.

The fundamental principles of nearly every branch of modern science were the gradual metamorphoses of the investigations of the old searchers after the "philosopher's stone" and "elixir of life." The long hours of study and experiment in the chase for this will-o'-the-wisp were of vast benefit to the coming generations; and to these deluded philosophers of the Middle Ages, and even of ancient times, we are doubtless indebted for much in this age of advancement.

With a credulous people to work upon, many of the claimants of the discovery of the coveted secret of eternal life must be held as rank impostors claiming ridiculous ages for themselves. In the twelfth century Artephius claimed that by the means of his discovery he had attained one thousand and twenty-five years. Shortly after him came Alan de Lisle of Flanders with a reputed fabulous age. In 1244 Albertus Magnus announced himself as the discoverer. In 1655 the celebrated Doctor Dee appeared on the scene and had victims by the score. Then came the Rosicrucians. Count Saint-Germain claimed the secret of the "philosopher's stone" and declared to the Court of Louis XV that he was two thousand years old, and a precursor of the mythical "Wandering Jew," who has been immortalized in prose and rhyme and in whose existence a great ma.s.s of the people recently believed. The last of the charlatans who claimed possession of the secret of perpetual life was Joseph Balsamo, who called himself "Count of Cagliostro." He was born in Italy in 1743 and acquired a world-wide reputation for his alleged occult powers and acquisition of the "philosopher's stone." He died in 1795, and since then no one has generally inspired the superst.i.tious with credence in this well-worn myth. The ill-fated Ponce de Leon when he discovered Florida, in spite of his superior education, announced his firm belief in the land of the "Fountain of Perpetual Youth," in the pursuit of which he had risked his fortune and life.

We wish to emphasize that we by no means a.s.sume the responsibility of the authenticity of the cases to be quoted, but expressing belief in their possibility, we shall mention some of the extraordinary instances of longevity derived from an exhaustive research of the literature of all times. This venerable gallery of Nestors will include those of all periods and nations, but as the modern references are more available greater attention will be given to them.

Turning first to the history of the earlier nations, we deduce from Jewish history that Abraham lived to one hundred and seventy-five; Isaac, likewise a tranquil, peaceful man, to one hundred and eighty; Jacob, who was crafty and cunning, to one hundred and forty-seven; Ishmael, a warrior, to one hundred and thirty-seven; and Joseph, to one hundred and ten. Moses, a man of extraordinary vigor, which, however, he exposed to great cares and fatigues, attained the advanced age of one hundred and twenty; and the warlike and ever-active Joshua lived to one hundred and ten. Lejoucourt gives the following striking parallels: John Glower lived to one hundred and seventy-two, and Abraham to one hundred and seventy-five; Susan, the wife of Gower, lived to one hundred and sixty-four, and Sarah, the wife of Abraham, to one hundred and twenty-seven. The eldest son of the Gower couple was one hundred and fifteen when last seen, and Isaac, the son of Abraham and Sarah, lived to one hundred and eighty.

However replete with fables may be the history of the Kings of Egypt, none attained a remarkable age, and the record of the common people is incomplete or unavailable.

If we judge from the accounts of Lucian we must form a high idea of the great age of the Seres, or ancient Chinese. Lucian ascribes this longevity to their habit of drinking excessive quant.i.ties of water.

Among the Greeks we find several instances of great age in men of prominence. Hippocrates divided life into seven periods, living himself beyond the century mark. Aristotle made three divisions,--the growing period, the stationary period, and the period of decline. Solon made ten divisions of life, and Varro made five. Ovid ingeniously compares life to the four seasons. Epimenides of Crete is said to have lived one hundred and fifty-seven years, the last fifty-seven of which he slept in a cavern at night. Gorgias, a teacher, lived to one hundred and eight; Democritus, a naturalist, attained one hundred and nine; Zeno, the founder of the Stoics, lived to one hundred; and Diogenes, the frugal and slovenly, reached ninety years. Despite his life of exposure, Hippocrates lived to one hundred and nine; and Galen, the prince of physicians after him, who was naturally of a feeble const.i.tution, lived past eighty, and few of the followers of his system of medicine, which stood for thirteen centuries, surpa.s.sed him in point of age.

Among the Romans, Orbilis, Corvinus, Fabius, and Cato, the enemy of the physicians, approximated the century mark.

A valuable collection relative to the duration of life in the time of the Emperor Vespasian has been preserved for us by Pliny from the records of a census, a perfectly reliable and creditable source. In 76 A. D. there were living in that part of Italy which lies between the Apennines and the Po 124 persons who had attained the age of one hundred and upward. There were 54 of one hundred; 57 of one hundred and ten; 2 of one hundred and twenty-five; 4 of one hundred and thirty; 4 of from one hundred and thirty-five to one hundred and thirty-seven, and 3 of one hundred and forty. In Placentia there was a man of one hundred and thirty and at Faventia a woman of one hundred and thirty-two. According to Hufeland, the bills of mortality of Ulpian agree in the most striking manner with those of our great modern cities.

Among hermits and ecclesiastics, as would be the natural inference from their regular lives, many instances of longevity are recorded. John was supposed to be ninety-three; Paul the hermit was one hundred and thirteen; Saint Anthony lived to one hundred and five; James the hermit to one hundred and four; Saint Epithanius lived to one hundred and fifteen; Simeon Stylites to one hundred and twelve; Saint Mungo was accredited with one hundred and eighty-five years (Spottiswood), and Saint David attained one hundred and forty-six. Saint Polycarpe suffered martyrdom at over one hundred, and Simon Cleophas was Bishop of Jerusalem at one hundred and twenty.

Brahmin priests of India are known to attain incredible age, and one of the secrets of the adepts of the Buddhist faith is doubtless the knowledge of the best means of attaining very old age. Unless cut off by violence or accident the priests invariably become venerable patriarchs.

Influence of Mental Culture.--Men of thought have at all times been distinguished for their age. Among the venerable sages are Appolonius of Tyana, a follower of Pythagoras, who lived to over one hundred; Xenophilus, also a Pythagorean, was one hundred and six; Demonax, a Stoic, lived past one hundred; Isocrates was ninety-eight, and Solon, Sophocles, Pindar, Anacreon, and Xenophon were octogenarians.

In more modern times we find men of science and literature who have attained advanced age. Kant, Buffon, Goethe, Fontenelle, and Newton were all over eighty. Michael Angelo and t.i.tian lived to eighty-nine and ninety-nine respectively. Harvey, the discoverer of the circulation; Hans Sloane, the celebrated president of the Royal Society in London; Plater, the Swiss physician; Duverney, the anatomist, as well as his confrere, Tenon, lived to be octogenarians. Many men have displayed activity when past four score. Brougham at eighty-two and Lyndhurst at eighty-eight could pour forth words of eloquence and sagacity for hours at a time. Landor wrote his "Imaginary Conversations" when eighty-five, and Somerville his "Molecular Science"

at eighty-eight; Isaac Walton was active with his pen at ninety; Hahnemann married at eighty and was working at ninety-one.

J. B. Bailey has published a biography of "Modern Methusalehs," which includes histories of the lives of Cornaro, t.i.tian, Pletho, Hersch.e.l.l, Montefiore, Routh, and others. Chevreul, the centenarian chemist, has only lately died. Gladstone, Bismarck, and von Moltke exemplify vigor in age In the Senate of the United States, Senators Edmunds, Sherman, h.o.a.r, Morrill, and other elderly statesmen display as much vigor as their youthful colleagues. Instances of vigor in age could be cited in every profession and these few examples are only mentioned as typical.

At a recent meeting of the Society of English Naturalists, Lord Kelvin announced that during the last year 26 members had died at an average age of seventy-six and a half years; one reached the age of ninety-nine years, another ninety-seven, a third ninety-five, etc.

In commenting on the perfect compatibility of activity with longevity, the National Popular Review says:--

"Great men usually carry their full mental vigor and activity into old age. M. Chevreul, M. De Lesseps, Gladstone, and Bismarck are evidences of this anthropologic fact. Pius IX, although living in tempestuous times, reached a great age in full possession of all his faculties, and the dramatist Crebillon composed his last dramatic piece at ninety-four, while Michael Angelo was still painting his great canvases at ninety-eight, and t.i.tian at ninety still worked with all the vigor of his earlier years. The Austrian General Melas was still in the saddle and active at eighty-nine, and would have probably won Marengo but for the inopportune arrival of Desaix. The Venetian Doge Henry Dandolo, born at the beginning of the eleventh century, who lost his eyesight when a young man, was nevertheless subsequently raised to the highest office in the republic, managed successfully to conduct various wars, and at the advanced age of eighty-three, in alliance with the French, besieged and captured Constantinople. Fontenelle was as gay-spirited at ninety-eight as in his fortieth year, and the philosopher Newton worked away at his tasks at the age of eighty-three with the same ardor that animated his middle age. Cornaro was as happy at ninety as at fifty, and in far better health at the age of ninety-five than he had enjoyed at thirty.

"These cases all tend to show the value and benefits to be derived from an actively cultivated brain in making a long life one of comfort and of usefulness to its owner. The brain and spirits need never grow old, even if our bodies will insist on getting rickety and in falling by the wayside. But an abstemious life will drag even the old body along to centenarian limits in a tolerable state of preservation and usefulness.

The foregoing list can be lengthened out with an indefinite number of names, but it is sufficiently long to show what good spirits and an active brain will do to lighten up the weight of old age. When we contemplate the Doge Dandolo at eighty-three animating his troops from the deck of his galley, and the brave old blind King of Bohemia falling in the thickest of the fray at Crecy, it would seem as it there was no excuse for either physical, mental, or moral decrepitude short of the age of four score and ten."