CATALOGUE

M. J. 5.26.1802

Entered according to Act of Congress, A.D. 1891, by A. N. BELL, in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

3361

THE SANITARIAN.

JULY, 1891.

NUMBER 260.

LONGEVITY.

A PAPER READ BEFORE THE ENGLEWOOD LITERARY SOCIETY, BY SHEPPARD JIOMANS.

WE read in the fifth chapter of Genesis: "And all the days that Adam lived were 930 years; and he died. Also "All the days of Seth were 912 years; and he died." The ages of five other descendants of Adam are then given, each of whom lived more than 900 years, and then we come to Methuselah, the oldest age on record. "And all the days of Methuselah were 969 years; and he died."

After the flood the ages recorded of the patriarchs were much less. Abraham died at the age of 175, Isaac at 180, and Jacob at 147; and Sarah, whose age is the greatest recorded in the Bible of a female, died at 127.

In modern times we have the records, more or less authentic, of many persons who have attained extreme old age. Mr. James Easton, of Salisbury, England, published in 1799 a list containing the names of 1712 persons who had reached the age of 100 years and upward. In 1826, Mr. Charles Babbage collected 1750 similar cases. Haller cites two cases of extreme age which came under his own observation, one of 152, and the other of 169 years.

I select the following from a list prepared by the late Cornelius Walford, containing the names of 208 persons who died at or above the age of 120 years. Thomas Carn, Shoreditch, England, at the age of 207, in 1588. This case is said to be confirmed by the parish registers. If this be true, it is the most remarkable instance of longevity recorded since the