self-congratulation, filling the world with such objects, asserting that there is no help for it—such being the will of Providence. What but ignorance and superstition* could have produced such unphilosophic and God-dishonoring views? Surely it ought never to be thought, that while wild animals, who live according to nature in obedience to organic laws, are free from contagious distempers and premature decay, an exception has been made with regard to man, the masterpiece of Creative goodness. And we never hear of their lying dead in numbers through the fields. Nor is there any reason to believe they are subject to debility, except the failure of strength consequent on their having reached the period of existence appointed to their kind by the Creator. And if we reason analogically, and consider how definitive nature is in her operations--with how much exactness she apportions the substance which forms the bones, muscles, hair, nails, etc., it can hardly be denied that the astonishing deviation from such laws, of which human disease is an instance, must be attributed to some extraneous cause acting powerfully in contravention of the order of nature. If a man rises at a late hour in the morning, with a brain-hammering headache, he soon consciously refers it to the previous night's excess either in eating or drinking, or both; and knows it is a natural consequence of his own error; yet it is as much the work of Providence as blindness in a new-born child. Nay, further; if the result of a public dinner is only indigestion, or a headache, it is a natural consequence, but if the victim of sensuality drops down dead in the street, or more quietly dies in his bed during the night, then it is a * Thunder and lightning were considered for many ages in the same light as diseases have hitherto been, as awful visitations of Providence. In all such storms, the Deity was believed to be personally present, and to wield the thunderbolt with his "red right arm;" but science has at length shed her influence over mankind, and has consigned this creed to poetry and superstition. Let Christians, especially, beware how they commit themselves in this matter, lest they fill the mouths of infidels, and expose their own ignorance of God's laws, and arraign his wisdom and goodness. visitation of Providence, and the coroner's jury gives a verdict accordingly. The undertaker's fees being paid, and other accounts settled, without one useful lesson, on they go again, to open a new case, like spendthrifts of life, regardless of the reducing store, saying, "To-morrow shall be as to-day, and much more abundant." We will not characterize such mental and moral delinquency by any hard names, but it does appear to us, that men have frequently been denounced and punished for opinions much less dishonorable to God, and less detrimental to human happiness. From the whole, then, there resulteth this general conclusion that man is an organized being; subjected to organic laws; that there is no such thing as perfect health where those laws are not obeyed; that it would be contrary to the scheme of man's existence; that the philosophy of life and health, the light of science, the testimony of all ages, and the force of argument prove it to be impossible. On the other hand, we maintain that there is nothing unreasonable in supposing it possible, with respect to the organization and vital force of man, that the one may endure and the other act, during 150 or even 200 years. One fact which gives weight to this theory, is the connection which is known to exist between the period for arriving at maturity, and the duration of human life. This deduction is based upon the principle that animals, in general, live eight times as long as they are in growing to maturity. The elephant and camel are, perhaps, among the longest livers; the former often attains to 100 years, and arrives at maturity about the twelfth year; the latter lives from seventy to ninety, and arrives at maturity about the ninth year. The horse, the mule, and the ass seldom live more than forty years, and arrive at maturity about the fifth year. They may, however, ascribe their short life, in some degree, to the improper and unnatural manner in which they are treated by man.* Thus, in an ordinary state, i. e., when "There can be no doubt that the domestication of animals entails nature is not forced on by art, man requires twenty-five years to attain to maturity, which would, according to the above reasoning, assign to him a life of 200 years; whereas, all that we contend for is, that "his days shall be an hundred and twenty years." upon them many disorders and much misery. It is not uncommon for a gentleman who has three or four saddle horses in his stable, to be unable on the same day to ride one of them. An English horse, indeed, is becoming so precarious a possession, that wherever he goes it requires an English groom to keep him alive. We learn from veterinary writers, that horses are more exposed to tetanus than the human subject; that rheumatism is frequent among them, and that they are not even exempt from gout. How different this from the state of the horse in his wild state. While yet unsubdued; yet untouched by the withering hand of man, we find the animal so active and powerful, that he easily defends himself against the strongest bull. At thirty years old, and even at forty, he is known still to enjoy his full vigor.-See Newton's "Return to Nature," a good but dear work. CHAPTER III. FACTS AND FIGURES. Since the mighty mind of Bacon beat down hypothesis, and introduced the induc tive system, philosophy has reasoned from facts; and experimental philosophy has been applauded.-JAY. The most perfect system has ever been allowed to be that which can reconcile and bring together the greatest number of facts, that come within the sphere of the subject of it. In this consists the sole glory of Newton, whose discovery rests upon no higher order of proof. Human authority seldom settles any thing with me; for whenever I have had an interest in knowing the truth, I have generally appealed from the decrees of that unsatisfactory court to the less fallible decision of the court of fact.-DR. DICKSON. Facts are the arguments of God-the outworkings of his power. He who fights against facts, fights against God.-DR. F. LEES, F.S.A. 66 DR. HUFELAND, in his Macrobitic, a work which has been translated into nearly all European languages, after citing numerous cases of extreme longevity, says, We ought to have some fixed ideas as to what ought to be the true term of life; but we can hardly imagine to what an extent doctors differ on this point. Some assign to man extreme longevity, while others cut life very short. We might be tempted to believe that death occasioned by old age was the true term of man's life; but a calculation established upon such a basis, would lead us into great errors, in an artificial state like ours." And this, in fact, is the very error into which people have fallen. The learned Lichtenberg declared that the secret had been discovered of inoculating people with old age before their time; and added, "We see, every day, men thirty or forty years old, presenting all the appearance of decrepitude, deformity, wrinkles, gray hairs, and other defects, which one only expects to find in men of eighty or ninety years of age." To the inquiry, "How long, in general, can man live?” facts answer, "from one hundred and fifty to one hundred and seventy, and even two hundred years." Haller, who collected most of the cases of longevity known in Europe in his time, gave examples of more than one thousand persons who attained to 100, and 110 years; sixty persons from 110 to 120; twenty-nine from 120 to 130; fifteen from 133 to 140; six from 140 to 150; and one to 169 years. From the statistics of Russia, it appears that, in 1830, there were in that country, among others, the following instances of longevity: one hundred and twenty persons who had reached from 116 to 120 years; one hundred and twentyone from 120 to 125; three from 125 to 130; five from 130 to 140; one to 145; three from 150 to 155; one to 160; and one to 165. In the tables of mortality for England and Wales, commencing at 1813, and ending with 1830, being a period of eighteen years, we find that from the age of eighty-one to that of one hundred and twenty-four, upward of 245,000 persons were buried, of whom more than seven hundred exceeded one hundred years. The following, with some additions, are copied from Baker's "Curse of Britain:" |