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ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
HUFELAND'S 
 
 ART OF PROLONG LIFE. 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 ERASMUS WILSON, F.R.S. 
 
 . 
 
 3 
 
 
 BOSTON: 
 TICKNOR, REED, AND FIELDS. 
 
 MDCCCLIV. 
 
CAMBRIDGE : 
 ALLEN AND FAENHAM, PRINTERS, 
 
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 EDITOR'S PEEFACE. 
 
 THE " Art of Prolonging Life," by Christopher William 
 Hufeland, a philosophic physician and professor of medicine 
 in the University of Jena, is a work enjoying a deserved 
 popularity in Germany ,'where it has gone through several 
 editions. Though translated into English, in 1797, it is 
 but little known in this country, less indeed, as it appeared 
 to the Editor, than its merits deserve ; and it is under the 
 hope of being able to fill a vacant niche in popular litera- 
 ture, and restoring to his proper sphere of usefulness an able 
 and accomplished instructor, that the Editor has now un- 
 dertaken the present edition of his book. In its English 
 costume, and bearing a dedication to George Christopher 
 Lichtenberg, Counsellor of State to his Britannic Majesty, 
 and one of the Professors in the University of Gbttingen, 
 the work was published in two octavo volumes, with respect- 
 able and roomy type, short lines, shorter pages, and broad 
 margins, an effectual prohibition to its wide diffusion. The 
 translation bears the impress of a master's hand ; it is ele- 
 gant and exact, and in the Editor's judgment, is the pro- 
 duction of the learned author's own pen. Under this belief, 
 the Editor has selected the translation of 1794, with its pure 
 and classic language, for the present volume, in preference 
 to a new translation from a later German edition. 
 
 The Reader will probably be struck, as was the Editor, 
 
vi EDITOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 with the little real progress which has been made in the 
 science of living during the more than half a century since 
 the original work was first written ; and the feeling of a ne- 
 cessity for bringing the matter up to the present line of 
 march will be dissipated by its perusal. Indeed it seemed 
 to the Editor more fitting as a ground of wholesome reflec- 
 tion, that we should have placed before our eyes the philos- 
 ophy of half a century back, that we might thereby learn 
 how much still remained to be done, before our knowledge 
 of the subject could be regarded as complete. 
 
 With an elegant translation, then, done to his hand, all 
 that remained to the Editor was a labor of taste ; to adapt 
 the work to the modes of thinking and feeling of the present 
 day, certain truths, too true to be allowed to stand forth in 
 all their naked proportions, required a veil to be thrown 
 around the.m ; words that betrayed the foreign source of 
 the translation, and bore a meaning different to that which 
 would have been deduced from their construction, required 
 to be exchanged for terms of more obvious nationality ; and, 
 in a few instances, certain elaborate disquisitions, bordering 
 on absolute prose, needed to be expunged altogether. The 
 temple of knowledge, at the present day, is called on to put 
 forth all its allurements to invite mankind to enter its portals, 
 while with equal care its harsher features must be thrown 
 into the shade. The art of the arrangement consists in 
 softening the rude by its combination with the refined ; in 
 accustoming the senses to the subdued tints before the more 
 sombre shadows are developed. In this, and a few necessary 
 notes, the whole of the Editor's labor is embraced. 
 
 HENRIETTA STREET, CAVENDISH SQUARE, 
 June, 1853. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 THE life of man, physically considered, is a peculiar chem- 
 ico-animal operation ; a phenomenon effected by a concur- 
 rence of the united powers of Nature with matter in a con- 
 tinual state of change. This, like every other physical ope- 
 ration, must have its defined laws, boundaries, and duration, 
 so far as they depend on the sum of the given powers and 
 matter, their application, and many other external as well 
 as internal circumstances ; but, like every other physical 
 operation, it can be promoted or impeded, accelerated or re- 
 tarded. By laying down just principles respecting its essence 
 and wants, and by attending to observations made from 
 experience, the circumstances under which this process may 
 be hastened and shortened, or retarded and prolonged, can 
 be discovered. Upon this may be founded dietetic rules and a 
 medical mode of treatment for preserving life ; and hence 
 arises a particular science, the MACROBIOTIC, or the art of 
 prolonging it, which forms the subject of the present work. 
 
 This art, however, must not be confounded with the com- 
 mon art of medicine or medical regimen : its object, means, 
 and boundaries are different. The object of the medical art 
 is health; that of the macrobiotic, long life. The means 
 employed in the medical art are regulated according to the 
 
Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 present state of the body and its variations ; those of the 
 macrobiotic, by general principles. In the first it is suffi- 
 cient if one is able to restore that health which has been 
 lost; but no person thinks of inquiring whether, by the 
 means used for that purpose, life, upon the whole, will be 
 lengthened or shortened ; and the latter is often the case in 
 many methods employed in medicine. The medical art must 
 consider every disease as an evil which cannot be too soon 
 expelled ; the macrobiotic, on the other hand, shows that 
 many diseases may be the means of prolonging life. The 
 medical art endeavors, by corroborative and other remedies, 
 to elevate mankind to the highest degree of strength and 
 physical perfection ; while the macrobiotic proves that here 
 even there is a maximum, and that strengthening, carried 
 too far, may tend to accelerate life, and consequently, to 
 shorten its duration. The practical part of medicine, there- 
 fore, in regard to the macrobiotic art, is to be considered 
 only as an auxiliary science which teaches us how to know 
 diseases, the enemies of life, and how to prevent and expel 
 them ; but which, however, must itself be subordinate to the 
 higher laws of the latter. 
 
 Long life has at all times been the chief wish, the principal 
 object of mankind ; but how confused and contradictory are 
 all the plans ever proposed for obtaining it! The stern 
 theologist derides such attempts ; and asks, if the period of 
 existence is not determined to every being and who is 
 able to add a hair-breadth to his stature, or a minute to the 
 duration of his existence ? The practical physician exclaims, 
 why do you search for the particular means of prolonging 
 
PREFACE. IX 
 
 life ? Employ my art ; take care of your health, guard 
 against diseases, and cure those which have appeared. This 
 is the only way to promote longevity. The adept shows his 
 vital elixir, and boldly asserts that those who will persevere 
 to take that incorporated spirit of life may hope to become 
 old. The philosopher endeavors to resolve the problem, by 
 teaching men to despise death, and to double life by enjoy- 
 ment. The innumerable legion of quacks and empirics, on 
 the other hand, who have gained the confidence of the mul- 
 titude, inspire them with a belief that there are no surer 
 means of becoming old, than to let blood at proper times, and 
 to use cupping, purgatives, etc. 
 
 It appeared to me, therefore, useful and necessary to 
 rectify the ideas of the public on a matter of so much impor- 
 tance ; and to bring this science back to solid and simple 
 principles, by which it might acquire that connection and 
 systematic order of which it hath hitherto been destitute. 
 
 For eight years this subject has been the favorite employ- 
 ment of my leisure hours ; and it will give me great happi- 
 ness if it be to others only half as serviceable as it has been 
 to me. The present melancholy age, so destructive to man- 
 kind, induced me to engage in this undertaking ; and the 
 idea of its being useful, while it afforded me the highest con- 
 solation, encouraged me to pursue my researches. 
 
 My chief aim was to establish the Art of prolonging Life 
 on systematic grounds, and to make known the means for 
 accomplishing that object ; but, to convey a proper idea of 
 the whole, it was necessary to comprehend some concomitant 
 circumstances which gradually presented themselves to my 
 
X PREFACE. 
 
 notice. This, in the first place, appeared to be the best way 
 of giving a higher interest and more general value to many 
 dietetic rules ; because I have always found that much less 
 impression is made when one says, this or that substance, this 
 or that mode of living, is healthful or unhealthful, (since this 
 is relative, and depends on the strength or weakness of the 
 constitution as well as on other points, and has a reference 
 to the immediate consequences, which are often impercep- 
 tible, and therefore make those who are not physicians dis- 
 believe the whole,) than when the proposition is thus ex- 
 pressed these things, these modes of living, prolong or 
 shorten life; for this depends less on circumstances, and 
 cannot be judged of from the immediate consequences. And, 
 secondly, this work insensibly became a repository to which 
 I committed many of my favorite ideas ; where I indulged 
 in many digressions suited to a citizen of the world, and was 
 happy to have it in my power to connect these ideas by a 
 thread so beautiful and so extensive in joining every thing 
 as the thread of life. 
 
 According to the point of view under which I necessarily 
 considered my subject, it was natural that I should treat it, 
 not only medically, but also morally ; for, how is it possible 
 to write on human life, without taking into consideration its 
 connection with the moral world, to which it so peculiarly 
 belongs ? On the contrary, I have found more than once, 
 in the course of my labor, that the physical man cannot be 
 separated from his higher moral object : and I may, per- 
 haps, reckon it a small merit in the present performance, 
 that it will not only establish the truth and heighten the 
 
PREFACE. Xi 
 
 value of the moral laws, in the eyes of many, by showing 
 that they are indispensably necessary for the physical sup- 
 port and prolongation of life but that it demonstrates, that 
 the physical nature of man has been suited to his higher 
 moral destination ; that this makes an essential difference be- 
 tween the nature of man and the nature of animals ; that with- 
 out moral cultivation man is in continual contradiction with 
 his own nature ; and that, by culture alone, he becomes even 
 physically perfect. May I be so fortunate, by these means, 
 as to accomplish two objects : not only to render the life of 
 man more healthful and longer; but also, by exciting his 
 exertions for that purpose, to make him better and more 
 virtuous ! I can at any rate assert, that man will in vain 
 seek for the one without the other, and that physical and 
 moral health are as nearly related as the body and the soul. 
 They flow from the same sources ; become blended together ; 
 and when united, the result is, HUMAN NATURE ENNOBLED 
 
 AND RAISED TO PERFECTION. 
 
 I must here observe, that as this work is not designed 
 merely for physicians, but for the public in general, I was 
 obliged in some points to be more diffuse, and in others 
 shorter, than if I had written for the former alone. I had, 
 in particular, a regard to young people ; because I am con- 
 vinced that the grounds of a long or a short life can be most 
 effectually laid at an early period ; and that, through unpar- 
 donable negligence in the education of youth, information on 
 this subject, so important to their physical happiness, is 
 entirely forgotten. I have, therefore, placed in the clearest 
 light those points most necessary to be known at an early 
 
Xll PREFACE. 
 
 age ; and, in general, have treated my subject so that the 
 book may be put into the hands of young persons without 
 any danger : and it will afford me inexpressible joy if it 
 be not only recommended to them, but employed also in 
 schools, to convey instruction respecting their physical well- 
 being which must indeed be given in such seminaries, as 
 I unfortunately know, by long experience, that in colleges 
 it will be for the most part too late. 
 
 My readers, I hope, will forgive me for not supporting 
 with quotations every instance I have adduced, and every 
 fact related. My motive for omitting them was an appre- 
 hension of swelling the work too much, and of rendering it 
 too expensive. I must, however, remark, that the instances 
 given of the age of man are taken chiefly from Bacon's His- 
 
 TORIA VlT^E ET MORTIS. 
 
 To conclude, I will readily allow, that many parts of this 
 work might have been written in a better and fuller manner; 
 but I console myself with the agreeable persuasion, which no 
 one can deprive me of, that what I have said may be use- 
 ful, and that its utility will recommend it, and procure it 
 support. 
 
 JENA, July, 1796. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PART THE FIRST. 
 
 CHAPTER I. State of this Science among the Egyptians and the 
 Greeks ; Gymnastic : Gerocomic ; Hermippus. State of it in the 
 middle ages; Theophrastus Paracelsus. Astrological method. 
 Talismans. Thurneiser. Cornaro, and his severe regimen. 
 Method by transfusion. Lord Bacon. St. Germain. Mesmer 
 
 p. 121 
 
 CHAPTER II. Inquiry into the nature of the vital power, and the 
 duration of life in general. Properties and laws of the vital 
 power. Definition of life. Vital consumption inseparable conse- 
 quence of vital operation. Term of life. Causes of the duration 
 of life. Retardation of vital consumption. Possibility of pro- 
 longing life. Intensive and extensive life. Sleep . 22 44 
 i 
 
 CHAPTER III. Duration of the life of plants ; diversity of it. 
 Annual, biennial, perennial. Experiments respecting circum- 
 stances by which this is determined ; result of them. Applica- 
 tion of the fundamental principles of the duration of life. Great 
 influence of attention and culture on the duration of the life of 
 plants -. . 4566 
 
 CHAPTER IV. Duration of life in the animal world. Observations 
 on plant-animals. Worms. Insects. Metamorphosis an impor- 
 tant mean of prolonging life. Amphibia. Fish. Birds. Ani- 
 mals which suckle. Result. Influence of maturity and growth 
 on the duration of life. Perfection or imperfection of organiza 
 tion of life. Rapid or slow vital consumption. Restoration 
 
 5771 
 
XIV CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER V. Duration of the life of man. Apparently incredible 
 age of the patriarchs explained. Age of the world has no influ- 
 ence on the duration of human life. Instances of great age 
 among the Jews, Greeks, and Eomans. Tables of the census 
 under Vespasian. Instances of great age among kings, emperors, 
 and popes. Frederick II. Among hermits and monks. Philoso- 
 phers and men of letters. Poets and artists. Instances of the 
 greatest age to be found only among country people, hunters, gar- 
 deners, soldiers, and sailors. Few to be found among physicians. 
 Shortest life. Difference of age according to the climate 
 
 7294 
 
 CHAPTER VI. Eesult of the above observations. Age of the world 
 has no influence on that of its inhabitants. Influence of climate 
 and of the atmosphere. Islands and peninsulas. Countries in 
 Europe most favorable to longevity. Advantages of temperance. 
 The two most dreadful extremes of mortality in modern times. 
 Moderation in all things has great effect in prolonging life. State 
 of marriage. Female sex. Industry. Frugality. Civilization. 
 Rural life. Renovation possible. Extent of human life deter- 
 mined. Absolute and relative duration of it. Tables respecting 
 the latter 95109 
 
 CHAPTER VII. More particular examination of human life. Es- 
 sential definition of it. Principal operations on which it depends. 
 Accession from without. Assimilation and animalization. Nutri- 
 tion and preparation of the organized matter. Power and organs 
 consumed by life itself. Separation and destruction of exhausted 
 parts. Organs necessary for life. History of life. Causes of the 
 long duration of the life of man. Influence of reason and the 
 higher powers of thought. Answer to the question, " Why, 
 among men, who are more fitted for long life than animals, mor- 
 tality, however, should be greater ? " . . . 110 129 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. Signs of long life in individuals. Sound stomach 
 and organs of digestion. Good teeth. Well-organized chest. 
 Heart not too irritable. Strong natural power of restoration and 
 healing. Sufficient quantity and diffusion of the vital power. 
 Good temperament. Faultless and well-proportioned make of 
 body. No particular weakness of any part. Portrait of a man 
 destined to long life 130 138 
 
CONTENTS. XV 
 
 CHAPTER IX. Examination of various new methods for prolonging 
 life. By vital elixirs. Gold tinctures, and wonder-working es- 
 sences. By hardening the organs. By rest, and suspending for a 
 time vital activity. By guarding against consumption, and the 
 external causes of disease. By fast living. Account of the only 
 methods possible by which life can be prolonged. Proper union 
 of the four principal indications : Increasing of the vital power, 
 Strengthening the organs, Moderating vital consumption, Fa- 
 voring restoration. Modification of these methods, according to 
 difference of constitution, temperament, age, and climate 
 
 139162 
 
 PART THE SECOND. 
 
 INTRODUCTION 163 
 
 MEANS WHICH SHORTEN LIFE . . 164 
 
 CHAPTER I. Delicate nursing and treatment in infancy . 167 
 
 CHAPTER II. Physical excess in youth .... 169 
 
 CHAPTER III. Over-strained exertion of the mental faculties 171 
 
 CHAPTER IV. Diseases. Injudicious manner of treating 
 
 them. Sudden kinds of death. Propensity to self-murder 177 
 
 CHAPTER V. Impure air. Men living together in large cities 183 
 
 CHAPTER VI. Intemperance in eating and drinking. Re- 
 fined cookery. Spirituous liquors 185 
 
 CHAPTER VII. Passions and dispositions of mind which 
 
 shorten life. Peevishness. Too much occupation and business 190 
 
 CHAPTER VHL The fear of death 193 
 
 CHAPTER IX. Idleness. Inactivity. Languor . . . 198 
 CHAPTER X. Overstrained power of the imagination. Im- 
 aginary diseases. Sensibility 201 
 
 CHAPTER XL Poisons physical as well as infectious . . 204 
 
 CHAPTER XII. Old age. Premature ingrafting of it on youth 216 
 
XVI CONTENTS. 
 
 PART THE THIRD. 
 
 MEANS WHICH PROLONG LIFE . . 219 
 
 CHAPTER I. Good physical descent 219 
 
 CHAPTER II. Prudent physical education .... 225 
 
 CHAPTER IH. Active and laborious youth .... 240 
 
 CHAPTER IV. Abstinence from physical love in youth, and 
 
 a too early assumption of the married state . . . 242 
 
 CHAPTER V. Happy married state 246 
 
 CHAPTER VI. Sleep 250 
 
 CHAPTER VII. Bodily exercise 257 
 
 CHAPTER VHL The enjoyment of free air. Moderate tem- 
 perature of warmth 259 
 
 CHAPTER IX. Rural and country life . 261 
 
 CHAPTER X. Travelling ....... 267 
 
 CHAPTER XL Cleanliness, and care of the skin . . . 272 
 
 CHAPTER XH. Proper food. Moderation in eating and drink- 
 ing. Preservation of the teeth 280 
 
 CHAPTER XHI. Mental tranquillity. Contentment. Dispo- 
 sitions of mind and employments which tend to prolong life 288 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. Reality of character 293 
 
 CHAPTER XV. Agreeable stimulants of the senses and of 
 
 sensation moderately used ... ..... 295 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. Preventing diseases. Judicious treatment of 
 
 them. Proper use of medicine and physicians . . 297 
 
 CHAPTER XVH. Relief in cases where one is exposed to 
 
 the danger of sudden death 314 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. Old age. Proper treatment of it . . 321 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. Cultivation of the mental and bodily powers 326 
 
ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 PART THE FIRST. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 State of this Science among the Egyptians and the Greeks ; Gym- 
 nastic : Gerocomic ; Hermippus. State of it in the middle :i; \s ; 
 Theophrastus Paracelsus. Astrological method. Talismans. 
 Thurneiser. Cornaro, and his severe regimen. Method by trans- 
 fusion. Lord Bacon. S. Germain. Mesmer. 
 
 THAT incomprehensible power, that immediate influ- 
 ence of the Deity which we call the vital principle, 
 pervades all nature. We everywhere behold phenom- 
 ena and effects which evidently announce its presence, 
 though under an infinite variety of modifications and 
 forms ; and the existence of life is proclaimed by the 
 whole universe around us. Life is that by which plants 
 vegetate, by which animals feel and are actuated ; but 
 in the highest degree of perfection, sensation, and form, 
 it appears, in man, the supreme link of the visible crea- 
 tion. If we survey the whole chain of being, we shall 
 nowhere find so complete a combination of almost all 
 the vivifying powers of nature ; nowhere so much vital 
 1 
 
Z ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 energy, united with so long duration as here. It needs 
 excite no surprise, therefore, that the most perfect pos- 
 sessor of this benefit should value it so highly ; and 
 that the bare idea of living and existing should be 
 attended with so much pleasure. All bodies become 
 the more interesting to us, the more we can ascribe to 
 them a kind of life and vital sensation. Nothing can 
 engage our attention so much; nothing induce us to 
 make so great sacrifices, and to call forth the most 
 extraordinary display and exertion of our most secret 
 powers, as the desire of preserving life, and of saving 
 it in the moment of danger. To those, even, -who are 
 deprived of its comforts and enjoyments ; to those who 
 suffer under the pain of incurable disease, or who be- 
 wail the loss of freedom in the gloom of a dungeon, the 
 idea of living and existing presents some charms ; and 
 it certainly requires a derangement of the finest organs 
 of sensation, a circumstance possible only in man ; a 
 total darkening and deadening of the mental faculties, 
 to render life to us either disgusting or indifferent. In 
 so wise and intimate a manner is the love of life, that 
 desire so worthy of a thinking being, that grand pillar 
 of individual and public felicity interwoven with our 
 frame. It was very natural for men, therefore, to con- 
 ceive the idea whether it might not be possible to pro- 
 long our existence, and to give more extent to the too 
 fleeting enjoyment of so valuable a blessing. This 
 question, indeed, has, at all times, engaged the atten- 
 tion of mankind, and in different ways. It has been a 
 favorite object of the deepest thinking minds ; it has 
 afforded a fine field for visionaries ; and has been the 
 principal allurement employed by quacks and impos- 
 
MEANS ADOPTED BY THE ANCIENTS. 3 
 
 tors : for we shall find that intercourse with spirits, the 
 secret of making gold, or the art of prolonging life, 
 were the pretences by which they deluded the multi- 
 tude, and imposed on the credulity of the public. It is 
 interesting, and may contribute something towards the 
 history of the human mind, to see by what various, and 
 often contrary, means people hoped to obtain that 
 benefit ; and, as in latter times, a Cagliostro and a Mes- 
 mer have supplied considerable materials for this sub- 
 ject, I hope I shall be forgiven if 'I here take a short 
 view, before I proceed to my main purpose, of the 
 principal methods that have been employed to lengthen 
 the duration of life. 
 
 An idea of this kind prevailed, even in the earliest 
 ages, among the Egyptians, the Greeks, and the Ro- 
 mans. In Egypt, a country which gave birth to si 
 many romantic notions, means were devised for the 
 attainment of this object ; and it is not improbable that 
 such researches may have been occasioned by the un- 
 healthfulness of the climate, owing to its great heat, and 
 the inundations of the Nile. It was believed there, 
 that life could be prolonged by the continued use of 
 emetics and sudorifics. It was, therefore, a general 
 custom to take, at least, two emetics every month ; and 
 instead of saying, How do you find yourself? one asked 
 another, How do you perspire ? This passion among 
 the Greeks, under the influence of a pure and serene 
 atmosphere, assumed a different direction. These peo- 
 ple were persuaded that a rational enjoyment of nature, 
 and the continual exercise of their powers, were the 
 surest means of strengthening the vital principle, arid of 
 
 
 
4: ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 prolonging life. Hippocrates, and all the physicians 
 and philosophers of that period, knew no other method 
 of accomplishing this end than by moderation ; the use 
 of free and pure air ; bathing ; and, above all, by daily 
 friction of the body and exercise. Particular directions 
 and rules were laid down for giving violent and gentle 
 motion to the body in a variety of ways : a particular 
 art, called the Gymnastic, hence arose ; and the great- 
 est philosophers and men of learning never forgot that 
 the body and the soul ought to be exercised in the 
 same proportion. This art, to us almost unknown, of 
 suiting exercise to the different constitutions, situations, 
 and wants of man ; of employing it, above all, as the 
 means of keeping his internal nature in proper activity, 
 and thereby not only rendering the causes of disease 
 ineffectual, but also curing diseases which have already 
 appeared, they, indeed, brought to an extraordinary 
 degree of perfection. One Herodicus, we are told, 
 carried these ideas so far that he compelled his patients 
 to walk ; to suffer their bodies to be rubbed ; and, the 
 more the disease weakened them, to endeavor to over- 
 come that weakness by strengthening the muscular 
 powers : and he had the good fortune to lengthen seve- 
 ral years, by this method, the lives of so many enfeebled 
 patients, that Plato reproached him with having acted 
 very unjustly towards these unfortunate people, in pro- 
 longing, by artificial means, that existence of which they 
 would always have less and less enjoyment. The clear- 
 est ideas and most agreeable to nature on preserving and 
 lengthening life may be found in Plutarch, who, by the 
 happiest old age, confirmed the truth of his prescrip- 
 
MEANS ADOPTED BY THE ANCIENTS. 5 
 
 tions. His information on this subject, he concludes 
 with the following rules, which may suit also the present 
 age : " Keep your head cool, and your feet warm ; in- 
 stead of employing medicine for every indisposition, 
 rather fast a day ; and while you attend to the body, 
 never neglect the mind." 
 
 A singular method of prolonging life, ascribed also to 
 the earliest ages, was the Gerocomic ; or the custom of 
 inspiring new strength and vigor into a body enfeebled 
 under a load of years, by exposing it to the effluvia of 
 fresh and blooming youth. A well-known instance of 
 this practice may be found in the history of King David ; 
 and we learn from several passages in the writings of 
 the ancient physicians, that it was formerly much used, 
 and considered as of great efficacy in relieving the in- 
 firmities of age. Even in modern times this prescription 
 has been followed with advantage. The great Boer- 
 haave caused an old burgomaster of Amsterdam to sleep 
 between'two young persons ; and he assures us that the old 
 man acquired by these means a visible increase of vigor 
 and activity. When one, indeed, reflects what change 
 may be produced on diseased limbs by the vital evapo- 
 ration of animals newly killed, and what may be the 
 consequence of applying living animals to parts affected 
 with pain, this method will appear not to be altogether 
 despicable. 
 
 It is highly probable that the great value which the 
 Greeks and the Romans set upon inspiring pure sound 
 breath may have been founded on these ideas ; and the 
 following ancient inscription, discovered at Rome in the 
 last century, seems to allude to this subject : 
 
ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 JEsculapio et Sanitati. 
 
 L. Clodius Hermippus, 
 Qui vixit annos cxv. dies v. 
 
 Puellarum anhelitu. 
 Quod etiam post mortem ejus 
 Non parum mirantur physici, 
 Jam poster!, sic vitam ducite. 
 
 To ^Esculapius and Health 
 
 Dedicated 
 
 By L. Clodius Hermippus, 
 Who lived cxv years v days 
 By the breath of young maids. 
 
 Whether this inscription be authentic or not, it gave 
 occasion, in the beginning of the present century, to a 
 work in which one Dr. Cohausen endeavors, with much 
 learning, to prove that Hermippus was the master of a 
 training school, or teacher of female children, at Rome, 
 who, by living continually amidst a circle of young maids, 
 had been enabled to prolong his life to so great an age. 
 He advises people, therefore, with much benevolence, to 
 expose themselves, every evening and morning, to the 
 breath of young innocent maidens ; and asserts, that they 
 will thereby contribute in an incredible degree, to the 
 strengthening and preserving the vital power ; as, accord- 
 ing to the saying of the adepts, the first matter is con- 
 tained purest in the breath of innocence. 
 
 But that long period of darkness during the middle 
 ages, when all clear and natural conceptions were ban- 
 ished by fanaticism and superstition ; when the specula- 
 tive indolence of the cloister gave rise to some chemical 
 and physical discoveries, which served rather to bewil- 
 der than enlighten the understanding, and tended more 
 to promote credulity than enlarge knowledge, was the 
 
<THE CHEMICAL METHOD. 7 
 
 most fertile in romantic notions on this subject. It was 
 during this night of ignorance that the most monstrous 
 chimeras of the human mind were produced ; and that 
 those absurd ideas of witchcraft, sympathy, the philoso- 
 pher's stone, occult qualities, chiromancy, cabala, uni- 
 versal remedies, were established, or at least propaga- 
 ted in the world ; and which unfortunately yet prevail, 
 and, though in a changed and modernized form, are 
 still employed to mislead mankind. Amidst that men- 
 tal darkness an opinion arose, that the preservation and 
 prolongation of life, which, as the gift of nature, had 
 been hitherto sought for by the most natural means, 
 could be obtained by chemical transmutations, by the 
 help of the first matter which men thought they had 
 caught in retorts, by guarding against the influence of 
 malignant constellations, and by other ridiculous con- 
 ceits of the like kind. I hope I shall, therefore, be 
 here permitted to mention a few of the plans then pro- 
 posed to mankind, which, notwithstanding their absurd- 
 ity, were nevertheless credited. 
 
 One of the most impudent quacks and greatest boast- 
 ers among the prolongers of life was Theophrastus Par- 
 acelsus, or, as he is better characterized by his whole 
 name, Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Paracelsus 
 Bombastus ab Hohenheim. He had travelled over half 
 the world ; had collected receipts and wonder-working 
 medicines from all quarters and corners ; and, in partic- 
 ular, which was very uncommon, had studied in mines 
 the nature and management of metals. He began his 
 career by depreciating every thing before taught ; by 
 treating all the great public seminaries with the utmost 
 contempt ; by giving himself out as the first physician 
 
8 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 and philosopher in the world ; and by solemnly assert- 
 ing that there was no disease which he could not cure, 
 no life which he could not prolong. As a proof of his 
 insolence and of the high tone in which the quacks of 
 the fifteenth century addressed the public, I shall here 
 quote the beginning of his principal work : " Ye must 
 give way to me, and not I to you ; ye must give way to 
 me, Avicenna, Rhases, Galen, Mesue; ye must give 
 way to me, ye of Paris, ye of Montpellier, ye of Swabia, 
 ye of Misnia, ye of Cologne, ye of Vienna, and what- 
 ever places lie on the Danube and the Rhine: ye 
 islands in the sea ; thou Italian, thou Dalmatian, thou 
 Athenian, thou Greek, thou Arabian, thou Israelite; 
 you must give way to me, and not I to you. The mon- 
 archy is mine ! " One may readily perceive that this au- 
 thor was not in the wrong when he said, " I am not fine- 
 spun by nature ; " but he had the art of clothing his ab- 
 surdities in so dark and mysterious language, that people 
 imagined they contained the deepest secrets which they 
 here and there sought to discover; and that, at any 
 rate, it was impossible to contradict him. By these 
 means, and by the new and accidental effects of some 
 chemical preparations which he first introduced into 
 medicine, he attracted great notice ; and his fame was 
 so far extended, that pupils and patients flocked to him 
 from every part of Europe ; and that even an Erasmus 
 did not disdain to consult him. He died, however, in 
 the fiftieth year of his age, though he possessed the 
 stone of immortality ; and when this vegetable sulphur 
 is closely examined, it is found to be nothing else than 
 a hot substance much like the liquor of Hoffmann. 
 But it was not enough that recourse should be had to 
 
THE ASTROLOGICAL METHOD. 9 
 
 chemistry and the world of spirits in order to prolong 
 our days ; the stars also must be employed for that pur- 
 pose. It was at the above period commonly believed, 
 that the influence of the stars, which people could not 
 allow themselves to suppose idle, ruled over the lives 
 and fortunes of men ; that every planet or constellation 
 could give to the whole frame of the being born under 
 it, a certain disposition to good or evil ; and that, conse- 
 quently, it was necessary only for an astrologer to know 
 the hour and minute of a person's birth to discover his 
 temperament, capacity, and fate ; to foretell the diseases 
 to which he would be subject, the death he would die, 
 and even the last day of his existence. This opinion 
 prevailed not only among the ignorant multitude, but 
 among the greatest, the wisest, and the most judicious 
 people of the age ; and it is astonishing how long and how 
 firmly they relied on these ideas, though instances could 
 not be wanting of such predictions proving altogether 
 false. Bishops, dignified clergymen, celebrated philos- 
 ophers and physicians, gave themselves up to the cast- 
 ing of nativities ; and lectures were read in colleges on 
 that subject, as well as upon cabala and the art of divi- 
 nation by punctures and circles. As a proof of what I 
 have advanced, let me here be permitted to say a few 
 words respecting the celebrated Thurneiser, the most 
 brilliant phenomenon of this kind ; a man truly singu- 
 lar. He resided in the last century at the electoral 
 court of Berlin, and was physician in ordinary, chemist, 
 nativity-caster, almanac-maker, printer, and booksel- 
 ler, all in one person. His reputation in astrology was 
 so great, that scarcely was there a child born in any re- 
 spectable family in Germany, Poland, Hungary, Den- 
 
10 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 mark, and even England, whose parents did not imme- 
 diately despatch a messenger to him with an exact ac- 
 count of the moment of its birth. Eight, ten, and twelve 
 such nativities came to him often at one time ; and he 
 was at last so oppressed with them, that he was obliged 
 to engage an assistant in his business. Several vol- 
 umes of such questions are still preserved in the library 
 at Berlin, among which there appear some letters from 
 Queen Elizabeth. Besides, he composed annually an 
 astrological calendar, in which was described not only 
 the nature of the year in general, but also the principal 
 events of it ; and the days on which they would take 
 place were distinguished by abbreviations or signs. He, 
 indeed, for the most part, did not give the explanation 
 of them till the year following; but we find -instances of 
 his having been prevailed upon by money and fair words 
 to explain them before. It is astonishing what the art 
 of indefinite prophetic diction and the favor of accident 
 can effect. This calendar supported itself above twenty 
 years ; had a rapid and extensive sale ; and, with other 
 quackeries, procured to the author an estate of 100,000 
 florins. 
 
 But in an art which prescribed such certain and un- 
 passable boundaries to the life of man, how was it pos- 
 sible to find the means of prolonging it ? This was 
 -done in the following simple manner : it was supposed 
 that, as every man lay under the influence of a certain 
 star, every other body, plants, animals, and even whole 
 districts and single houses had each its own star, by 
 which it was ruled ; and that, besides, there was an in- 
 timate connection and sympathy between the planets 
 .and the metals. As soon as it was known from what 
 
9 THE ASTROLOGICAL METHOD. 11 
 
 constellation or planet a man's misfortune or sickness 
 proceeded, nothing more was necessary than that he 
 should use such food, drink, and place of residence as 
 were under the government of an opposite planet. This 
 produced a new regimen, but totally different from that 
 of the Greeks already mentioned. If a day occurred 
 which, on account of its unfavorable constellation, gave 
 reason to apprehend severe sickness or other evils, 
 people retired to a spot which lay under the disposition 
 of a friendly star, or they took such nourishment and 
 medicine as, under the protection of a beneficent star, 
 would annihilate the influence of the malignant one.* 
 On the same grounds people hoped for a prolongation of 
 life by talismans and amulets. Because the metals 
 were in intimate connection with the planets, to wear a 
 talisman of the proper metal, which had been melted, 
 cast, and stamped under certain constellations, was suf- 
 ficient to appropriate to oneself the whole power and 
 protection of the planets with which it was connected. 
 People had not only talismans which averted the dis- 
 eases of one planet, but talismans for all astral diseases ; 
 
 * About that period, Marsilius Ficinus, in his Treatise on the 
 Prolongation of Life, advised all prudent people to consult an 
 astrologer every seven years, in order that they should be ap- 
 prised of the dangers which might threaten them during the fol- 
 lowing seven ; and in particular to respect and to use properly 
 the means of the three holy kings, Gold, Frankincense, and 
 Myrrh. M. Pansa, in the year 1470, dedicated to the Council at 
 Leipsic, a book De propaganda vita ; Aureus libellus : in which he 
 strongly advised these gentlemen, above all things, to make 
 known their favorable and unfavorable aspects, and to be on their 
 guard every seven years, because Saturn, a hostile, malignant 
 planet, ruled at those periods. 
 
12 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 and some even which, by a particular mixture of dif- 
 ferent metals, and the peculiar art employed in melting 
 them, acquired the wonderful power of destroying the 
 whole influence of an unlucky nativity ; of advancing 
 to offices of dignity, and of rendering the most essential 
 service in regard to commerce or marriage. Was Mars 
 imprinted on a talisman in the sign Scorpio, and had it 
 been cast under that constellation, it rendered the per- 
 son who wore it invincible and invulnerable ; and the 
 German soldiers were so prepossessed with this idea, 
 that, as a French writer informs us, after a defeat which 
 they sustained in France,, amulets were found hanging 
 from the necks of all the killed and prisoners. The 
 image of the planet-deity must not, however, for the 
 above purpose, have an antique, but a mystic and ro- 
 mantic figure and dress. For jovial diseases one had 
 a talisman with the figure of Jupiter, which bore a per- 
 fect resemblance to an old professor of Wittenberg or 
 Basle. He was represented like a man with a beard, 
 in a wide gown lined with fur, holding in the one hand 
 an open book, and demonstrating with the right. I 
 should not have dwelt so long on the present subject, 
 had not this conceit of the last century been again 
 revived a few years ago by Cagliostro, and found par- 
 tisans here and there towards the end of the eighteenth. 
 The more ridiculous and abstruse these conceptions 
 were, the more respectable must be the memory of a 
 man who could fortunately rise superior to them, and 
 discover the art of prolonging life by pursuing the path 
 of temperance and of nature. Cornaro, who by the 
 simplest and strictest regimen, and an unexampled per- 
 severance in his plan, attained happily to a great age, 
 
THE DIETETIC METHOD. 13 
 
 which rewarded him richly for his self-denial, and gave 
 an instructive lesson to posterity, was an Italian. One 
 cannot read the history of the life and abstinence of this 
 veteran of eighty-three, and hear how he praises that 
 serenity and contentment for which he was indebted to 
 his mode of living, without participating in his happi- 
 ness and his cheerful sensations. Till the fortieth year 
 of his age he had led a life of dissipation ; had been 
 always subject to colics, pains in his limbs, and a 
 fever ; and was so far reduced by the last, that his phy- 
 sicians assured him he could not live above two months ; 
 that all medicine would be useless ; and that the only 
 thing which could be recommended for him was a spare 
 diet. Having followed this advice, he found, after some 
 days, that he was much better ; and at the end of a few 
 years his health was not only perfectly reestablished, 
 but he became sounder than ever he had been befcre. 
 He resolved, therefore, to restrain himself more and 
 more, and to use nothing except what was absolutely 
 necessary for his subsistence. For sixty whole years 
 he took no more than twelve ounces of food, every thing 
 included, and thirteen ounces of drink daily. He 
 avoided also violent heat and cold, as well as passion ; 
 and by this uniform regimen he kept not only his body 
 but also his mind in such a state of equality that noth- 
 ing was able to derange them. When at a great age, 
 he lost an important lawsuit ; and though this disap- 
 pointment hurried two of his brothers to the grave, he 
 remained perfectly sound and resigned. He was once 
 thrown from a carriage and trod under the feet of the 
 horses, so that an arm and one of his feet were dislocated ; 
 
14 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 but he caused them to be reduced, and, without the use 
 of any medicine, was soon restored to his former condi- 
 tion. But what is most worthy of remark, and what 
 proves how dangerous the smallest deviation from long 
 custom may be, is what follows. When he was eighty 
 years of age, his friends prevailed upon him, as his body 
 now required more nourishment, to make a little ad- 
 dition to his food. Though well aware that with the 
 general decay of strength the powers of digestion de- 
 crease also, and that in old age one Ought rather to les- 
 sen than increase the quantity of nourishment, he gave 
 way to their request, and raised his food to fourteen 
 and his drink to sixteen ounces. " Scarcely," says he, 
 " had I continued this mode of living ten days, when I 
 began, instead of being cheerful and lively as before, to 
 become uneasy and dejected, a burden to myself and to 
 others. On the twelfth day, I was seized with a pain 
 in my side, which lasted twenty-four hours ; and this 
 was followed by a fever, which continued with so much 
 violence for thirty-five days, that my life was despaired 
 of. But, by the blessing of God, and my former regi- 
 men, I recovered ; and now, in my eighty-third year, I 
 enjoy a happy state both of body and mind. I can 
 mount my horse without assistance; I climb steep hills ; 
 and I have lately written a play abounding in innocent 
 wit and humor. When I return home from a private 
 comp'any, or the senate, I find eleven grandchildren, 
 whose education, amusements, and songs are the delight 
 of my old age. I often sing myself along with them, 
 for my voice is now clearer and stronger than ever it was 
 in my youth ; and I am a stranger to those peevish and 
 
METHOD BY TRANSFUSION. 15 
 
 morose humors which fall so often to the lot of old age." 
 In this happy disposition he attained to his hundredth 
 year ; but his example has never been imitated.* 
 
 There was a period when people in France seemed 
 to be so little acquainted with the value of blood, that 
 Louis XIII., in the last ten months of his life, was bled 
 forty-seven times ; and besides, he was made to take 
 two hundred and fifteen purgatives, and to use a glyster 
 two hundred and ten times. Soon after, attempts were 
 made, by a process directly contrary, that of filling the 
 veins with fresh youthful blood, to invigorate and pro- 
 long the life of man, and to remove incurable disorders- 
 This method was called transfusion : and the operation 
 was performed by opening two veins, and, by means of 
 a small pipe, conveying blood from the artery of an- 
 other living creature into the one vein, whilst the blood 
 was suffered to flow off through the other. Some success- 
 ful experiments of this kind had been made in England 
 upon animals ; and it is certain that some old, lame 
 beasts, sheep, calves, and horses, by filling their bodies 
 with the blood of a young animal, had acquired, at 
 least, after some time, sufficient activity and vigor ; nay,, 
 attempts were even made to inspire courage into tim- 
 orous animals by the blood of some wild and ferocious- 
 one. Encouraged by these experiments, people did not 
 hesitate to try if they could not restore men by the same 
 means. Dr. Denys and M. Emerez, at Paris, were in- 
 deed so fortunate as to cure a young man who labored 
 under a lethargy which had resisted all the power of 
 
 * I would earnestly advise people, before they begin this regi- 
 men in the strictest sense, to consult their physican ; for abstinence 
 carried so far will not be salutary to every one. 
 
16 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 medicine, and during which he had been blooded twenty 
 times, by filling his veins with the blood of a lamb ; and 
 likewise a lunatic, by exchanging his blood for that of 
 a calf. But as only the most incurable and wretched 
 of mankind were chosen for these experiments, it soon 
 happened that some of them died during the operation ; 
 and since that time no one has ventured to try it.* It 
 has, however, been practised on animals here, at Jena, 
 with great success : and indeed it ought not to be en- 
 lirely rejected ; for, though the strange blood introduced 
 into our bodies must be soon converted into our own, 
 and much, consequently, cannot be hoped from it in re- 
 
 * Transfusion has now become a standard and most important 
 (Operation, and has been the means of saving many lives. It is 
 applied in cases of extreme loss of blood, wherein every other 
 proceeding but that of the restoration of the lost blood must 
 necessarily fail. The first idea of transfusion dates back to the 
 early part of the seventeenth century, and is mentioned in 1615, 
 by Andreas Libavius, in a work on the Transmutation of Metals. 
 In England, the operation was performed on animals, by Dr. 
 Lower and Mr. Edmund King, in the year 1666, and later in the 
 same year, after the news of Denys's success on the human sub- 
 ject. * Dr. Denys and M. Emerez were the first to apply transfu- 
 sion to man, and their first success was very wonderful; the 
 results, however, proved unsatisfactory, and the operation was 
 prohibited by parliament. Dr. Riva met with a like want of suc- 
 cess in Italy, and the operation was prohibited by an edict of the 
 Pope. It WAS reserved for Dr. Blundell to discover the secret of 
 its failure, and revive transfusion in this country; he pointed out 
 the impropriety of conveying the blood of animals into the human 
 system, and was the first to employ human blood for the purpose. 
 By paying attention to this rule, and the invention of suitable 
 apparatus, the operation may now be deemed perfectly safe ; a 
 result for which we are indebted to Dr. James Blundell, Dr. 
 Charles Waller, and Mr. Doubleday. EDITOR. 
 
METHOD OF LORD BACON. 17 
 
 gard to renewing and prolonging life, the sudden and 
 unaccustomed impression made by new blood upon the 
 noblest of the vital organs, may still, in certain disor- 
 ders, particularly of the mind and nervous system, pro- 
 duce a great and salutary revolution. 
 
 The great Bacon, whose genius embraced every 
 branch of science, and who first pointed out to the hu- 
 man mind, which had long wandered amidst error, the 
 path to conduct it back to truth, this great man himself 
 thought the question respecting the prolongation of life 
 worthy of his attention and researches. His ideas on 
 this subject are bold and new. He considers life as a 
 flame, which is continually consumed by the surround- 
 ing atmosphere. Every body, even^the hardest, is by 
 this incessant evaporation decomposed and destroyed. 
 He thence concludes, that, by guarding against th's 
 consumption, and by renewing our juices from time to 
 time, life may be prolonged. For preventing external 
 consumption, he recommends in particular the cold 
 bath, and after bathing, that friction with oil and oint- 
 ments which was so much practised by the ancients. 
 To lessen internal consumption, he prescribes tranquil- 
 lity of mind, cooling food, with the use of opium and 
 opiates,* by which the too great vivacity of the internal 
 emotions will be moderated, and the wasting connected 
 
 * I trust that none of the readers of this book will be tempted 
 to make vise of opium or opiates, upon this prescription of 
 Bacon. That philosopher must have reasoned upon the theo- 
 retical properties of opiates as sedatives ; but practical observa- 
 tion proves them to be stimulants, and consequently means 
 which tend to increase " internal consumption " very powerfully. 
 The habitual use of opium and opiates would certainly have the 
 effect of shortening rather than of lengthening life. EDITOR. 
 2 
 
18 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 with them will be retarded. But, to remedy the una- 
 voidable desiccation and corruption of the juices, the 
 attendant of increasing years, he considers the best 
 method to be to undergo every two or three years a 
 renovating process, which consists in first freeing the 
 body from all the old and corrupted juices, by spare 
 diet and cathartics ; and then again filling the dry ves- 
 sels with new juices, by means of choice refreshing 
 and nourishing food ; and thus, in the properest sense, 
 to renew and invigorate one's self periodically. The 
 truth contained in these ideas cannot be denied ; and, 
 with some modification, these precepts might at all 
 times be employed. 
 
 At present, men have made more progress in the 
 arts that shorten life than in that of prolonging it. 
 Abundance of quacks have appeared, and still appear, 
 who with astralish salts, gold tinctures, ethereal essences, 
 celestial beds, and the magic of magnetism, promise 
 to arrest the course of nature. It was, however, soon 
 found that the celebrated tea of long life, of the Count 
 de St. Germain, was only a very vulgar mixture of 
 sandal-wood, senna leaves, and fennel ; that the elixir 
 of life, so much boasted of by Cagliostro, was merely a 
 simple but very hot stomachic ; that the wonderful vir- 
 tue of magnetism depended on the combined effects of 
 imagination, nervous irritation, and sensibility; and 
 that the vaunted ethereal salts and gold tinctures con- 
 tributed more to benefit their inventor, than to prolong 
 the lives of those who employed them. 
 
 The phenomenon of magnetism deserves in a par- 
 ticular manner not to be omitted in this catalogue. 
 Mesmer, an enthusiastic physician, who becoming a 
 
METHOD BY MAGNETISM. 19 
 
 bankrupt had fallen into contempt, and who, in all 
 probability, was not so much assisted by invisible pow- 
 ers as encouraged by negligent magistrates, at length 
 conceived the idea of making artificial magnets, which 
 he sold as a sovereign remedy for many diseases, such 
 as lameness, the gout, toothache, headache, etc. As he 
 found that this plan succeeded, he advanced a step 
 further, and asserted that he had no more occasion for 
 artificial magnets, but that he himself was the grand 
 magnet which should magnetize the world. His own 
 person, he pretended, was so filled with magnetic vir- 
 tue, that he could communicate it to another by the 
 touch, by stretching out his finger, and even by a single 
 look. He, indeed, produced instances of people, who, 
 being touched by him, or even looked at, declared they 
 had experienced sensations as if they had been struck 
 with a stick, or a piece of iron. This singular virtue 
 he called animal magnetism ; and he connected with 
 that strange appellation whatever is dearest to man, 
 life, wisdom, and health; which by these means he 
 could dispense and diffuse at his pleasure. 
 
 As he was not long permitted to propagate his en- 
 thusiasm at Vienna, he removed to Paris ; and it was 
 there that he first properly began to exhibit. He had 
 astonishing success ; every one wished to be cured by 
 him ; and all were desirous of participating in his virtue, 
 and of being able to perform miracles also. He estab- 
 lished a secret society, every member of which was 
 obliged to subscribe 100 louis d'ors ; and he at length 
 boldly declared that he was the man whom Providence 
 had chosen for the grand business of renovating human 
 nature, so visibly decayed. As a proof of what has 
 
20 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 been here said, I shall lay before the reader only the 
 following address, which he caused to be made to the 
 public by one of his apostles : " Behold a discovery 
 which will bring invaluable advantages to mankind, 
 and eternal fame to its author ! Behold a general 
 revolution ! Other men will inhabit the- earth ; they 
 will be checked in their career of life by no weakness ; 
 and will be acquainted with our evils only by tradition ! 
 Mothers will suffer less from the dangers of pregnancy 
 and the pains of childbirth ; and they will bring forth 
 stronger children, who will possess the activity, energy, 
 and courage of the old world. Animals and plants, 
 alike susceptible of . the magnetic virtue, will be free 
 from diseases ; flocks will more easily increase ; the 
 productions in our gardens will have more vigor ; the 
 trees will produce more beautiful fruit ; and the human 
 mind, in possession of this agent, will perhaps present 
 to Nature effects still more wonderful. Who can know 
 how far its influence may extend?" 
 
 One might imagine that one here read some of those 
 dreams of the middle ages ; but all these pompous 
 promises, and the prospects which they gave rise to, 
 instantly vanished, when a commission, at the head of 
 which was Dr. Franklin, had closely examined the 
 agency of this magnetism. The veil was withdrawn, 
 and nothing has remained of the whole deception ex- 
 cept animal electricity, and the conviction that it can 
 be put in activity by handling and stroking the body 
 various ways ; but it is certain that, without the help of 
 nervous weakness and enthusiasm, it will never produce 
 these wonderful phenomena, and that it is still less able 
 to prolong the life of man. 
 
ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 21 
 
 It almost appears that mankind wish now to abandon 
 these ideas entirely to quacks, especially as the more 
 enlightened part make amends for the failure of this in- 
 vention, by having found that length of life does not 
 consist in number of days, but in the use and enjoyment 
 of it. 
 
 But as it is impossible that the one can make up for 
 the other, and as at present our acquaintance with the 
 nature of organized life, and the laws to which it is sub- 
 jected, has been enlarged and carried to greater perfec- 
 tion, it is worth while to employ this improved knowledge 
 in examining a matter of so much importance, and to 
 establish the method of prolonging life in such a manner, 
 on the principles of physics and animal economy, that 
 not only a more definite rule of life may be thence de- 
 duced, but also that this object in future may be ren- 
 dered of no use to quacks and impostors, who, as is well 
 known, can carry on their deceptions within the pre- 
 cincts of science only so long as they are not enlightened 
 by the torch of accurate investigation. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 Inquiry into the nature of the vital power and the duration of life 
 in general. Properties and laws of the vital power. Definition of 
 life. Vital consumption inseparable consequence of vital opera- 
 tion. Term of life. Causes of the duration of life. Eetardation 
 of vital consumption. Possibility of prolonging life. Intensive and 
 extensive life. Sleep. 
 
 THE first thing necessary in regard to the prolonga- 
 tion of life must undoubtedly be a more intimate ac- 
 quaintance with the nature of life, and in particular with 
 the vital power, the grand cause of all life. 
 
 May it not be possible, therefore, to investigate more 
 accurately the internal nature of that sacred flame, and 
 thence to discover by what it can be nourished, and by 
 what it is weakened ? I am perfectly sensible of the 
 boldness of this undertaking. I approach the sanctum 
 sanctorum of Nature ; and we have too many instances 
 of daring adventurers, who, blinded in such attempts, 
 were obliged to turn back with confusion ; and Hallcr 
 himself, her most intimate confidant, was forced to ex- 
 claim : 
 
 No mortal being, howe'er keen his eye, 
 Can into Nature's deepest secrets pry. 
 
 This, however, ought not* to deter us. Nature is, at 
 all times, a kind mother ; she loves and rewards those 
 who seek for her ; and though it may not always be 
 
NATURE OF THE VITAL POWER. 23 
 
 possible for us to reach the perhaps too exalted object 
 of our aim, we may, nevertheless, be certain to find, by 
 the way, so much new and interesting matter as will 
 amply reward us for attempting to approach nearer to 
 her. Let us only beware of forcing ourselves upon her 
 with too rash and precipitate steps; let our minds be 
 unprejudiced and open to conviction ; let our progress 
 be cautious ; let us ever be attentive to guard against 
 deception and phantoms of the mind ; and let our path, 
 if not the most convenient, be the certain path of expe- 
 rience and of regular proof; and let us shun the bolder 
 flights of hypothesis, which, in the end, generally prove 
 to the world that the wings which supported them were 
 cemented with wax. In this path we shall, with the 
 greatest certainty, avoid the fate of those philosophers 
 of whom Bacon says, with much justice, " They a.'e 
 night-owls, who see their visions in darkness, but be- 
 come blind in tlie light of experience ; and who per- 
 ceive least that which is clearest." By this path, and 
 with such a disposition of mind, the friends of Nature, 
 since the time of that great man, have approached 
 nearer to her than any one ever did before ; discoveries 
 have been made respecting her most hidden secrets ; 
 and her most concealed powers have been applied to 
 purposes which astonish the present age, and which will 
 still excite the wonder of posterity. By these means it 
 has been possible, through indefatigable research, even 
 without knowing the internal nature of things, to de- 
 termine and estimate her powers and properties so ac- 
 curately that we at least have a practical knowledge of 
 them, and can employ them for the uses of life. The 
 mind of man has thus been able to subdue even un- 
 
24 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 known agents ; to direct them according to pleasure, 
 and render them of utility. The magnetic and the 
 electric power are agents which both elude our senses, 
 and whose nature will, perhaps, remain eternally un- 
 searchable ; yet we have rendered them so serviceable 
 to us, that by the one we can direct our course through 
 the ocean, and with the other kindle our night-lamp 
 while in bed. 
 
 I also, perhaps, shall be able to approach nearer to 
 Nature in the present research ; and I flatter myself 
 that the following method of treating my subject will be 
 the most proper to enable me to attain the object I have 
 in view : first, to define more accurately what is meant 
 by life and the vital power, and also to establish their 
 properties : next, to consult Nature respecting the dura- 
 tion of life in general, and that of different organized 
 bodies in particular ; to collect and compare examples ; 
 and, from the circumstances and situations in which the 
 life of a created being has a longer or shorter duration, 
 to draw a general conclusion in regard to the most prob- 
 able causes of the shortness or long duration of exist- 
 ence. After these premises, a more rational and satis- 
 factory answer may be given to the question, Whether 
 and in what manner the life of man can be prolonged ? 
 
 What is life ? and what is the vital power ? These 
 questions may be classed among many of the like kind 
 which occur to us during our researches into Nature.. 
 They appear simple ; relate to the most common phe- 
 nomena; and are, however, difficult to be answered. 
 Wherever the philosopher uses the word Power, one 
 may always be assured that he labors under a difficulty, 
 since he explains a thing by a word which is itself a 
 
NATURE OP THE VITAL POWER. 25 
 
 problem ; for, who has ever yet combined a clear idea 
 with the word Power ? In this manner has been intro- 
 duced into physics an infinite variety of powers: the 
 power of gravity, the power of attraction, the electric 
 power, the magnetic power, which, at bottom, signify 
 nothing more than the letter that expresses the unknown 
 quantity in algebra. We must, however, have expres- 
 sions for things whose existence is undeniable, though 
 their agency be incomprehensible ; and I hope I shall 
 be here permitted to use them, though it is not yet de- 
 termined whether what I treat of be really matter, or 
 only a property of it. 
 
 The vital power is, without dispute, one of the most 
 general, the most incomprehensible, and the most pow- 
 erful of all the powers of Nature. It fills and gives mo- 
 tion to every thing ; and, in all probability, is the graid 
 source from which all the other powers of the physical, 
 or at least the organized world proceed. It is that 
 which produces, supports, and renews every thing ; by it 
 the creation, after so many thousands of years, revives 
 every spring with the same freshness and beauty as 
 when it first came from the hand of its Maker. It is 
 inexhaustible and infinite, a real eternal emanation of 
 the Deity. In short, it is this which, purified and 
 exalted by a more perfect organization, kindles up the 
 powers of thought and of the soul ; and which gives to 
 rational beings, together with life, the sensation and 
 enjoyment of it. For I have remarked, that the sensa- 
 tion of the value and felicity of life is always very near- 
 ly proportioned to the greater or less abundance of the 
 vital power ; and that, as a certain overflow of it makes 
 one more capable of action and exertion, and of relish- 
 
26 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 ing life, nothing is so capable as a want of it to produce 
 that misery and dejection which unfortunately distin- 
 guish the present age so much. 
 
 By accurate observation of its phenomena in the or- 
 ganized world, the following properties and laws of it 
 may be established : 
 
 1st. The vital power is the most subtle, the most pen- 
 etrating, and the most invisible agent of Nature, with 
 which we are as yet acquainted. In these respects it 
 exceeds light, electricity, and magnetism, to which, how- 
 ever, it seems to have the closest affinity. 
 
 2nd. Though it pervades every thing, there are cer- 
 tain modifications of matter to which it appears to have 
 greater relationship than to others. It unites, therefore, 
 with these in greater abundance, as well as in a more 
 intimate manner, and becomes, as it were, peculiar to 
 them. This modification of matter we call organic com- 
 bination, and structure of component parts ; and the 
 bodies which possess them we call organized bodies, 
 plants and animals. This organic structure seems to 
 consist in a certain disposition of the finest particles, and 
 we here find a remarkable similarity of the vital power 
 to that of magnetism ; as the latter, by a stroke given to 
 a piece of iron, in a certain direction, and which alters 
 the internal disposition of the finest component parts, is 
 immediately excited, and may be again destroyed by a 
 contrary derangement. That, at any rate, the organic 
 structure does not lie in the visible tissue or web, may 
 be seen in an egg, in which no traces of organized life 
 can be found, though it is certain that it there exists. 
 
 3rd. It can exist both in a free and a fixed state ; and 
 in this it has a great resemblance to fire and electricity. 
 
NATURE OF THE VITAL POWER. 27 
 
 As these may reside in a body without manifesting them- 
 selves externally until they are called forth by a suita- 
 ble stimulus, the vital power, in like manner, may long 
 reside in a fixed state, in an organized body, without in- 
 dicating itself in any other way than by supporting and 
 preserving itself from dissolution. Of this we have 
 some astonishing instances. A grain of corn can retain 
 life in a fixed state for years, and an egg several months : 
 it neither evaporates nor corrupts ; and the stimulus of 
 heat alone can disengage the confined power, and call 
 forth the expansive principle of life. Nay, the already 
 expanding organic life can in this manner be again 
 checked and confined, yet exist some time in that state, 
 and preserve the organization intrusted to it, of which 
 the polypes and animal plants in particular afford us 
 the most remarkable instances. 
 
 4th. As it seems to have a different affinity to differ- 
 ent organized bodies, and abound more in some and less 
 in others, its union with some is likewise stronger, and 
 with others weaker. And it is worthy of remark, that, 
 where it abounds in the greatest quantity and perfection, 
 it seems there to be more loosely combined. To the 
 imperfect, weak-lived polype, for example, it adheres 
 with more force than to a more perfect animal in a 
 higher degree of existence. For the present inquiry 
 this observation is of the utmost importance. 
 
 5th. It gives to every body which it pervades an en-, 
 tirely new character, a specific superiority to other parts 
 of the corporeal world. In the first ' place, it renders 
 them susceptible of impressions as a stimulus, and 
 makes them capable of reaction ; and, secondly, it frees 
 them from the general physical and chemical laws of 
 
28 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 inanimate nature : so that one may with propriety say, 
 by the assistance of the vital power a body is trans- 
 ferred from the mechanical and chemical world to a 
 new one, the organic or living world. Here the gen- 
 eral physical laws of Nature have place only in part, 
 and with certain limitations. All impressions in a liv- 
 ing body are modified and counteracted in a manner dif- 
 ferent from what they are in an inanimate body. In a 
 living body, therefore, no process merely mechanical or 
 chemical is possible ; and every thing assumes the char- 
 acter of life. A blow, or any stimulus, cold and heat, 
 act in a living body according to laws altogether pecu- 
 liar ; and in every effect thence produced must be consid- 
 ered as compounded of the external impression and the 
 reaction of the vital power. 
 
 In this lie the grounds of the peculiarity of different 
 species, and even of different individuals. We observe 
 daily that plants which grow near each other in the 
 same soil, and which receive the very same nour- 
 ishment, are widely different in their form, sap, and 
 properties. This is the case also in the animal king- 
 dom ; and hence the common expression, " every one 
 has his own peculiar nature." 
 
 6th. The vital power is the principal support of the 
 body in which it resides. It not only binds and keeps 
 together the whole organization, but it counteracts also, 
 very strongly, the destructive influence of the other 
 powers of Nature, so far as they depend on chemical 
 laws, which it is able to annihilate, or at least to mod- 
 ify. Among these, I reckon, in particular, the effects 
 of putrefaction, of the atmosphere, and of frost. No 
 living being putrefies ; a previous weakening or annihi- 
 
NATURE OF THE VITAL POWER. 29 
 
 lation of the vital power is always necessary in order 
 to render corruption possible. Even in a fixed and 
 inactive state, it is able to keep off corruption. No- 
 egg, so long as it contains the vital power ; no grain of 
 corn, no silk worm inclosed in its cocoon, no insect ap- 
 parently dead, corrupts ; and it is truly astonishing how 
 it can preserve bodies which have such a strong ten- 
 dency to putrefaction as that of man has,, for sixty,, 
 eighty, or a hundred years. By its binding property it 
 withstands the power of the atmosphere, the second 
 cause of destruction, which, in the end, dissolves the- 
 hardest bodies, and makes them fall to pieces. In like 
 manner, the dangerous excitation of the particles of fire 
 keeps off frost. No living body freezes ; that is to say, 
 so long as its vital power is in activity, frost cannot 
 destroy it. Amidst the ice mountains of the South and 
 North pole, where all Nature appears to be in a state 
 of torpor, one sees living creatures, and even men, who 
 are not affected by the general congelation.* This 
 property of the vital power seems not confined merely 
 to its active, but belong also to its fixed state. An 
 egg, or a grain of corn, possessed of life, freezes much 
 later than one that is dead. The bear passes the whole 
 winter half torpid, among the snow; the apparently 
 dead swallow and the pupa? of insects continue under 
 the ice without being frozen. When the frost increases 
 
 * The galantlms nivalis, snowdrop, pushes itself from the frozen 
 earth through the snow, and its flower remains unhurt, notwith- 
 standing the severe night frosts. Mr. Hunter caused fish to be 
 frozen into water. As long as they lived, the water, though 
 congealed everywhere else, remained around them fluid, and 
 formed a real hole ; but as soon as they died, that part froze up 
 also. 
 
30 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 so much as to weaken or oppress the vital power, it can 
 then, only, overcome it, and penetrate a living body. 
 This phenomenon depends in particular on that prop- 
 erty which the vital power possesses, of exciting warmth ; 
 as we shall see hereafter. 
 
 7th. A total loss of the vital power is attended with 
 a dissolution of the organized structure of the body 
 which it before filled. The matter of the body obeys 
 the laws and affinities of inanimate chemical nature, to 
 which it now belongs; its first principles are divided 
 and separated ; and corruption, under the usual circum- 
 stances, follows; which can alone convince us that a 
 body has been totally deprived of the vital power. But 
 it is a great and striking observation that corruption 
 itself, which seems to annihilate all life, must be the 
 means of calling forth new life again ; and that it is 
 properly nothing else than a highly important process 
 to disengage in the speediest manner the component 
 parts, no longer susceptible of life under that form, and 
 to make them fit for new organic combination and life. 
 No sooner is a body thus decomposed than its fine par- 
 ticles begin to be again animated in a thousand small 
 worms, or to display their revival under the figure of 
 beautiful grass : the most vivid flowers recommence, in 
 this manner, the great circle of organic life ; and, by a 
 few changes, become a year after component parts per- 
 haps of as perfect a human being as that with which 
 they appeared to corrupt. Their apparent death was 
 only a transition to a new life ; and the vital power 
 leaves a body only that it may unite itself again with 
 it in a more perfect manner. 
 
 8th. The vital power may be weakened, and even 
 
NATURE OF THE VITAL POWER. 31 
 
 totally destroyed, by certain causes ; and by others can 
 be excited, strengthened, and nourished. Among those 
 which destroy it may be reckoned in particular cold, the 
 great enemy of all life. A moderate degree of cold, 
 however, can be so far strengthening, as it concentrates 
 the vital power and prevents its consumption : but this 
 strengthening is negative, not positive ; and a higher de- 
 gree of cold banishes it entirely. In cold, no vital 
 expansion can take place ; no egg can be hatched ; no 
 grain of corn shoot forth. 
 
 To these also belong certain derangements which 
 seem to have effect partly by annihilating the vital 
 power, and partly by a destructive alteration of the in- 
 ternal organized disposition of the particles. Thus a 
 violent electric shock, or lightning, deprives -plants and 
 animals of life, instantaneously, without leaving the 
 least trace of their having injured the organs ; and thus 
 among more perfect beings in particular, may the vital 
 power be destroyed, in a moment, by violent agitations 
 of the mind, such as sudden fear or joy. 
 
 Lastly, there are certain physical powers which are 
 highly capable of weakening and even of annihilating 
 it ; and these, therefore, we commonly call poisons : as, 
 for example, the smallpox infection, laurel water, the 
 essential oil of bitter almonds, etc. 
 
 But there are agents also of a contrary kind, which 
 have a friendship for, and an affinity to, the vital power ; 
 and which are capable of exciting, invigorating, and, in 
 great probability, of affording it a subtle nourishment. 
 These, in particular, are, light, heat, and air, or rather 
 oxygen, three celestial gifts, which, with great pro- 
 priety, may be called the friends and guardian spirits 
 of life. 
 
32 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 LIGHT, the first of these, is, without doubt, the most 
 intimate friend and relation of life ; and, in this respect, 
 has certainly a much more essential effect than is com- 
 monly believed. The life of every created being is the 
 more perfect the more it enjoys the influence of light. 
 Let a plant or an animal be deprived of light, notwith- 
 standing every nourishment, care, and cultivation, it will 
 first lose its color, then its strength, and at last entirely 
 decay. Even man, who passes his life in darkness, be- 
 comes pale, relaxed, and heavy, and at length loses the 
 whole energy of life ; as is proved by the many melan- 
 choly instances of persons shut up in gloomy dungeons. 
 Nay, I do not think I say too much when I assert, that 
 organized life is possible only under the influence of 
 light, and in all probability through it ; for in the bowels 
 of the earth, in the deepest caverns, where eternal night 
 prevails, nothing is seen but what we call unorganized 
 life. There nothing breathes, there nothing feels ; and 
 the only productions which one finds are a few kinds of 
 mould and stone moss, the first most imperfect degree 
 of vegetation. For that reason, this vegetation, for the 
 most part, shows itself only on old or rotten wood. The 
 expansion of organized life must, therefore, be here ex- 
 cited by wood and water, or by that putrefaction which 
 generates life, and which in those abysses does not exist. 
 
 The second, no less beneficent friend of the vital 
 power, is HEAT, which is alone able to call forth the 
 first movements of life. When winter has reduced all 
 nature to a deathlike condition, let the genial warmth 
 of the spring atmosphere only breathe upon it, and all 
 its dormant powers are awakened to activity. The 
 nearer we approach the poles, every thing becomes 
 
LIGHT AND HEAT. 33 
 
 deader, and we at length find districts where absolutely 
 no plant, insect, or small animal can exist, and where 
 only large masses of being, such as whales, bears, and 
 the like, can retain that warmth necessary for life. In 
 a word, where there is life there is heat, in a greater or 
 less degree ; and between both there is a very impor- 
 tant and inseparable connection. Warmth gives life, 
 and life again excites warmth ; and it seems difficult to 
 determine which is the cause, and which the effect. 
 
 Of the extraordinary power which heat has to nour- 
 ish and awaken life, the following entirely new and de- 
 cisive instance deserves to be mentioned. On the 2nd 
 of August, 1790, a carabinier, named Petit, threw him- 
 self, entirely naked, into the Rhine, from a window of 
 the military hospital at Strasburg. This circumstance 
 was observed about three o'clock in the afternoon ; and 
 the body remained above half an hour in the water be- 
 fore it was drawn out, to all appearance perfectly dead. 
 It was placed in a bed thoroughly warmed, with the 
 head raised up, the arms stretched out close to it on 
 each side, and the legs laid together. No other process 
 was employed than the application of warm cloths to 
 the stomach and legs. Warm stones, also, wrapped up 
 in cloth, were placed in different parts of the bed. In 
 the course of seven or eight minutes a small motion was 
 observed in the eyelids. A little while after, the under 
 jaw, which had been fast locked to the. upper one, be- 
 came loose ; the patient foamed at the mouth, and he 
 was able to swallow a few spoonfuls of wine. His pulse 
 now returned, #nd at the end of an hour he was able to 
 speak. Warmth, in cases of apparent death, acts evi- 
 dently with as much power as on the first expansion of 
 3 
 
34 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 life : it nourishes the smallest sparks of the vital princi- 
 ple still remaining; fans them, and gradually rouses 
 them into a flame. 
 
 The third important nourisher of life is AIR. We find 
 no being that can live entirely without air ; and sud- 
 den, sometimes instantaneous, death is to most of them 
 the consequence of its being withdrawn. What makes 
 its influence highly visible is, that those animals which 
 breathe are more abundant in the vital power, and pos- 
 sess it in greater perfection, than those which do not 
 breathe. Dephlogisticated or empyreal air appears, 
 principally, to be that component part of our atmos- 
 phere which affords the strongest and best nourishment 
 to the vital power ; and in the present age, since the 
 wonder-working art of chemistry has taught us to pro- 
 duce it pure, people, on inspiring it, have experienced a 
 general sensation of strengthening and invigoration. 
 The grand principle of this empyreal or vital air is by 
 chemists called oxygen ; and this component part is that 
 properly which in the air which contains life, and passes 
 into the blood by breathing. Water, also, belongs to 
 the agents friendly to life, so far as it contains oxygen ; 
 and |t certainly promotes life, for without fluidity no ex- 
 pansion of life is possible. 
 
 I think I may with justice, therefore, assert, that 
 light, heat, and oxygen are the real proper nourishment 
 and sustenance .of the vital power. Grosser kinds of 
 nourishment, setting aside the quantity of oxygen and 
 empyreal matter which they contain, seem to serve 
 rather for supporting the organs and rep.airing the con- 
 sumption. Were not this the case, one could not ex- 
 plain how created beings can maintain life so long with- 
 
PROLONGED ABSTINENCE. 35 
 
 out nourishment. Let us only consider the chicken in 
 an egg. It lives without the smallest external support ; 
 expands itself, and becomes a perfect animal. A hya- 
 cinth, or any other bulbous plant, can, without the least 
 nourishment except the evaporation of water ex- 
 pand and shoot forth a stem crowned with beautiful 
 leaves and flowers. Even among more perfect animals 
 we observe phenomena which would otherwise be inex- 
 plicable. Dr. George Fordyce, for example, inclosed 
 gold fish in vessels filled with well-water ; gave them at 
 first fresh water every twenty-four hours, but afterwards 
 only every three days ; and yet they lived fifteen months 
 without any nourishment, and, what is more wonderful, 
 became twice as big. But, as it might have been be- 
 lieved that the water contained a multitude of invisible 
 nutritive particles, he distilled it ; added air to it again ; 
 and, to prevent the introduction of insects, closed up 
 the vessels with great care. Notwithstanding all this, 
 the fish lived a long time, increased in size, and had ex- 
 cretions. How is it possible that man himself could 
 endure hunger so long and yet retain life, if the nutri- 
 ment of the vital power were necessarily derived from 
 the substances by which he is nourished ? A French 
 officer, after a tedious and severe illness, was seized 
 with a mental disorder, during which he resolved to 
 starve himself to death ; and he continued so firm to his 
 purpose that, for the space of forty-six days he did not 
 take the smallest grain of food. On the fifth day he 
 asked only for some distilled water ; and as half a pint 
 of anise-seed water was given to him, he used the whole 
 of it in three days. His friends, however, having rep- 
 resented to him that this quantity was too much, he put 
 
36 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 into each glass of water that he drank no more than 
 three drops ; and in this manner his half-pint lasted till 
 the thirty -ninth day. He then gave over drinking, and 
 for the last eight days took nothing at all. After the 
 thirty-sixth day he was obliged to lie in bed ; and it is 
 remarkable that this man, extremely clean in other re- 
 spects, exhaled during the whole time of his fasting, a 
 very offensive smell, in consequence of the interrupted 
 renovation of his juices, and the corruption attending 
 it ; and that his eyes became weak. All advice proved 
 ineffectual, and his friends gave him up as lost, when 
 the voice of Nature was suddenly awakened within him 
 by an accident. He saw a child with a piece of bread 
 and butter enter the apartment where he was. This 
 sight excited his appetite so much at once that he begged 
 for some soup. A few spoonfuls of rice broth were now 
 given him every two hours ; some stronger food was 
 gradually added ; and his health, though slowly, was in 
 this manner again wholly restored. But it is very sin- 
 gular that while he fasted and was weak, his phrensy 
 and wild imaginations forsook him, and that he answered 
 when addressed by his usual name ; but as soon as he 
 had acquired strength by eating, his whole train of in- 
 coherent ideas again returned.* 
 
 9th. There is still a cause which tends to weaken and 
 diminish the vital power, and which lies in itself, namely, 
 the loss it sustains by exerting its strength. By every 
 exertion it loses some of its force ; and when these ex- 
 ertions are too violent, or continued without intermis- 
 sion, the consequence is that it may be completely ex- 
 hausted. This is proved by common experience, as we 
 
 * See Hist, de 1'Acade'mie Royale des Sciences. 'An. 1769. 
 
NATURE OP THE VITAL POWER. 37 
 
 find that, after great exertion in walking, thinking, etc., 
 we become fatigued. It is shown still more clearly by 
 the experiments of Galvani, in which, after death, a 
 muscle and nerves, still alive, may be irritated by the 
 application of metal. If this irritation be often and 
 strongly repeated, the power will be sooner exhausted ; 
 but if slowly, it will be exhausted later : and even when 
 it appears to be totally exhausted, one, by intermitting 
 the irritation for some time, can occasion a new accu- 
 mulation of it, and produce fresh exertions. Hence 
 arises a new means of strengthening, namely, rest, or a 
 suspension of exertion, by which indeed the power can 
 be accumulated and increased. 
 
 10th. The most immediate functions of the vital 
 power are not only to receive impressions, such as irri- 
 tation, and to react upon them, but also to change into 
 organized nature the component parts which are added 
 to the body ; that is, to unite them according to the laws 
 of organization, and also to give them that structure and 
 form which the end of organization requires. 
 
 llth. The vital power pervades all the parts of an 
 organized living body, whether fluids or solids ; but it 
 manifests itself in different ways, according to the differ- 
 ence of the organs ; in the nerves, by sensibility ; in the 
 muscles, by irritability, etc. This it does for some time 
 visibly and without interruption, and is what we name 
 generation or growth, until the organized body has at- 
 tained to its destined degree of perfection. This plas- 
 tic, creative power, does not, however, cease to act ; but 
 what was before growth, becomes now constant renova- 
 tion ; and this incessant regeneration is- one of the most 
 important means which support the being. 
 
38 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 These observations on the nature of this wonderful 
 power are sufficient. It will now be easier for us to 
 speak in a more precise manner on the influence 
 which this power has on life ; to explain what life 
 properly is ; and to say something decisive concerning 
 its duration. 
 
 LIFE, in an organized being, means the free active 
 state of the before-mentioned power, and the activity 
 and efficiency of the organs inseparably connected with 
 it. The vital power, therefore, is only capacity ; life 
 itself, action. Every life, consequently, is a continued 
 operation of the efficiency of the power and of organic 
 exertion. A continual consumption of the power and 
 of the organs is necessarily the immediate consequence 
 of this process ; and, on that account, an incessant reno- 
 vation of both is requisite in order that life may be 
 supported. The process of life may then be considered 
 as a continued process of consumption ; and its essence 
 may be defined an uninterrupted wasting and repara- 
 tion of ourselves. Life has been already often com- 
 pared to a flame ; and indeed the operation in both is the 
 same. Destructive and creative powers are engaged, 
 with never-ceasing activity, in a continual struggle 
 within us ; and every moment of our existence is a sin- 
 gular mixture of annihilation and new creation. As 
 long as the vital power retains its freshness and energy, 
 the living plastic powers will have the superiority, aj?d 
 afford it protection in this contest : the body will also 
 increase and approach nearer to perfection. By 
 little and little they will balance each other, and, 
 the consumption becoming equal to the renovation, the 
 body will at length decrease. At last, the vital power 
 
NATURE OP LIFE. 39 
 
 being lessened, and the organs worn out, the consump- 
 tion will begin to exceed the renovation ; and decay, 
 degradation, and, in the end, a total dissolution will un- 
 avoidably follow. This is universally the case. Every 
 created being passes through three periods: that of 
 its growth, that of its being stationary, and that of its 
 decline. 
 
 The duration of life, in general, depends on the fol- 
 lowing points : 
 
 1. On the quantity of the vital power which resides 
 in the being. A greater supply of the vital power will 
 naturally last much longer, and be later consumed, than 
 a smaller. Now we know, from what has been before 
 said, that the vital power has a greater affinity to some 
 bodies, and to others a less ; that it abounds much more 
 in some than in others ; and that many external causes 
 tend to weaken it, and many to nourish it. This, there- 
 fore, gives us the first and most important ground of the 
 difference in the duration of life. 
 
 2. But, besides the vital power, the organs also are 
 consumed and wasted by living ; and, consequently, a 
 total consumption must take place later in a body the 
 organs of which are strong, than in one of a delicate 
 structure more liable to dissolution. Besides, the ope- 
 ration of life itself requires the continual agency of cer- 
 tain organs, which we therefore call the vital organs. 
 If these be diseased, or unfit for use, life cannot continue. 
 A certain firmness of organization, and a proper con- 
 dition of the vital organs, form the second ground on 
 which the duration of life depends. 
 
 3. The process of consumption may be carried on 
 more slowly, or more rapidly ; and, consequently, the 
 
40 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 duration of it, or what we call life, even when the pow- 
 ers and organs are perfectly alike, will be longer or 
 shorter in proportion to the quickness or slowness of the 
 operation; just as a candle lighted at both ends at the 
 same time burns twice as fast as one lighted in the 
 usual manner, or as a light in oxygen gas is consumed 
 ten times faster than one of the same kind in common 
 air, because by that medium the process of consumption 
 is increased and accelerated in a tenfold proportion. 
 This affords the third ground of difference in the dura- 
 tion of life. 
 
 4. As renovation of what is lost and continual regen- 
 eration are the principal means of counteracting the 
 consumption, those bodies which internally and exter- 
 nally have the best means of regenerating themselves 
 with most ease, and in the greatest perfection, will natu- 
 rally be of longer duration than those which are desti- 
 tute of that advantage. 
 
 In short, the duration of life in a being will be pro- 
 portioned to the innate quantity of vital power, the 
 greater or less firmness of its organs, the speedier or 
 slower consumption, and perfect or imperfect restoration. 
 All ideas on the prolongation of life, as well as all the 
 means which have been or may be proposed on that 
 subject, can be brought under these- four classes, and be 
 examined upon these principles. 
 
 From these, several important deductions may be 
 made, and several obscure questions may be answered, 
 of which I shall only mention a few. 
 
 Is the extent of life determined or not ? This question 
 has oft given rise to disputes in which divines and phi- 
 
DURATION OF LIFE. 41 
 
 losophers have been divided, and which have several 
 times brought the medical art into great difficulties. On 
 the above principles, however, it may be easily resolved. 
 Each raqe of beings, as well as each individual, has its 
 term of life as certainly fixed as it has its defined size, 
 and its proper quantity of vital power, strength of 
 organs, and means of consumption or regeneration ; for 
 the duration of life is a consequence of that consump- 
 tion, and can continue no longer than power and organs 
 are able to support it. But this consumption may be 
 hastened or retarded : favorable or unfavorable, destruc- 
 tive or beneficial circumstances may have an influence 
 upon it ; and it thence follows that, notwithstanding the 
 before-mentioned natural determination, the limits of it 
 may be altered. 
 
 A general answer may now be given also to the fcl- 
 lowing question : Is it possible to prolong life ? Un- 
 doubtedly it is ; but not by magical cures or gold tinc- 
 tures ; nor can we hope to increase the quantity and 
 efficacy of the vital power which has been dispensed to 
 us, or to alter the whole determination of Nature. 
 Whatever is done must be effected by proper attention 
 to the above four points, on which the duration of life 
 properly depends ; by strengthening the vital power 
 and the organs ; by retarding consumption, and by pro- 
 moting or facilitating renovation or regeneration. The 
 more food, clothing, manner of living, climate, and even 
 artificial means are favorable to these requisites, the 
 more influence they will have in the prolongation of 
 life ; the more they counteract these, the more will they 
 shorten the duration of existence. 
 
 What I call retardation of vital consumption, as being, 
 
42 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 in my opinion, the most important means of prolonging 
 life, deserves here, in a particular manner, to be con- 
 sidered. If we suppose that each body is possessed of 
 a certain quantity of vital power, and certain organs 
 which make as it were our stock of life, and that life 
 consists in a consumption of them, it must be allowed 
 that this stock may be naturally consumed by a stronger 
 exertion of the organs, and by the speedier wasting 
 which is connected with it. He who in a day consumes 
 twice as much of the vital power as another, will ex- 
 haust his stock sooner ; and organs used with double 
 force will in half the time be worn out and become 
 useless. The energy of life, therefore, will be in an in- 
 verse ratio with its duration ; or the more intensively a 
 being lives, the more will its life lose in extension. The 
 expression, fast living, which, as well as the thing itself, 
 is at present so common, is not then altogether improper. 
 One may certainly make the process of vital consump- 
 tion, whether it consists in labor or enjoyment, more or 
 less rapid, and thus live either fast or slowly. In fu- 
 ture I shall distinguish the one by the expression inten- 
 sive life, and the other by that of extensive life. This 
 truth is confirmed, not only among men, but also through- 
 out all nature. The less intensive the life of a being is, 
 the longer will be its duration. If the intensive life of 
 a plant be increased by heat, manure, and artificial 
 means, it will expand itself to perfection more rapidly, 
 but it will also soon decay. Even a being which natu- 
 rally possesses an abundant stock of vital power will, 
 when its life is intensively active, be of shorter duration 
 than another less abundant in vital power, but which 
 has by nature a life less intensive. Thus it is certain, 
 
INTENSIVE AND EXTENSIVE LIFE. 43 
 
 for example, that the higher classes of animals have the 
 vital power in far greater quantity and perfection than 
 vegetables ; yet a tree lives a hundred times as long as 
 the spirited horse, because the life of the tree is inten- 
 sively weaker. In this manner, weakening circum- 
 stances, when they only lessen the intensive activity of 
 life, may be the means of prolonging it ; and, on the 
 other hand, influences which strengthen and excite life, 
 when they increase the internal activity too much, may 
 be prejudicial to its duration. Hence it is evident how 
 very sound health may shorten the duration of life, and 
 a certain kind of weakness be the best means of pro- 
 longing it ; and that the diet and means used for length- 
 ening life, cannot be altogether those which are com- 
 monly called corroborative. In this respect, Nature 
 herself gives us the best lesson, as she has connected 
 with the existence of every more perfect being, a cer- 
 tain regulation which is able to check the stream of its 
 vital consumption, and thereby prevent too rapid 
 wasting. I here allude to sleep, a condition which 
 takes place in every animal of a perfect kind : a dispo- 
 sition of the utmost wisdom, which, in directing and 
 retarding the vital consumption, acts in the same man- 
 ner as the pendulum of a clock. The time of sleep 
 is nothing else than a suspension of intensive life, or an 
 apparent loss of it ; but even in this suspension, this 
 interruption of its activity, lies one of the greatest 
 means of preserving it. A twelve or sixteen hours' 
 uninterrupted continuation of intensive life, causes such 
 an impetuous stream of consumption as produces a more 
 violent pulse, a kind of general fever, the so-called daily 
 evening fever. Sleep then comes to the relief of the 
 
44 ART OP PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 body ; reduces it to a more passive condition ; and after 
 a seven or eight hours' pause of this kind, the destruc- 
 tive stream of vital consumption is so much checked ; 
 what has been lost is so fully renewed, that pulsation 
 and all its other movements are again performed slowly 
 and regularly, and every thing proceeds with a peace- 
 ful course as before.* Nothing, therefore, is able to 
 waste and destroy us so speedily as long continued 
 want of sleep. Trees even, those Nestors of the vege- 
 table kingdom, without the annual sleep of winter, 
 would not be able to preserve their lives so long.f 
 
 * Old people, therefore, sleep less, because their intensive life, 
 or vital consumption, is weaker, and requires less restoration. 
 
 t In many plants we even find something which may with 
 great propriety be compared to the daily sleep of man. Their 
 leaves every evening are contracted, or droop ; their flowers shut 
 themselves up, and their whole external appearance displays a 
 state of rest and repose. Some have ascribed this to the coolness 
 and moisture of the evening ; but the same thing takes place also 
 in the greenhouse. Others have considered it as a consequence 
 of darkness ; but many shut themselves up in summer at six 
 o'clock in the afternoon. Nay, the tragopogon luteiim shuts itself 
 up so early as nine in the morning ; and this plant, therefore, 
 gives us reason to compare it to certain night birds and beasts of 
 the animal world, which are active only during the night, and 
 sleep in the daytime. Every hour of the day, even, has some 
 plant which then shuts itself up, and on this is founded what is 
 called a, plant-dial. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 Duration of the life of plants ; diversity of it. Annual, biennial, 
 perennial. Experiments respecting circumstances by which this 
 is determined; result of them. Application of the fundamental 
 principles of the duration of life. Great influence of attention and 
 culture on the duration of the life of plants. 
 
 IN order to prove and confirm what has been before 
 said, let me now be permitted to take a view of all the 
 classes of the organized world, and endeavor to estab- 
 lish on solid principles what I have asserted. This will 
 give us an opportunity of becoming acquainted with the 
 most important collateral circumstances which have an 
 influence in prolonging or shortening life. How infi- 
 nitely various is the duration of the different organized 
 beings ! Between the mould, which lives only a couple 
 of hours, and the cedar, which can attain to the age of a 
 thousand years, what a difference ; how numberless the 
 intermediate degrees ; what a variety of life ! The 
 grounds, however, of this longer or shorter duration 
 must lie in the structure of each being. This is an im- 
 portant and interesting circumstance, but at the same 
 time of the utmost extent. I must, therefore, content 
 myself with deducing from it the principal data, and 
 exhibiting them in our present point of view. 
 
 In this respect, plants, that immense world of crea- 
 tion, that first degree of organized beings which nourish 
 themselves by internal appropriation, form an indi- 
 
46 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 vicinal and propagate their race, first present them- 
 selves to our view. What infinite variety of shape, 
 organization, size, and duration ! According to the latest 
 discoveries and calculations, they amount to forty thou- 
 sand genera and species at least ! 
 
 They may all, however, be reduced, according to their 
 duration of life, into three principal classes : annual, or 
 properly only semi-annual, which grow up in spring, and 
 die in autumn ; biennial, which die at the end of the 
 second year; and, lastly, perennial, the duration of 
 which extends from four to a thousand years. 
 
 All plants of a soft watery constitution, and which 
 have fine tender organs, have a short life, and last only 
 one or at most two years: those alone which have 
 stronger organs and tougher juices exist longer; but 
 wood is absolutely necessary in order to attain to the 
 highest degree of vegetable existence. 
 
 Even among those which live only one or two years 
 a remarkable difference may be observed. Those which 
 are of a cold insipid nature, and destitute of smell, live, 
 under like circumstances, not so long as the strong- 
 scented, balsamic plants, which contain more essential 
 oil and spirits. Lettuce, wheat, oats, barley, and all 
 kinds of corn, live no more than 'a year ; but, on the 
 other hand, thyme, mint, hyssop, balm, wormwood, mar- 
 joram, sage, etc., can live two years, and even longer. 
 
 Shrubs and small trees can live sixty years, and some 
 even twice that number. The vine attains to sixty or 
 a hundred years, and continues fruitful at the greatest 
 age. This is the case also with rosemary. The acan- 
 thus and ivy, however, can exceed the age of a hundred. 
 Among many, such, for example, as the different kinds 
 
LIFE IN THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 47 
 
 of rubus,* it is difficult to determine the age, as the 
 branches creep along the ground, and always form new 
 plants, so that it is almost impossible to distinguish the 
 new from the old ; and by these means they make their 
 existence as it were perennial. 
 
 Those which attain to the highest age are the great- 
 est, strongest, and hardest trees ; such as the oak, the 
 lime-tree, the beech, the chestnut, the elm, the plane- 
 tree, the cedar, the olive, the palm, the mulberry-tree, 
 and the baobab.f We may with certainty affirm, that 
 some of the cedars of Lebanon, the celebrated chestnut- 
 tree di centi cavalli in Sicily, and several of the sacred 
 oaks under which the ancient Germans performed their 
 religious ceremonies, may have attained to the age of a 
 thousand years and more. These are the most venera- 
 ble, the only now existing testimonies of the ancient 
 world, and inspire us with reverence and awe when the 
 rustling wind plays through their silvery locks, which 
 once served to overshade the Druids and our wild an- 
 cestors clothed in their bearskins. 
 
 All trees of a rapid growth, such as the fir, the birch, 
 the horse-chestnut, and the like, yield always less solid 
 and durable wood, and the period of their existence is 
 shorter. The oak, which is the slowest in growing of 
 
 * Common bramble, blackberry, raspberry. 
 
 t This newly discovered tree (Adansonia digitata) seems to be 
 one of those which live to the greatest age. Its trunk acquires 
 the thickness of twenty-five feet in diameter ; and Adanson, in 
 the middle of the present century, found trees only six feet in di- 
 ameter, which had cut on them the names of seafaring people 
 who had visited them in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, yet 
 these incisions had become very little extended. 
 
48 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 all, has the hardest wood, and its life is of the longest 
 duration. 
 
 Smaller vegetables have, in general, a shorter life 
 than those which are large, tall, and spreading. 
 
 Those trees which have the hardest and most durable 
 wood are, however, not always those which live longest. 
 The beech, for example, the cypress, the juniper, the 
 walnut, and the pear-tree, do not live so long as the 
 lime-tree, though its wood be softer. 
 
 Those which produce juicy, tender, and delicate fruit, 
 are, in general, shorter-lived than those which are bar- 
 ren, or which bear fruit entirely useless. And among 
 the former, those which bear nuts or acorns become 
 older than those which produce berries and fruit with 
 stones. 
 
 Even these short-lived trees, the apple, the pear, the 
 apricot, the peach, the cherry, etc., can, under very fa- 
 vorable circumstances, prolong their life to sixty years ; 
 especially when they are freed from the moss which 
 grows upon them. 
 
 We may establish it as a general rule, that those trees 
 which are long in producing leaves and fruit, and which 
 also do not soon lose them, become older than those in 
 which both these changes take place speedily. Those, 
 likewise, which are cultivate'd, have, in general, a shorter 
 existence than those which grow wild ; and those which 
 produce sour, harsh fruit, live longer than those which 
 produce sweet. 
 
 It is highly worthy of remark, that when the earth is 
 dug up every year around the roots of a tree, it becomes 
 more vigorous and fruitful ; but the duration of its life 
 
LIFE IN THE YEGETABLE KINGDOM. 49 
 
 is shortened. On the other hand, if this be done only 
 every five or ten years, it will live the longer. In the 
 like manner, frequent watering and manuring promotes 
 fruitfulness, but it injures the duration of life. 
 
 One, also, by frequently lopping off the branches and 
 buds, may contribute very much to the duration of the 
 life of a shrub ; so that small, shortlived plants, such as 
 lavender, hyssop, and the like, if annually pruned, may 
 prolong their life to the age of forty years. 
 
 It is also to be remarked, that when one turns up the 
 earth, which has remained long untouched and un- 
 changed, around the roots of old trees, and makes it 
 softer and looser, they will produce fresher and more 
 vigorous leaves, and become, as it were, again young. 
 
 When we consider with attention these observations, 
 derived from experience, it is perfectly evident how much 
 they confirm the above established principles of life and 
 vital duration, and that they coincide perfectly with 
 these ideas. 
 
 Our first grand principle was : the greater the quantity 
 of vital power, and the solidity of the organs, the longer 
 will be the duration of life ; and we now find in Nature 
 that the greatest, the most perfect, and the best-formed 
 productions, in which, also, we must allow the greatest 
 abundance of the vital power, and those which have the 
 strongest and most durable organs, are precisely those 
 which enjoy the longest life ; as, for example, the oak 
 and the cedar. 
 
 The bulk of the corporeal mass evidently appears here 
 to contribute to the duration of life, and on the three fol- 
 lowing grounds : 
 
 4 
 
50 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 I. Bulk shows a greater provision of the vital or plas- 
 tic power. 
 
 II. Bulk gives more vital capacity, more surface, 
 more external access. 
 
 III. The greater mass a body has, the more time is 
 required before it can be wasted by its external and in- 
 ternal consumptive and destructive powers. 
 
 We, however, find that a plant may have very strong 
 and durable organs, and yet not live so long as one the 
 organs of which are of less solidity. Of this we have an 
 instance in the lime-tree, which lives much longer than 
 the beech or the cypress. 
 
 This now leads to a law of the utmost importance for 
 organized life and our future research ; which is, that, 
 in the organic world, a certain degree only of solidity 
 promotes the duration of life, and that too high a degree 
 of tenacity shortens it. In general, however, and among 
 unorganized beings, it is undoubtedly certain, that the 
 more solid a body is, the greater will be its duration ; 
 but in organized beings, where the" duration of existence 
 consists in continual activity of the organs and circula- 
 tion of the juices, this observation is limited, and too 
 great a degree of solidity in the organs, and toughness 
 in the juices, makes them sooner immovable and unfit 
 for discharging their functions, produces obstructions, 
 and brings on premature old age, and even death. 
 
 It is not, however, merely on the quantity of the 
 power and the organs that the vital power depends. 
 We have already seen that a great deal, in particular, 
 depends on the speedier or slower consumption, and on 
 
LIFE IN THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 51 
 
 perfect or more imperfect restoration. Is this, there- 
 fore, confirmed in the vegetable kingdom ? 
 
 It is, in the fullest manner ; and we here find this 
 general law : the more intensive life a plant has, the 
 stronger and speedier is its internal consumption, the 
 sooner it decays, and the shorter is its duration : on the 
 other hand, the more capacity a plant has, either inter- 
 nally or externally, to, regenerate itself, the longer it 
 will preserve its existence. 
 
 I shall now proceed to treat, in the first place, on the 
 law of consumption. Plants in general have a very 
 weak intensive life, which consists only in the functions 
 of growth, propagation, and receiving nourishment. 
 They are subject to no arbitrary changing of place, no 
 regular circulation, no muscular or nervous motion. 
 The function of generation is, beyond dispute, the high- 
 est degree of their internal consumption, the utmost 
 stretch of their intensive life. But how speedily is it 
 followed by decomposition and annihilation! Nature 
 appears here to make, as it were, the greatest exertion 
 of her plastic power, and to show the ne plus ultra of the 
 highest finishing and of bringing to perfection. 
 
 What tenderness and delicacy in the structure of the 
 flower ; what elegance and splendor of colors astonish 
 us often in the most inconsiderable plant, to which we 
 never could have ascribed such expansion. These are, 
 as it were, the dress of ceremony, with which the plant 
 celebrates its greatest festival, but with which it also 
 often exhausts its whole stock of vital power, either for 
 ever, or at least for a long time. 
 
 All plants, without exception, lose, immediately after 
 this catastrophe, the vigor of vegetation ; and begin to 
 
52 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 be stationary, which is the commencement of their dis- 
 solution. In all annual plants complete death follows ; 
 among the larger plants and trees, a temporal death at 
 least, or a torpor of half a year, until, by the great 
 strength of their regenerating power, they are again put 
 in a condition to shoot forth new leaves and flowers. 
 
 On the same principles it may be explained, how all 
 plants which acquire early the power of generation die 
 also soonest ; and it is an invariable law for the dura- 
 tion of life in the vegetable kingdom, that the earlier 
 and speedier a plant comes to flower, the shorter time 
 will its life continue ; but the later it flowers, its exist- 
 ence will be of the longer duration. All those which 
 flower immediately, the first year, die also the same 
 year; and those which flower for the first time the 
 second year, die also the second. Those trees only, and 
 woody shrubs, which first begin to generate in the sixth, 
 ninth, or twelfth year, become old ; and among these, 
 those genera which arrive latest at the period of propa- 
 gation become likewise the oldest. A highly important 
 observation, which, in part, fully confirms my ideas of 
 consumption, and gives an instructive hint in regard to 
 our future research. 
 
 An answer may now be given to that important ques- 
 tion, What influence has cultivation on the longer or 
 shorter duration of the life of plants ? 
 
 Culture and art, upon the whole, shorten life ; and it 
 may be admitted as a fundamental principle, that in gen- 
 eral all wild plants, left to themselves, live longer than 
 those which are cultivated. Every kind of culture, how- 
 ever, does not shorten life ; for, by careful attention, a 
 plant which lives only one or two years in the open air, 
 
EFFECTS OF CULTIVATION. 53 
 
 may be preserved much longer : and this is a very re- 
 markable proof, that, even in the vegetable kingdom, it 
 is possible to prolong life by a certain kind of treatment. 
 But the question now is, In what consists the difference 
 of that culture which prolongs life, and that which short- 
 ens it ? This may be of importance to us in the follow- 
 ing research, and may be referred to our first fundamen- 
 tal principle. The more cultivation strengthens intensive 
 life and internal consumption, and at the same time 
 makes the organization more delicate, the more is it pre- 
 judicial to the duration of life. This we observe to be 
 the case in all hothouse plants, which, by warmth, ma- 
 nure, and other arts, are forced to a continual internal 
 activity ; so that they produce earlier, oftener, and more 
 exquisite fruit than is natural for them. The case is 
 the same, when, without forcing, by external causes, a 
 higher degree of perfection and delicacy than belonged 
 to its nature is communicated to the internal organiza- 
 tion of a plant, merely by certain operations and arts, 
 such, for example, as ingrafting, propping, and the art 
 used in regard to full flowers. This kind of culture 
 shortens the duration also. 
 
 Cultivation, on the other hand, may be the greatest 
 means of prolonging life, if it do not strengthen the in- 
 tensive life of a plant, or if it retard and moderate in 
 any manner its internal consumption ; if it lessen the 
 too great natural toughness or hardness of the organs or 
 matter to such a degree that they continue longer plia- 
 ble and proper for their functions ; and if it keep off 
 destructive influences, and supply it with better means 
 of regeneration. Thus, by the help of culture, a being 
 
54 . ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 may attain to a greater extent of life than it could have 
 acquired according to its natural state and destination. 
 
 The duration of the life of plants may be prolonged, 
 therefore, in the three following ways : 
 
 1st. If, by often pruning the branches, we guard 
 against too rapid consumption. By these means we de- 
 prive the plant of a part of those organs by which it 
 would exhaust too speedily its vital power, and we con- 
 centrate the power as it were within it. 
 
 2nd. If we thereby check, or at least retard its flower- 
 ing, and prevent a waste of the power of generation. 
 This, we know, is the highest degree of vital consump- 
 tion among plants ; and we thus doubly contribute to 
 the prolongation of life first, by preventing this power 
 from being exhausted; and, secondly, by obliging it to 
 return back and to act as a means of support or nourish- 
 ment. 
 
 3rd. If we keep off the destructive influence of frost, 
 the want of nourishment, and an irregular atmosphere, 
 and preserve it by art, in an uniform, moderate, mean 
 condition. Though we hereby somewhat increase the 
 intensive life, we nevertheless create a richer source of 
 regeneration. 
 
 Lastly, the fourth grand point on which the duration 
 of every being, and also of a plant, depends, is its greater 
 or less capacity to restore itself and to renew its parts. 
 
 In this respect, the vegetable world may be divided 
 into two grand classes. The first do not possess this 
 capacity; and these are the annual plants, or those 
 which live only a year, and which die immediately aft/er 
 they have performed the function of generation. 
 
EXTENSION OF LIFE IN PLANTS. 55 
 
 The second class, on the other hand, which possess 
 this great faculty of regenerating themselves annually ; 
 of producing new leaves, branches, and flowers, can at- 
 tain to the astonishing age of a thousand years and 
 upwards. Such plants may be considered as organized 
 masses of earth, from which an immense number of 
 plants, but perfectly analogous to each mass, spring out 
 every year. And in this regulation the wisdom of Na- 
 ture appears great and divine. 
 
 When we reflect that, as experience teaches us, a 
 period of eight or ten years is required in order to pro- 
 duce that degree of perfection in the organs and in the 
 purification of the juices necessary in a tree before it can 
 bring forth flowers and fruit, if it were subjected to the 
 same laws of decay as other vegetable productions, and 
 if a tree died immediately after it had generated, ho^v 
 ill-rewarded would the culture of it be ; and how little 
 proportion would the expense of preparation and time 
 bear to the result ! In such a case, fruit indeed would 
 be uncommon. 
 
 To guard against this, Nature has wisely established, 
 that the first plant acquires gradually such a consistence 
 and solidity that, at last the place of the earth is sup- 
 plied by the trunk, from which an abundance of new 
 plants spring out every year under the form of buds and 
 buttons. 
 
 By this a double advantage is obtained. First, be- 
 cause these plants spring from a mass of earth already 
 organized, they immediately receive juices assimilated 
 and prepared, and can therefore employ them in the 
 production of flowers and fruit, which with sap derived 
 immediately from the earth would be impossible. 
 
56 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 Secondly, these delicate plants, which in reality we 
 may consider as so many annuals, die again after the 
 process of fructification is completed, and yet the vege- 
 table itself, or the stem, continues perennial. Nature, 
 therefore, remains here true to her fundamental law, 
 that the function of generation exhausts the vital power 
 of single individuals, and yet the whole is perennial. 
 
 In a word, the result of all these observations is, that 
 the great age of a plant depends on the following 
 points : 
 
 I. It must grow slowly. 
 
 II. It must propagate itself slowly, and late. 
 
 III. It must have a certain degree of solidity and 
 duration in its organs, a sufficiency of wood, and the sap 
 must not be too watery. 
 
 IV. It must be large, and have considerable exten- 
 sion. 
 
 V. It must rise into the atmosphere. 
 
 By the contrary of all these the duration of life is 
 shortened. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Duration of life in the animal world. Observations on plant-animals. 
 Worms. Insects. Metamorphosis an important means of prolong- 
 ing life. Amphibia. Fish. Birds. Animals which suckle. Re- 
 sult. Influence of maturity and growth on the duration of life. 
 Perfection or imperfection of organization. Rapid or slow vital 
 consumption. Restoration. 
 
 THE animal kingdom, or second grand class of the 
 more perfect part of the organized world, is immensely 
 rich in being, and in variety and diversity of duration. 
 Between the elephant, which attains to the age of a hun- 
 dred years, and the ephemeron, that small perishable 
 insect, which exists scarcely a day, and which in the 
 twentieth hour of its life is an experienced veteran 
 among its numerous posterity, there are innumerable 
 intermediate degrees of vital capacity and duration ; but 
 amidst this vast abundance I shall content myself with 
 collecting only such data as may serve to illustrate our 
 principal question, On what does the duration of life de- 
 pend? 
 
 To begin with worms, the most imperfect class of all, 
 which approach very near to plants ; these, on account 
 of their tender, soft nature, can be injured and destroyed 
 with remarkable ease ; but, like plants, they have the 
 best support in their extraordinary power of reproduc- 
 tion, by which they can renew whole parts. Nay, when 
 
58 / ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 divided into two or three pieces they can still live, and 
 it is consequently difficult to determine their duration. 
 
 In this class 'there are some animals which almost 
 appear to be indestructible, and with which Fontana 
 and Gotze made so many important experiments. The 
 former caused wheel-insects and hair-worms to be dried 
 in the hot scorching sun, and to be parched in an oven ; 
 and at the end of half a year he was able to revive 
 these dried animals by pouring over them a little luke- 
 warm water. 
 
 These experiments confirm our position that the more 
 imperfect the organization, the stronger is the life. The 
 case here is the same as in the seeds of plants ; and one 
 may say that these first points of the animal creation 
 are, in a certain measure, only the first shoots or seeds 
 for the more perfect animal world. 
 
 Among those insects which have more of the animal, 
 and a more finished organization, the power pf repro- 
 duction cannot perform such wonders. But Nature 
 here has fallen upon another wise establishment, which 
 evidently prolongs their existence ; I mean that of meta- 
 morphosis or transformation. The insect exists, per- 
 haps two, three, or four years, as a larva or worm ; it 
 then becomes a pupa or nymph, and exists again in that 
 deathlike state a considerable time, at the end of which 
 it appears a completely finished being. It now first has 
 eyes, a winged, often an elegant body ; and what stamps 
 it principally with the mark of perfection, it is now first 
 rendered fit for generation. This state, which may be 
 called the time of its bloom, is, however, the shortest ; 
 it soon dies ; for it has attained to the end of its desti- 
 nation. 
 
DURATION OF LIFE IN ANIMALS. 59 
 
 I cannot here omit to remark, how much these phe- 
 nomena coincide with the principles I laid down as the 
 grounds on which the duration of life depends. In its 
 first state as a worm, how imperfect its existence, and 
 how little its motion ! It is impossible for it to gene- 
 rate, and its whole faculties seem to consist in those of 
 eating and digesting ; for some caterpillars have so 
 monstrous an appetite, that, in the course of twenty- 
 four hours, they devour more than three times the 
 weight of their bodies. Their self-consumption, then, 
 must be exceedingly small, and their restoration prodi- 
 gious. It need excite no surprise, therefore, that, in 
 this condition, notwithstanding their diminutive size and 
 imperfection, they can live so long. The case is the 
 same in regard to their intermediate state as a chrysa- 
 lis, when the animal lives without nourishment, and it 
 consumed neither externally nor internally. But in the 
 last period of its existence, of its completely formed state 
 as a winged ethereal being, its whole life seems to consist 
 in continual motion and removal from one place to 
 another; yet, though its self-consumption is incessant, 
 we cannot think of nourishment or restoration, for many 
 butterflies in this condition have no mouth. With such 
 a refinement of organization, such a disproportion be- 
 tween what is added and what is taken away, no dura- 
 tion is possible ; and it is confirmed by experience that 
 the animal soon dies. Here, therefore, the same being 
 exhibits to us, in a very evident manner, a picture of 
 the most perfect as well as most imperfect life, and of 
 the longer or shorter duration connected with them. 
 
 Amphibia, those cold transition beings, can prolong 
 
60 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 their existence to an extraordinary length ; an advan- 
 tage for which they are principally indebted to the tena- 
 city of their life, that is, to the very intimate and diffi- 
 cult to be dissolved connection of the vital power with 
 the material part, and the weakness of their intensive 
 life. 
 
 Of the tenacity of life we have instances truly aston- 
 ishing. Tortoises have been seen to live a considerable 
 time without the head ; and frogs, when their hearts 
 were torn out, have still continued to leap about. A 
 tortoise has existed six whole weeks without any food ; 
 and this sufficiently shows how small its intensive life 
 is, and how little need it has of restoration. Nay, it is 
 proved that toads have been found alive inclosed in 
 stones and blocks of marble-* Whether they were 
 shut up there in the egg, or as perfect beings, both 
 cases are equally astonishing ; for what a number of 
 years must have been necessary for the marble to gene- 
 rate, and before it could acquire its solidity ! 
 
 This shows how much influence the power of regene- 
 ration has in prolonging life. A great many dangers 
 
 * In the year 1733, a toad was found in Sweden, seven ells 
 deep, in a quarry, in the middle of a block of the hardest stone, 
 to which people were obliged to force their way, with much labor, 
 by means of chisels and the hammer. It was still alive, but ex- 
 ceedingly weak. Its skin was shrivelled, and covered here and 
 therewith a stony crust. See Transactions of the Swedish Academy, 
 vol. iii. p. 285. It is most probable that the toad, when very 
 young, had got into a small cleft of the stone, where it nourished 
 itself with moisture and the insects which crept into it ; that the 
 cleft was at length closed up by sparry matter, and that the ani- 
 mal, by the time it grew. up, was thus completely incrusted. - 
 
DURATION OF LIFE IN FISHES. 61 
 
 and causes of death are thereby rendered harmless ; 
 and whole parts which have been lost are again renewed. 
 To this belongs that phenomenon of the skin which we 
 find among most animals of this class. Snakes, frogs, 
 lizards, etc., cast their skin every year ; and it appears 
 that this method of becoming again young, contributes 
 very much to their support and duration. Something 
 of the like kind seems to prevail throughout the whole 
 animal world : birds change their feathers as well as 
 their bills, which is called moulting ; insects transform 
 themselves, and most quadrupeds change their hair and 
 their claws. 
 
 The tortoise and crocodile attain to the highest age, 
 as far as we have yet been able to learn from ob- 
 servation. 
 
 The tortoise, an indolent, slow in all its motions, and 
 phlegmatic animal, and which is so long in growing 
 that in twenty years one can scarcely observe an in- 
 crease of a few inches, lives to the age of a hundred 
 years and more. 
 
 The crocodile, a large, strong, vigorous animal, in- 
 closed in a hard coat of mail, incredibly voracious, and 
 endowed with extraordinary powers of digestion, lives 
 also very long ; and, according to the affirmation of 
 several travellers, is the only animal which grows as 
 long as it exists. 
 
 It is astonishing what instances of great age may be 
 found among fishes, the cold-blooded inhabitants of the 
 waters. We know from the ancient Roman history, 
 that in the imperial fishponds there were several lam- 
 preys (murcence) which had attained to their sixtieth 
 year ; and which had, at length, become so well ac 
 
62 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 quainted and familiar with man that Crassus orator 
 unam ex illis defleverit* 
 
 The pike, a dry, exceedingly voracious animal, and 
 carp also, according to undeniable testimony, prolong 
 their life to a hundred and fifty years. The salmon 
 grows rapidly, *and dies soon. On the other hand, the 
 perch, the growth of which is slower, preserves its ex- 
 istence longer. 
 
 It appears here worthy of being remarked, that nat- 
 ural death occurs more rarely among fishes than in any 
 other part of the animal kingdom. The law of the 
 transition of one into another, according to the right of 
 the strongest, prevails here far more generally. One 
 devours another, the stronger the weaker; and one may 
 assert that death exists less in the water, as the dying 
 pass immediately into the substance of another living 
 being, and consequently the intermediate state of death 
 is less common than on land. Putrefaction takes place 
 in the stomach of the stronger. This regulation is a 
 proof of exalted and divine wisdom. If the innume- 
 rable millions of the inhabitants of the waters which die 
 daily, remained only one day unentombed, or, what is 
 the same thing, not devoured, they would speedily dif- 
 fuse abroad the most dreadful pestilential evaporation* 
 In water, where vegetation, that great means of correct- 
 ing animal putrefaction, exists in less extent, every 
 cause of corruption must be guarded against ; and on 
 this account continual life must prevail. 
 
 Among birds, also, there are several species which 
 live a long time ; and to this, without doubt, the follow- 
 ing circumstances contribute : 
 
 * That Crassus the orator shed tears for one of them when it 
 died. 
 
DURATION OF LIFE IN BIRDS. 63 
 
 Irst. Birds are remarkably well clothed ; for no cov- 
 ering can be more perfect or better calculated to pre- 
 serve warmth than feathers. 
 
 2nd. They have, every year, a kind of reproduction, 
 or renovation, which is called moulting. During that 
 period, the bird appears to be somewhat sick ; casts, at 
 length, its old feathers, and acquires new ones. Many 
 cast their bills also ; an important part of renovation, 
 as they are thereby put in a condition to feed them- 
 selves much better. 
 
 3rd. Birds enjoy the purest air, and in the greatest 
 quantity. 
 
 4th. They are exposed to much motion ; but their 
 motion is the most healthful of all, as it consists of 
 both active and passive, that is to say, they are sus- 
 pended, and exert themselves only in moving forwards. 
 
 The golden eagle, a large strong animal with solid 
 vessels, attains to a very great age. There have been 
 instances of many living in menageries above a hundred 
 years. 
 
 The same is the case with the vulture and falcon, 
 both carnivorous animals. A gentleman at London, a 
 few years ago, received from the Cape of Good Hope 
 one that had been caught with a golden collar, on which 
 was inscribed in English, " His Majesty K. James of 
 England, An. 1610." It had, therefore, been at liberty 
 one hundred and eighty-two years from the time of its 
 escape. How old was it when it escaped ? It was of 
 the largest species of these birds, and possessed still no 
 little strength and spirit ; but it was remarked that its 
 eyes were blind and dim, and that the feathers of its 
 neck had become white. 
 
64 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 The crow, a carnivorous bird with hard black flesh, 
 can extend its life also to a hundred years ; as can 
 likewise the swan, an animal exceedingly well feath- 
 ered, which feeds upon fish, and is fond of running 
 water. 
 
 The parrot, in this respect, distinguishes itself in a 
 particular manner. One has had instances of its liv- 
 ing sixty years a prisoner with man ; and how old 
 may it not have been when it was caught ? It is an 
 animal which eats and' digests almost all kinds of food, 
 which changes its bill, and which has hard, dark-colored 
 flesh. 
 
 The peacock lives to the twentieth year. On the 
 other hand, the cock, a hot, quarrelsome animal, does 
 not exist nearly so long. Of a still shorter life is the 
 sparrow. Small birds also live in general shorter. The 
 blackbird and goldfinch live, at most, only to the twen- 
 tieth year. 
 
 If we now turn our view towards the most perfect 
 animals, the mammalia, those which approach nearest to 
 man, we shall find amongst these also a very striking 
 difference of age. 
 
 That which attains to the greatest is perhaps the 
 elephant ; which, by its size, slow growth (for it grows 
 to the thirtieth year), exceedingly hard skin and teeth, 
 has the justest claim to longevity. 
 
 The age of the lion cannot be accurately determined; 
 but we have reason to think that it is of considera- 
 ble extent ; because some have been found without any 
 teeth. 
 
 The bear, though a great sleeper, and remarkably 
 phlegmatic when awake, has, however, no great dura- 
 
DURATION OF LIFE IN QUADRUPEDS. 65 
 
 tion of existence. A poor comfort for those who im- 
 agine that they have found in indolence the secret for 
 prolonging life. 
 
 The camel, on the other hand, a meagre, dry, active, 
 exceedingly hardy animal, becomes old. It generally 
 attains to the age of fifty, and sometimes of a hundred 
 years. 
 
 The horse does not live more than about forty years^ 
 lie is a large, strong animal, but not well covered with 
 hair ; he is therefore of greater sensibility. He may, 
 however, ascribe his short life, in some measure, to 
 the severity of man ; for we do not yet know, by ex- 
 perience, how long he can live in a state of nature. 
 The life of the ass has about the same duration. The 
 mule, a production of both, is stronger lived, and be- 
 comes older. 
 
 What has been said respecting the great age of the 
 stag is a fable. It lives thirty years, and perhaps a lit- 
 tle over. 
 
 The bull, large and strong as he is, lives only a short 
 period about fifteen years, or at most twenty. Most 
 of the smaller animals, such as sheep, goats, the fox, the 
 hare, etc., live no more than seven or ten years ; except 
 dogs and swine, which can reach the age of fifteen or 
 twenty. 
 
 From this variety of observations the following result 
 may be drawn : 
 
 The animal world have far more external and inter- 
 nal movement, a more perfect and a more compounded 
 intensive life, and, without doubt, more self-consumption 
 than the vegetable. Besides, the organs of this king- 
 5 
 
66 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 dom are much tenderer, more complex, and more highly 
 finished. Animals, therefore, must have a shorter life 
 than plants. But for this reason they possess a greater 
 abundance of the vital power ; have more points of con- 
 tact with the whole of Nature that surrounds them, and 
 consequently more accession and restoration from with- 
 out. It must nevertheless be difficult, in this class, to 
 attain to a remarkably great age ; but a short life, also, 
 will occur very rarely. And this is what we find from 
 observation ; a mean age of between five and forty 
 years is the most common. 
 
 The sooner an animal is formed, the more rapidly it 
 arrives at perfection ; but the sooner it will decline and 
 lose its existence. This seems to be one of the most 
 general laws of Nature, and is confirmed throughout all 
 classes. Only one must not confound expansion with 
 growth, and reckon by the latter ; for there are animals 
 which grow as long as they live, and to which growth 
 forms part of their nourishment : but this law must be 
 referred, in particular, to the two following periods : 
 
 1. To the time of the first expansion in the egg, 
 either in or out of the body. 
 
 2. To the period of maturity, which one may consider 
 as the utmost boundary of physical conformation, and 
 as a proof that the being has now attained the highest 
 degree of finishing which it was physically capable of 
 receiving. 
 
 The rule, therefore, must be thus expressed : the less 
 time an animal requires for its formation in th e mother's 
 womb, or the egg, the sooner it will perish. The ele- 
 phant, which goes with young till the third year, live] 
 
MATURITY OF ANIMALS. 67 
 
 also longest ; but the hind, the cow, the dog, which go 
 with young only from two to nine months, have a much 
 shorter existence. Quod cito fit, cito peril.* 
 
 Another law of great importance must also not be 
 omitted ; the sooner a being attains maturity, the sooner 
 it propagates ; but "the shorter will be the time of its 
 duration. This law, which we find so perfectly con- 
 firmed in the vegetable kingdom, prevails likewise, 
 without exception, in the animal. The greatest in- 
 stance of it is afforded by insects. Their first period 
 towards maturity, that is, their state as larva?, may con- 
 tinue very long, even several years ; but as soon as they 
 have undergone their grand transformation, that is, have 
 attained maturity, their existence is completely ended. 
 And among quadrupeds, it is certain that we may de- 
 termine the life of an animal with considerable pre- 
 cision, if we consider the epoch of maturity as the fifth 
 part of the whole duration of its existence. 
 
 The horse, ass, and bull, are at maturity in the third 
 or fourth year, and live from fifteen years to twenty. 
 Sheep come to maturity the second year, and live from 
 eight to ten years. 
 
 All horned animals, in general, live shorter than 
 those which have not horns. 
 
 Animals with dark-colored black flesh, are, on the 
 whole, longer-lived than those which have white flesh. 
 
 And all quiet, timid animals, have a shorter existence 
 than those of a contrary temperament. 
 
 A certain covering of the body seems, in a particular 
 manner, to have a great influence on the duration of 
 life. Thus birds, which undoubtedly have the best and 
 * That which is quickly formed, quickly perishes. 
 
68 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 most durable covering, live exceedingly long ; as do also 
 the elephant, the rhinoceros, and the crocodile, which 
 have the strongest skin. 
 
 The nature of their motion has its influence also. 
 Running seems to be the least favorable to duration of 
 life; while, on the other hand, swimming, flying, and, 
 in short, that motion which is compounded of the active 
 and the passive, seems to be the most favorable. 
 
 This principle, therefore, is confirmed : the more in- 
 tensive the life of a being is, and the less its internal 
 consumption, that is to say, according to the common 
 mode of expression, the more imperfect the life of a 
 being is, it will be so much the more lasting. On the 
 other hand, the tenderer, finer, and more complex the 
 organization, and the more perfect the life is, it will be 
 of so much the less duration. 
 
 This is shown in the clearest manner, by the follow- 
 ing observations : 
 
 1st. Zoophytes, or plant animals, whose whole organ- 
 ization consists in a mouth, a stomach, and a straight 
 gut, have a life exceedingly tenacious and difficult to be 
 destroyed. 
 
 2nd. All cold-blooded animals have, in general, a 
 stronger and longer life than the warm-blooded ; or, 
 what amounts to the same thing, those which do not 
 breathe have in this an advantage over those which 
 breathe. And for what reason ? Breathing is the 
 source of internal heat, and accelerates consumption. 
 An animal which breathes has, as it were, a double cir- 
 culation, the common and the less through the lungs ; 
 besides a double surface, which comes into continual 
 contact with the atmosphere, the skin, and the superfices 
 
RESTORATIVE POWERS OF ANIMALS. 69 
 
 of the lungs ; lastly, a far stronger irritability, and con- 
 sequently a much greater self-consumption both inter- 
 nally and externally. 
 
 3rd. Animals which inhabit the water live longer, in 
 general, than those that reside in the air ; and for this 
 reason, because an animal in water evaporates very 
 little, and because water does not consume nearly so 
 much as the atmosphere. 
 
 4th. Lastly, the strongest proof what an astonishing 
 effect lessening the external consumption has in the 
 prolongation of life, is afforded by instances where that 
 consumption has been rendered totally impossible. I 
 mean those of toads inclosed in blocks of stone, where, 
 by the external consumption being suspended, they pre- 
 served their life so much the longer. In that s'ate 
 nothing could evaporate, nothing could be dissolved ; 
 for the small quantity of air which was perhaps shut 
 up with them, must have soon become so much satu- 
 rated as to be incapable of receiving any thing more. 
 On this account the animal could exist so long without 
 nourishment ; for the need of nourishment arises from 
 the loss which we sustain by evaporation and consump- 
 tion. In such a state, where every thing remains as it 
 was, no reparation is required. By such means the 
 vital power and organization might be retained per- 
 haps a hundred times longer than in the natural con- 
 dition. 
 
 The last principle on which the duration of life is 
 founded, more perfect restoration, is fully confirmed 
 likewise in this kingdom of Nature. 
 
 The highest degree of restoration is the reproduction 
 of entirely new organs. 
 
70 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 This power is found, in a wonderful degree, in the 
 class of plant-animals, worms, and amphibia, in short 
 of those animals which have cold blood and no bones, 
 or only such as are cartilaginous. And amongst all 
 these animals there exists a most remarkable duration 
 of life. 
 
 Somewhat of the same nature is the casting of scales 
 among fishes; of the skin among snakes, crocodiles, 
 frogs, etc. : of the feathers and bill among birds : and 
 we always observe, that the more perfect this renova- 
 tion is, the duration of life is proportionably longer. 
 
 A highly important circumstance, however, in regard 
 to restoration, is nourishment ; and here a most essen- 
 tial difference is manifested between the vegetable and 
 animal world. All plants derive their nourishment 
 from without : on the other hand, it is an invariable law 
 of Nature, among animals, that the nourishment must 
 first pass into a cavity or bag, commonly called the 
 stomach, destined for that purpose, before it can be re- 
 ceived into the mass of the juices and become a part of 
 the animal ; and the imperfect polype, as well as the 
 elephant, has these characteristics of the animal, a 
 mouth, and a stomach. 
 
 It is this which forms the grand basis of the animal 
 world ; the characterizing difference between animals 
 and plants ; and upon which is originally grounded the 
 superior advantage of individuality ; of internal, more 
 perfect, and more expanded life. Among animals, the 
 substance which is received may obtain a far higher 
 degree of preparation than among plants ; the roots 
 (the lacteal vessels) are, as it were, within ; and receive 
 the nourishing juices, already assimilated and purified, 
 
RESTORATIVE POWERS OF ANIMALS. 71 
 
 through the intestines. Animals, therefore, are subject 
 to more secretions and excretions than plants ; and, for 
 the same reason, the course of the nourishing juices 
 and of all movements proceeds, among animals, from 
 the internal to the external part, and among plants from 
 the external to the internal. For this reason, also, the 
 progress of death, in an animal, is from the external to 
 the internal parts : in a plant the case is reversed ; and 
 one may often see trees without pith or internal sub- 
 stance, of which nothing exists but the bark, and which, 
 however, still continue to live. For the above reason, 
 likewise, animals can receive nourishment far more 
 various, and restore themselves in a much more perfect 
 manner, and, by these means, counterbalance the 
 stronger self-consumption. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 Duration of the life of man. Apparently inci'edible age of the patri- 
 archs explained. Age of the world has no influence on the duration 
 of human life. Instances of great age among the Jews, Greeks, 
 and Romans. Tables of the Census under Vespasian. Instances 
 of great age among kings, emperors, and popes. Frederick II. 
 Among hermits and monks; philosophers and men of letters; poets 
 and artists. Instances of the greatest age to be found only among 
 country people, hunters, gardeners, soldiers, and sailors. Few to 
 be found among physicians. Shortest life. Difference of age 
 according to the climate. 
 
 LET us now proceed to the grand source of our 
 information, the history of man ; and let me there col- 
 lect examples which will be of utility in the present 
 research. 
 
 I shall, therefore, lay before my readers the most 
 remarkable instances of the greatest age among man- 
 kind ; and we shall thence see in what climate, under 
 what favorable circumstances, in what condition, and 
 what state both of mind and body man has attained to 
 the highest degree of longevity : an agreeable review, 
 which will make known to us a peculiar part of the 
 history of the world, the history of the age of man, and 
 the venerable gallery of the Nestors of ancient periods 
 and nations. I shall occasionally add a few short char- 
 acteristics, to give at the same time a hint how far 
 character and temperament have an influence on the 
 duration of life. 
 
DURATION OF HUMAN LIFE. 73 
 
 It is commonly believed that, during the early peri- 
 ods of the world, the lives of its inhabitants were more 
 youthful and more perfect ; that these primitive men 
 had a gigantic size, incredible strength, and a most 
 astonishing duration of life. A variety of such notions 
 were long prevalent among mankind ; and to these we 
 are indebted for the origin of many romantic tales. 
 Some have not hesitated seriously to ascribe to our 
 forefather Adam, the height of nine hundred yards, and 
 the age of almost a thousand years. But the accurate 
 and rational investigation of modern philosophy has 
 converted the supposed bones of giants, found in differ- 
 ent parts of the earth, into those of the elephant and 
 rhinoceros; and acute theologists have shown that the 
 chronology of the early ages was not the same as that 
 used at present. Some, particularly Hensler, have 
 proved, with the highest probability, that the year till 
 the time of Abraham consisted only of three months ; 
 that it was afterwards extended to eight ; and that it 
 was not till the time of Joseph that it was made to con- 
 sist of twelve. These assertions are, in a certain de- 
 gree, confirmed by some of the eastern nations, who still 
 reckon only three months to the year ; and besides, it 
 would be altogether inexplicable why the life of man 
 should have been shortened one half immediately after 
 the flood. It would be equally inexplicable why the 
 patriarchs did not marry till their sixtieth, seventieth, 
 and even hundredth year; but this difficulty vanishes 
 when we reckon these ages according to the before- 
 mentioned standard, which will give the twentieth or 
 thirtieth year ; and consequently, the same periods at 
 which people marry at present. The whole, therefore, 
 
74 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 according to this explanation, assumes a different ap- 
 pearance. The sixteen hundred years before the flood 
 will become four hundred and fourteen ; and the nine 
 hundred years (the highest recorded) which Methuselah 
 lived, will be reduced to two hundred, an age which 
 is not impossible, and to which some men in modern 
 times have nearly approached. 
 
 In profane history, also, we have an account of many 
 heroes and Arcadian kings of those periods who attained 
 to the age of several hundred years ; but these pre- 
 tended instances of longevity can be explained in the 
 same manner. 
 
 With the period of Abraham, a period when history 
 seems first to be established on more certain grounds, 
 we find mention of a duration of life which can be still 
 attained, and which no longer appears extraordinary, 
 especially when we consider the temperate manner in 
 which the patriarchs lived; and that, as they were 
 nomades, or a wandering people, they were much ex- 
 posed to the free open air. 
 
 From the history of the Jews we are enabled to col- 
 lect the following facts. Abraham, a man of great and 
 resolute mind, who was fortunate in all his undertakings, 
 attained to the age of 175 years ; his son Isaac, a chaste, 
 peaceable man, and fond of tranquillity, to 180 ; Jacob, 
 who was also a lover of peace, but crafty and cunning, 
 lived only 147; Ishmael, a warrior, 137; Sarah, the 
 only female of the ancient world with whose duration of 
 life we are acquainted, lived 127 years; Joseph, a man 
 of great prudence and political talents, much afflicted in 
 his youth, but greatly honored in his latter days, lived 
 to the age of 110. 
 
EXAMPLES OF GREAT AGE. 75 
 
 Moses, a man of extraordinary strength and spirit, 
 rich in deeds but weak in words, carried his life, during 
 which he was exposed to great care and fatigue, to the 
 age of 120. But he even complains that the life of man 
 endures only threescore and ten, or at most fourscore 
 years ; and we hence find that, in regard to age, the 
 case was exactly the same three thousand years ago as 
 it is at present. 
 
 The warlike and ever active Joshua lived to the age 
 of 110. Eli, the high-priest, a corpulent, phlegmatic 
 man, of a resigned disposition, lived to be only 90 ; but 
 Elisha, severe towards others and towards himself, who 
 despised convenience and riches, lived far above 100. 
 In the latter period of the Jewish State, the prophet 
 Simeon, a man full of hope and confidence in God, was 
 distinguished by a li e of 90 years. 
 
 However replete with fables the history of the Egyp- 
 tians may be, the age of their kings, recorded from the 
 earliest periods, presents nothing remarkable. The 
 longest reign is somewhat above fifty years. 
 
 If we judge according to the account of Lucian, we 
 must form a very high idea of the great age of the 
 Seres, or the ancient Chinese. They are expressly call- 
 ed Macrobii ; and Lucian ascribes their longevity to their 
 drinking water in great abundance. Is it not probable 
 that they may, even then, have been acquainted with 
 tea? 
 
 Among the Greeks we find several instances of great 
 age. The wise Solon, a man of much magnanimity, 
 depth of thought and ardent patriotism, though not in- 
 different in regard to the enjoyments of life, attained 
 the age of 80. 
 
76 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 Epiraenides of Crete is said to have lived 157 years. 
 The poet Anacreon, so fond of mirth and jollity, lived 
 to the age of 80 ; as did also Sophocles and Pindar. 
 Georgias of Leontium, a great orator, a man who had 
 travelled much, and who spent a great deal of his time 
 in the company of young people and in giving them in- 
 .struction, prolonged his life to the age of 108 years. 
 Protagoras of Abdera, an orator and traveller also, 
 lived 90 ; and Isocrates, a man of great temperance and 
 modesty, lived 98. Democritus, the friend and searcher 
 of Nature, a man also of a good temper and serene 
 mind, lived 109 years ; and the frugal, but slovenly 
 Diogenes, 90. Zeno, the founder of the Stoical sect, 
 and a master in the art of self-denial, attained nearly 
 to the age of 100 years ; and Plato, one of the most di- 
 vine geniuses that ever existed, and a friend to rest and 
 calm meditation, to that of 81. Pythagoras, who in 
 his doctrine recommended good regimen, moderation of 
 the passions, and the gymnastic exercises, became also 
 very old. He used to divide the life of man into four 
 equal parts. From the first to the twentieth year he 
 called him a child, a man begun ; from the twentieth to 
 the fortieth, a young man ; from the fortieth to the six- 
 tieth, a man ; from the sixtieth to the eightieth, an old 
 or declining man ; and after this period he reckoned 
 him no more among the living, let him live to whatever 
 age he might. 
 
 Among the Romans the following instances deserve 
 to be remarked : 
 
 M. Valerius Corvinus, a man of great boldness and 
 courage, extremely popular, and always fortunate, was 
 above the age of 100. Orbilius, the celebrated Orbil- 
 
EXAMPLES OF GREAT AGE. 77 
 
 ius, first a soldier and then a pedagogue, but who always 
 exercised military severity, attained, in this kind of life, 
 to the age of above 100 years. How far Hermippus, 
 the instructor of young maids, carried his life, we have 
 seen before. Fabius, well known on account of his de- 
 lay, showed, by an age of 90 years, that something may 
 be gained even from death by the same means. And 
 Cato, that man with an iron body and iron mind, fond 
 of a country life, and an enemy to physicians, lived to 
 the age of above 90. 
 
 We have likewise remarkable instances of the lon- 
 gevity of Roman ladies. Terentia, the wife of Cicero, 
 notwithstanding her many misfortunes, cares, and the 
 gout, with which she was tormented, lived to the age of 
 103. And Livia, the wife of Augustus, an imperious, 
 passionate, but fortunate woman, attained to that of 90. 
 
 It is particularly worthy of remark, that several in- 
 stances occur of Roman actresses who became old ; an 
 advantage which they have now unfortunately lost, and 
 which seems to show that more vital consumption is 
 connected with their occupation at present than former- 
 ly. One Luceja, who came on the stage very young, 
 performed a whole century, and even made her appear- 
 ance publicly when in her 112th year. Galeria Copi- 
 ola, an actress, and dancer also, w r as 90 years old when 
 she first performed in the theatre ; and she was again 
 brought forward as a wonder, in order to compliment 
 Pompey. But this even was not the last time of her 
 acting ; for she appeared once more, to show her re- 
 spect for Augustus. 
 
 A very valuable collection in regard to the duration 
 of life in the time of the emperor Vespasian, has been 
 
78 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 preserved to us by Pliny, from the records of the Cen- 
 sus, a source perfectly sure and worthy of credit. It 
 there appears, that in the year when that numbering of 
 the people took place, the seventy-sixth of our era, 
 there were living in that part of Italy which lies be- 
 tween the Apennines and the Po, only 124 men who 
 had attained the age of 100 years and upwards, name- 
 ly, fifty-four of 100, fifty-seven of 110, two of 125, four 
 of 130, four of from 135 to 137, and three of 140. Be- 
 sides these, there were in Parma five men, three of 
 whom were 120, and two 130 ; in Placentia, one of 130 ; 
 at Faventia, a woman of 132 ; and in Vellejacium, a 
 small town near Placentia, there lived ten persons, six 
 of whom had attained to the age of 110, and four to 
 that of 120. 
 
 The bills of mortality also of the celebrated Ulpian 
 agree in a most striking manner with ours, and in par- 
 ticular with those of great cities. From these it appears 
 that one might with great propriety compare Rome to 
 London, in regard to the probability of the duration of 
 life. 
 
 We have sufficient reason, therefore, to believe that 
 the duration of life in the time of Moses, the Greeks, 
 and the Romans, was invariably the same as at present ; 
 and that the age of the earth has no influence on the 
 longevity of its inhabitants, that difference excepted 
 which may be produced by the cultivation of its sur- 
 face, and the difference of climate that may thence 
 arise. 
 
 Thus, for example, it is certain that in Italy, at pre- 
 sent, neither so many nor so old people are to be found 
 as in the time of Vespasian ; but the reason is, that the 
 
LONGEVITY OF SOVEREIGNS. 79 
 
 climate then, on account of the woods and forests, was 
 much colder,* and rendered the men more robust. It 
 is also not improbable that the natural warmth of the 
 earth itself may alter, and be accumulated sometimes in 
 one region and diminished in another. 
 
 The result of this research will therefore be, that man 
 can still attain to the same age as ever. The difference 
 only is, that more attained to old age formerly than at 
 present. 
 
 Let us now take a view of the different states and 
 conditions of men, ^n4, in this respect, turn our eyes in 
 particular to modern times. 
 
 To begin with emperors, kings, and, in short, the 
 great ones of the earth : has Nature, which has con- 
 ferred upon them, in the highest degree, all the advan- 
 tages and enjoyments of this world, bestowed upon them 
 also her best gift, a longer duration of life ? Unfortu- 
 nately not. Neither ancient nor modern history informs 
 us that this prerogative belongs exclusively to them. 
 In ancient history we find only a few kings w r ho attained 
 to their eightieth year ; and this is equally the case in 
 the modern. In the whole catalogue of Roman and 
 German emperors, reckoning from Augustus to the pres- 
 ent time, which includes altogether above two hundred, 
 we find, (the two first, Augustus and Tiberius, except- 
 ed) only four who arrived at the age of 80 ; namely, 
 Gordian, Valerian, Anastasius, and Justinian. 
 
 Augustus, a man of a peaceful, moderate disposition, 
 though quick and lively in action, temperate in the en- 
 
 * Of this we have several instances. Pliny, for example, 
 speaks of winters when the wine was congealed in the cellars, 
 and the Tyber frozen to the bottom. 
 
80 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 joyments of the table, but more susceptible therefore of 
 the pleasure arising from the arts and the sciences, at- 
 tained to the age of seventy-six. He used none but the 
 simplest food ; ate only when he had an appetite ; never 
 drank above a pint of wine ; and considered mirth and 
 good company as the best seasoning of his meals. He 
 possessed a serene mind, was a great favorite of fortune, 
 and entertained such ideas respecting the term of life, 
 that he said to his friends a little before his death, Plau- 
 dite, amid ! " Applaud, my friends ; the farce is ended ! " 
 a disposition of mind exceedingly favorable to longev- 
 ity. In the thirtieth year of his age he was attacked 
 by so severe and dangerous a disease that his life was 
 despaired of. It was a sort of nervous disorder, which, 
 by the warmth and hot baths recommended to him by 
 his ordinary physicians, must have been rendered still 
 worse. Antonius Musa resolved to treat his case in a 
 manner totally different. He obliged him to keep him- 
 self perfectly cool, and to use the cold bath ; and by 
 these 1 means his health was again soon restored. This 
 disorder, as well as the useful change which it effected 
 in his mode of living, contributed very much, in all pro- 
 bability, to the prolongation of his life. 
 
 From this account we learn also, that the method by 
 the cold bath is improperly called the English method, 
 since it appears to be of so great antiquity. 
 
 The emperor Tiberius lived two years longer. He 
 was of a violent temper, but vir lentis maxillis,* as Au- 
 gustus called him ; a friend to voluptuousness, though 
 
 * Literally : "A man of slow jaws," which may mean that he 
 masticated slowly, as well as that he was moderate in the quan- 
 tity of his food. EDITOR. 
 
LONGEVITY OF SOVEREIGNS. 81 
 
 still attached to regimen, and, even amidst enjoyment, 
 not inattentive to his health ; so that he used to say he 
 considered a man as a fool, who, after the thirtieth year 
 of his age, consulted physicians respecting diet ; because 
 every one, with the least attention, must before that pe- 
 riod have discovered what was useful and what preju- 
 dicial to him. 
 
 Aurengzeb, that celebrated conqueror, attained to the 
 age of 100 ; but he is not to be considered so much a* 
 king as a nomade or wanderer. 
 
 Great age is equally uncommon in the royal and] 
 princely families of modern times. We must, however, 
 except the kings of France, of the house of Bourbon, 
 two of whom, who succeeded each other, attained the 
 age of 70. 
 
 Frederic IL, that great prince, one of the most im- 
 portant instances in modern times, must not be here 
 omitted. He was great in every thing, even in what 
 related to his medicine. Pie not only attained to an age 
 very rare among kings that of 7C, but, what is still 
 of greater weight, attained to it amidst a life more ex- 
 posed to care, labor, and fatigue, than that perhaps of 
 any other man who ever existed, as he spent twenty 
 years of it in active war, during which he submitted to 
 all the toils of a common soldier ; but with this differ- 
 ence, that, as commander-in-chief he thought for all, and 
 frequently passed the night, while others were enjoying 
 repose, in the deepest meditation, and in forming new 
 plans for his future operations. 
 
 The ecclesiastical princes, in this respect, -have not 
 been more fortunate. Of three hundred popes, who 
 may be reckoned up, no more than five attained to or 
 6 
 
82 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 exceeded the age of eighty, though they possessed the 
 advantage of obtaining the pontifical chair at a late pe- 
 riod, and had therefore a greater probability of enjoy- 
 ing longevity. 
 
 An extraordinary number of instances, however, may 
 be found among the hermits and monks, who, with the 
 strictest regimen, self-denial, and abstraction, while they 
 divested themselves of all human passions, and avoided 
 such intercourse as might tend to excite them, led a life 
 of contemplation, but united with bodily exercise and the 
 enjoyment of free air. Thus the apostle John attained 
 to the age of 93 ; Paul the hermit, by means of an al- 
 most incredibly severe regimen in a grotto, to that of 
 113 ; and St. Anthony to that of 105. Athanasius and 
 Jerome also exceeded the age of 80.* In modern times, 
 since mental abstraction, self-denial, and temperance 
 have undergone some variations, instances of this kind 
 are become more uncommon. 
 
 Deep-thinking philosophers have at alj times been 
 distinguished by their great age, especially when their 
 philosophy was occupied in the study of Nature, and 
 afforded them the divine pleasure of discovering new 
 and important truths : the purest enjoyment, a benefi- 
 cial exaltation of ourselves, and a kind of restoration 
 which may be ranked among the principal means of 
 prolonging the life of a perfect being. The most an- 
 cient instances are to be found among the Stoics and 
 the Pythagoreans, according to whose ideas subduing the 
 passions and sensibility, with the observation of strict 
 
 * St. David lived to the age of 146 ; Theodore, Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, to that of 88 ; and Wilfred, Bishop of Hexham, 
 through a turbulent career, to 76. EDITOR. 
 
LONGEVITY OF PHILOSOPHERS. 83 
 
 regimen, were the most essential duties of a philosopher. 
 We have already considered the example of a Plato and 
 an Isocrates. Apollonius of Tyana, an accomplished 
 man, endowed with extraordinary powers both of body 
 and mind, who, by the Christians, was considered as a 
 magician, and by the Greeks and Romans as a messen- 
 ger of the gods, in his regimen a follower of Pythago- 
 ras, and a friend to travelling, was above 100 years of 
 age. Xenophilus, a Pythagorean also, lived 106 years. 
 The philosopher Demonax, a man of the most severe 
 manners and uncommon stoical apathy, lived likewise 
 100. Being asked, a little before his death, how he 
 wished to be buried, he replied, " Give yourself no con- 
 cern on that point ; the smell will soon bury the car- 
 cass." " But," returned his friends, " do you wish, then, 
 to become food to the dogs and the birds?" '"Why 
 not ? " replied he ; " during my whole life I have en- 
 deavored as much as I could to be serviceable to man, 
 why should I not, after my death, be of some use also 
 to animals?" 
 
 Even in modern times philosophers seem to have ob- 
 tained this preeminence, and the deepest thinkers 
 appear in that respect to have enjoyed, in a higher de- 
 gree, the fruits of their mental tranquillity. Kepler 
 and Bacon both attained to a great age ; and Newton, 
 who found all his happiness and pleasure in the higher 
 spheres, attained to the age of 84.* Euler, a man of in- 
 credible industry, whose works on the most abstruse 
 subjects amount to above three hundred, approached 
 
 * Kepler only reached the age of 59 ; Bacon attained that of 
 78; and Euler, 77. EDITOR, 
 
84 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 near to the same age ; and Kant, the first philosopher 
 now alive, still shows that philosophy not only can pre- 
 serve life, but that it is the most faithful companion of 
 the greatest age, and an inexhaustible source of happi- 
 ness to one's self and to others.* 
 
 Academicians, in this respect, have been particularly 
 distinguished. I need mention only the venerable Fon- 
 tenelle, who wanted but one year of a hundred, and that 
 Nestor, Formey, both perpetual secretaries, the former 
 of the French, and the latter of the Berlin Academy. 
 
 We find, also, many instances of long life among 
 schoolmasters; so that one might almost believe that 
 continual intercourse with youth may contribute some- 
 thing towards our renovation and support. 
 
 But poets and artists, in short all those fortunate mor- 
 tals whose principal occupation leads them to be con- 
 versant with the sports of fancy and self-created worlds, 
 and whose whole life, in the properest sense, is an 
 agreeable dream, have a particular claim to a place in 
 the history of longevity. We have already seen to 
 what a great age Anacreon, Sophocles, and Pindar at- 
 tained. Young, Voltaire, Bodmer, Haller, Metastasio, 
 Gleim, Utz, and Oeser, all lived to be very old ;f and 
 
 * Kant died in 1804, having lived to the age of 80. EDITOR. 
 
 t The following short list of the ages of distinguished men 
 may be interesting to the reader in this place ; for a more com- 
 plete catalogue, arranged according to the classes of science and 
 literature upon which they shed their light, he is referred to Mad- 
 den's " Infirmities of Genius." 
 
 Tasso 61 
 
 Virgil .... 62 
 Shakspeare . . . .62 
 Moliere .... 63 
 Dante 56 
 
 Pope 56 
 
 Ovid 57 
 
 Horace .... 57 
 
 Kacine 59 
 
 Demosthenes ... 59 
 
LONGEVITY OF GREAT MEN. 
 
 85 
 
 I here flatter myself with the hope, and I shall no 
 doubt be joined in my wish by every one of my readers, 
 that Wieland, the prince of the German poets, may af- 
 ford the newest confirmation of this position.* 
 
 The most extraordinary instances of longevity are to 
 be found, however, only among those classes of .man- 
 kind who, amidst bodily labor, and in the open air, lead 
 a simple life agreeable to nature, such as farmers, gar- 
 deners, hunters, soldiers, and sailors. In these situa- 
 tions man still attains to the age of 140, and even 150. 
 I cannot here deny myself the pleasure of giving a 
 more particular account of some of these instances ; for, 
 in cases of this kind, the most trifling circumstance is 
 often interesting, and may be of importance. 
 
 Lavater 
 
 . 60 
 
 Thucydides . 
 
 . 80 
 
 Galvani 
 
 61 
 
 Juvenal 
 
 80 
 
 Bocaccio ... 
 
 . 62 
 
 
 . 80 
 
 Fenelon 
 
 63 
 
 Plato 
 
 81 
 
 Aristotle 
 
 . 63 
 
 Buffon . 
 
 . 81 
 
 Cuvier 
 
 64 
 
 Goethe 
 
 82 
 
 Milton .... 
 
 . 66 
 
 Claude . 
 
 . 82 
 
 Rousseau . 
 
 66 
 
 West . 
 
 82 
 
 Erasmus 
 
 . 69 
 
 Franklin 
 
 . 84 
 
 Cervantes . 
 
 69 
 
 Metastasio 
 
 84 
 
 Beaumarchais 
 
 . 69 
 
 Herschell . 
 
 . 84 
 
 Dryden 
 
 70 
 
 Anacreon . 
 
 85 
 
 Petrarch 
 
 . 70 
 
 Newton . 
 
 . 85 
 
 Lesage 
 
 70 
 
 Voltaire . 
 
 85 
 
 Linnseus 
 
 . 71 
 
 Halley 
 
 . 86 
 
 Locke 
 
 73 
 
 Sophocles . 
 
 90 
 
 La Fontaine . 
 
 . 74 
 
 Leeuwenhoeck 
 
 . 91 
 
 Handel . 
 
 75 
 
 Hans Sloane 
 
 93 
 
 Reaumur 
 
 . 75 
 
 Winston 
 
 . 95 
 
 Galileo 
 
 78 
 
 Michael Angelo 
 
 96 
 
 Swift .... 
 
 78 
 
 Titian . 
 
 . 96 
 
 Roger Bacon . . 
 
 78 
 
 Herodias . 
 
 . 100 
 
 Corneille 
 
 . 78 
 
 Fontenelle . 
 
 . 100 
 
 Marmoutel 
 
 79 
 
 Georgias . 
 
 . 107 
 
 
 
 
 EDITOR. 
 
 * Wialand died insane at the age of eighty, in January, 1813. 
 EDITOR. 
 
86 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 In the year 1670 died Henry Jenkins, of Yorkshire. 
 He remembered the battle of Floddenfield in 1513, and 
 at that time he was twelve years of age. It was 
 proved, from the registers of the Chancery and other 
 Courts, that he had appeared, 140 years before his 
 death, as an evidence, and had an oath administered to 
 him. At the time of his death, he was, therefore, 169 
 years old. His last occupation was fishing; and when 
 above the age of 100, he was able to swim across rapid 
 rivers. 
 
 Next to him, in point of age, is another Englishman, 
 Thomas Parr, of Shropshire. He was a poor farmer's 
 servant, and obliged to maintain himself by daily labor. 
 When above 120 years of age, he married a widow for 
 his second wife, who lived with him twelve years, and 
 who asserted that during that time he never betrayed 
 any signs of infirmity or age. Till his 130th year he 
 performed all his usual work, and was accustomed even 
 to thresh. Some years before his death, his eyes and 
 memory began to fail ; but his hearing and senses con- 
 tinued sound to the last. In his 152nd year his fame 
 had reached London ; and as the king was desirous of 
 seeing so great a rarity, he was induced to undertake a 
 journey thither. This, in all probability, shortened his 
 existence, which he otherwise might have preserved 
 some years longer ; for he was treated at Court in so 
 royal a manner, and his mode of living was so totally 
 changed, that he died soon after, at London, in 1635. 
 He was 152 years and nine months old, and had lived 
 under nine kings of England. What was most remark- 
 able in regard to this man is, that when his body was 
 opened by Dr. Harvey, his internal organs were found 
 
INSTANCES OF LONGEVITY. 87 
 
 to be in the most perfect state, nor was the least symp- 
 tom of decay to be discovered in them. His cartilages 
 even were not ossified, as is the case in all old people. 
 The smallest cause of death had not yet settled in his 
 body ; and he died merely of a plethora, because he had 
 been too well treated. 
 
 This Parr is a proof that, in many families, a consti- 
 tution so favorable to longevity may transmit a remark- 
 ably good stamen vitce. His great grandson died at 
 Cork, a few years ago, at the age of 103. 
 
 The following instance is almost of the same kind : 
 A Dane, named Draakenberg, born in 1626, served as a 
 seaman in the Royal Navy till the ninety -first year of 
 his age, and spent fifteen years of his life as a slave in 
 Turkey, and in the greatest misery. When he was 111, 
 and had settled to enjoy tranquillity, he resolved to 
 marry, and united himself to a woman of threescore. 
 He, however, outlived her a long time ; and in his 
 130th year, fell in love with a young country girl, who, 
 as may be well supposed, rejected his proposal. He 
 then tried his fortune with several others, but as he had 
 no better success, he at length resolved to continue 
 single, and in that condition lived sixteen years. He 
 died in the year 1772, in the 146th year of his age. 
 He was a man of a rather violent temper, and exhibited 
 frequent proofs of his strength during the last years of 
 his life. 
 
 In the year 1757, J. Emngham died in Cornwall, in 
 the 144th year of his age. He was born of poor pa- 
 rents in the reign of James I., and had been brought up 
 to labor from his infancy. He had served long as a 
 soldier and corporal ; and had been present at the bat<~ 
 
88 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 tie of Hochstedt. He at length returned to the place 
 of his nativity, and worked as a day-laborer till his 
 death. It is to be remarked, that in his youth he never 
 drank strong, heating liquors ; that he always lived re- 
 markable temperately, and seldom ate flesh. Till his 
 100th year he scarcely knew what sickness was ; and 
 eight days before his end, he had walked three miles. 
 
 In the year 1792, died, in the Duchy of Holstein, an 
 industrious day-laborer, named Stender, in the 103rd 
 year of his age. His food, for the most part, was noth- 
 ing but oatmeal and buttermilk. He rarely ate flesh ; 
 and what he used was always much salted. He scarcely 
 ever had thirst, and therefore drank very seldom. He 
 was fond of smoking tobacco. In his old age he first 
 began to drink tea, and sometimes coffee. He lost his 
 teeth early. He was never sick ; and could not be out 
 of humor ; that is to say, it was physically impossible 
 that his bile should ever overflow. He avoided with 
 great care every cause of strife or contention. He 
 had the greatest trust in Providence ; and this was his 
 consolation and support in all his misfortunes and 
 troubles. His chief dependence always was in the 
 goodness of God. 
 
 One of the most singular instances that, amidst the 
 ficklest sports of fortune, continual danger, and the 
 most destructive influences, the life of man may be pre- 
 served to an incredible length, is the following : An 
 old soldier, named Mittelstedt, died in Prussia, in the 
 year 1792, in the 112th year of his age. This man 
 was born at Fissahn, in that country, in the month of 
 June, 1681 ; and was lost at the gaming-table by his 
 master, who in one evening staked his whole equipage 
 
INSTANCES OF LONGEVITY. 89 
 
 and six more servants. He then entered into the army, 
 and served as a soldier sixty-seven years. He was 
 present in all the campaigns under Frederick I., Fred- 
 erick William L, and Frederick II., and, in particular, 
 in those of the seven years' war ; and had been engaged 
 in seventeen general actions, in which he braved num- 
 berless dangers and received many wounds. In the 
 seven years' war his horse was shot under him, and he 
 was then taken prisoner by the Russians. After sup- 
 porting all these difficulties, he married ; and having 
 lost two wives successively, he married a third, in 
 1790, when he w r as in the 110th year of his age. A 
 little before his death he was still able to walk two 
 miles, every month, in order to receive his small pension. 
 
 The same year died at Neus, in the Archbishopric 
 of Cologne, H. Kauper, a veteran of 112. He wns 
 a man of a strong make; had been accustomed to 
 walk a little every day ; could read till his death with- 
 out spectacles, and retained the use of his senses to the 
 last. 
 
 Helen Gray died a few years ago, in the 105th year 
 of her age. She was of small stature, exceedingly 
 lively, peaceable, and good-tempered, and a few years 
 before her death acquired new teeth. 
 
 Thomas Garrick was alive last year, (1795,) in the 
 county of Fife, in the 108th year of his age. He still 
 possessed great vigor ; and was celebrated, as he always 
 had been, on account of his extraordinary appetite. For 
 twenty years he had never been confined to his bed by 
 sickness. 
 
 Not long ago there was still alive at Tacony, near 
 Philadelphia, a shoemaker named R. Glen, in the 114th 
 
90 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 year of his age. He was by birth a Scotchman, had 
 seen King William III., enjoyed the perfect use of his 
 sight and memory, ate and drank with a keen appetite, 
 had a good digestion, labored the whole week, and on 
 Sunday walked to hear divine service in the church 
 at Philadelphia. His third wife was still alive ; she 
 was thirty years of age, and lived happily with her 
 husband. 
 
 A certain baron, Baravicino de Capellis, died in 1770, 
 at Meran, in Tyrol, at the age of 104. He had been 
 married to four wives : the first he married in his four- 
 teenth, and the last in his eighty-fourth year. By his 
 fourth wife he had seven children, and when he died 
 she was pregnant with the eighth. The vigor of his 
 body and mind did not forsake him till the last months 
 of his life. He never used spectacles, and when at a 
 great age would frequently walk a couple of miles. 
 His usual food was eggs ; he never tasted boiled flesh; 
 sometimes he ate a little roasted, but always in very 
 small quantity : and he drank abundance of tea with 
 rosa-solis* and sugar-candy. 
 
 Anthony Senish, a farmer of the village of Puy, in 
 Limoges, died in 1770, in the lllth year of his age. 
 He labored till within fourteen days of his death; 
 had still his teeth and his hair; and his sight had 
 not failed him. His usual food was chestnuts and 
 Turkish corn. He had never been bled, nor used any 
 medicine. 
 
 These are all the instances of great age in modern 
 times with which I am 'acquainted. Persons of 100 
 years I omit, for these are more common. A carpenter 
 
 * A plant having the character of being a "cordial." EDITOR. 
 
LONGEVITY OF PHYSICIANS. 91 
 
 died a few years ago at Btirgel, near this place, in his 
 104th year. He worked daily till his death ; and his 
 favorite employment, at last, was spinning yarn. One 
 day, as he was sitting at his wheel, his daughter ob- 
 served it motionless ; she immediately went up to him, 
 and found him dead. 
 
 Physicians, who so abundantly dispense to others the 
 means of health and life, ought to claim here a distin- 
 guished place. But unfortunately this is not the case. 
 It may be said of them, in general : Aliis inserviendo 
 consumuntur; aliis medendo moriuntur.* 
 
 At any rate, mortality is greater among practical 
 physicians than perhaps among men of any other pro- 
 fession. They have the least opportunity of observing 
 those prudential rules and precautions, for preserving 
 health, which they lay down to others ; and there are 
 few employments in which the powers both of the body 
 and mind are exposed to so much consumption as in 
 this. Head and feet must be always exercised in com- 
 mon. But the greatest mortality prevails during the 
 first ten years of their practice. A physician who has 
 fortunately withstood that period, attains to a certain 
 strength of constitution, a kind of insensibility to fatigue 
 and the causes of disease ; by custom, noxious effluvia 
 and the poison of infectious disorders becomes less pre- 
 judicial; and he acquires more indifference for the 
 heart-melting scenes of woe, and the numberless mise- 
 ries, the consequences of vice and moral evil, which his 
 business condemns him to be a daily spectator of: and 
 
 * In serving others they are consumed ; in healing others they 
 are destroyed. EDITOR. 
 
92 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 thus a physician who has luckily passed his time of 
 probation, may become an old man ; 
 
 A striking instance of this is afforded by our prede- 
 cessor, Hippocrates, who lived to the age of 109. His 
 whole life was employed in the study of Nature, in 
 travelling, and in visiting the sick ; but he passed more 
 of his time in small villages and in the country than in 
 great cities. Galen, Crato, Forestus, Plater, Hoffman, 
 Haller, Van Swieten, and Boerhaave all attained to a 
 considerable age.* 
 
 In regard to shortness of life, miners, and those em- 
 ployed in melting-houses, are particularly distinguished, 
 as well as those who live under the earth, or are con- 
 tinually exposed to poisonous effluvia. In some mines, 
 which contain much arsenic and cobalt, the workmen 
 do not live to be older than thirty. 
 
 I shall now take a short view of the difference of 
 age, as arising from climate, or rather the nature of the 
 soil. 
 
 Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and England have, in 
 
 * The following list embraces a few distinguished names of 
 medical philosophers who have attained an advanced age : 
 
 Boerhaave . . . .70 
 Haller .... 70 
 
 Tissot 70 
 
 Gall 71 
 
 Darwin . . . .72 
 
 Harvey . . . .81 
 
 Mead .... 81 
 
 Duhamel, . . . .82 
 
 Astruc . 83 
 
 Hoffman . . . . "83 
 Van Swieten ... 72 Pinel .... 84 
 Fallopius . . . .72 Swedenborg . . . .85 
 Jenner . . . . 75 Morgagni .... 89 
 
 Heister 75 Heberden . . . .92 
 
 Cullen .... 78 Ruysch .... 93 
 
 Galen 79 , Hippocrates . . .109 
 
 Spallanzani . . . 79 I EDITOK. 
 
LONGEVITY OF NATIONS. 93 
 
 modern times, without doubt, produced the oldest men.* 
 Instances of some who attained to the age of 130, 140, 
 150, have occurred in these countries. 
 
 However favorable a northern climate may be to 
 longevity, too great a degree of cold is, on the other 
 hand, prejudicial to it. In Iceland, and the northern 
 parts of Asia, such as Siberia, men attain at most to the 
 age of sixty or seventy. 
 
 Besides England and Scotland, Ireland is celebrated 
 for the longevity of its inhabitants. In Dunsford, a 
 small place in that country, there were living, at one 
 time, eighty persons above the age of fourscore. And 
 Lord Bacon says there was not a village in the whole 
 island, as he believed, in which there was not one man 
 upwards of eighty. 
 
 In France, instances of longevity are not so abun- 
 dant ; though a man died there, in the year 1757, at the 
 age of 121. 
 
 The case is the same in Italy ; yet in the northern 
 province of Lombardy there have been some instances 
 of great age. 
 
 In Spain, also, there have been some instances, though 
 seldom, of men who lived to the age of 110. 
 
 That healthy and beautiful country, Greece, is still 
 as celebrated as it was formerly in regard to longevity. 
 Tournefort found, at Athens, an old consul who was 
 
 * In England, during the seven years 1838-44, there died at 
 the age of 100 and upwards, 788 persons ; namely, 256 males, and 
 532 females : giving an average of 112 1-2 annually. Of this 
 number a very small proportion, namely 72 (27 males, 45 females), 
 were returned from London; while 137 (43 males, 94 females), 
 were inhabitants of Wales. EDITOR. 
 
94 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 118 years of age. The island Naxos is particularly 
 celebrated on this account. 
 
 Even in Egypt and India there are instances of 
 long life, particularly among the Bramins, Anchorites, 
 and Hermits, who detest the indolence and intemperance 
 of the other inhabitants of these countries. 
 
 Ethiopia formerly was much celebrated for its lon- 
 gevity ; but a contrary account is given of it by Bruce. 
 
 Some districts of Hungary are particularly distin- 
 guished by the great age of the people who reside in 
 them. 
 
 Germany contains abundance of old persons ; but 
 it affords few instances of very long life. 
 
 Even in Holland people may become old ; but this is 
 not often the case, and few live there to the age of a 
 hundred. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Eesult of the above observations. Age of the world has no influence- 
 on that of its inhabitants. -Influence of climate and of the atmos- 
 phere. Islands and peninsulas. Countries in Europe most favor- 
 able to longevity. Advantages of temperance. The two most 
 dreadful extremes of mortality in modern times. Moderation in 
 all things has great effect in prolonging life. State of marriage. 
 Female sex. Industry. Frugality. Civilization. Rural life. 
 Renovation possible. Extent of human life determined. Absolute 
 and relative duration of it. Tables respecting the latter. 
 
 THAT 1 may not tire the patience of my readers by 
 too great a multitude of examples, I shall here stop, and, 
 in future, introduce them only occasionally, as the sub- 
 ject may require. 
 
 Let me be permitted, therefore, to collect the general 
 result of the observations above made, and to draw from 
 them the following important conclusions : 
 
 I. The age of the world hitherto has had no percep- 
 tible influence on that of man ; and people may still 
 become as old as in the time of Abraham, and even of 
 earlier epochs. There certainly have been periods 
 when men lived sometimes longer and sometimes short- 
 er ; but this evidently did not arise from the world, but 
 from man himself. When men were in a savage state, 
 simple, laborious children of Nature, and much exposed 
 to the open air, as shepherds, hunters, and farmers, 
 great age was very common among them ; but when 
 
96 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 they began gradually to despise the dictates of Nature, 
 to study refinement, and to indulge in luxury, the dura- 
 tion of their life became shorter. The same people, 
 however, restored by a revolution to their former rude 
 state, and to manners more agreeable to Nature, can 
 again attain to their ancient longevity. These, conse- 
 quently, are unsettled periods, which only pass away 
 and return. Mankind, in general, do not suffer by them, 
 and retain that duration of life which is appointed for 
 them. 
 
 II. Man, as we have above seen, can, in almost all 
 climates, in the frigid or torrid zone, attain to a great 
 age. The only difference seems to be, that this is the 
 case in some much more than in others ; and that though 
 man can attain to a great age, people in general do not 
 attain to the greatest. 
 
 III. Even in districts where mortality in general is 
 very great, individuals may attain to a greater age than 
 in places where general mortality is less. I shall, by 
 way of example, mention the warm countries of the 
 East. There, mortality, upon the whole, is very small : 
 hence their extraordinary population ; and infancy, in 
 particular, suffers there much less on account of the con- 
 tinually uniform and pure temperature of the atmos- 
 phere. Yet a much smaller proportion of old people 
 are found in these countries than in the northern, where 
 mortality in general is greater. 
 
 IV. Places, the situation of which is high, have, in 
 general, more and purer air than those which stand 
 low ; though here, also, there is a certain limitation, and 
 the rule cannot be thus laid down : the higher the better. 
 The greatest degree of height, the glaciers, is, on the 
 
INFLUENCE OF CLIMATE. 97 
 
 contrary, prejudicial to health ; and Switzerland, with- 
 out doubt the highest land in Europe, has produced 
 fewer instances of longevity than Scotland. For this 
 there are two reasons : First, the atmosphere at a great 
 height is too dry, ethereal, and pure, and consumes, 
 therefore, speedier. Secondly, the temperature of it is 
 too variable ; heat and cold succeed each other too rap- 
 idly ; and nothing is more unfavorable to duration of 
 life than very sudden changes. 
 
 V. In cold climates, men in general become older 
 than in warm ; and for two reasons : First, because, in. 
 warm countries vital consumption is greater ; and se- 
 condly, because, in cold countries, the climate, being 
 more temperate, checks vital consumption. This, how- 
 ever, is the case only in a certain degree. By the high- 
 est cold, such as that of Greenland, Nova Zembla, etc., 
 the duration of life is shortened. 
 
 YI. Uniformity in the state of the atmosphere, parti- 
 cularly in regard to heat, cold, gravity, and lightness, 
 contributes, in a very considerable degree, to the dura- 
 tion of life. Countries, therefore, where sudden and 
 great variations in the barometer and thermometer are 
 usual, cannot be favorable to longevity. Such countries 
 may be healthy, and many men may become old i 
 them ; but they will not attain to a great age, for all 
 rapid variations are so many internal revolutions ; and 
 these occasion an astonishing consumption, both of the 
 powers and the organs. In this respect Germany is 
 particularly distinguished; for its situation renders it 
 subject to a continual mixture of heat and cold, of 
 northern and southern climate, where one often experi- 
 ences, in the course of the same day, both frost and the 
 7 
 
98 ART OP PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 utmost heat ; and where the month of March may be 
 extremely warm, and that of May accompanied with 
 snow. This uncertainty of the climate of Germany is 
 undoubtedly the principal cause that, notwithstanding 
 the healthfulness of its situation in other points of view, 
 and though in general people attain there to a consider- 
 able age, instances of very great age occur much more 
 rarely than in neighboring countries lying almost under 
 the same degree of latitude. 
 
 VII. Too high a degree of dryness, as well as too 
 great moisture, are unfavorable to duration of life. Air, 
 therefore, which contains a mixture of fine moisture, is 
 the best for attaining to great age. The reasons are as 
 follow : Moist air, being in part already saturated, has 
 less attractive power over bodies ; that is to say, con- 
 sumes them less. Besides, in a moist atmosphere there 
 is always more uniformity of temperature ; and fewer 
 rapid revolutions of heat and cold are possible. Lastly, 
 .an atmosphere somewhat moist keeps the organs longer 
 pliable and youthful ; whereas that which is too dry 
 brings on much sooner aridity of the vessels, and all the 
 characteristics of old age. 
 
 A most striking proof of this is afforded by islands ; 
 for we find that these, as well as peninsulas, have at all 
 times been, and still are, the cradles of old age. In 
 islands mankind always become older than in continents 
 lying under the same degree of latitude. Thus men 
 live longer in the islands of the Archipelago than in the 
 neighbouring countries of Asia; in Cyprus, than in 
 Syria ; in Formosa and Japan, than in China ; and in 
 England and Denmark, than in Germany. 
 
 Salt water also is more favourable to longevity than 
 
INFLUENCE OF CLIMATE. 99 
 
 fresh ; and for that reason seafaring people can become 
 so old. Stagnated fresh water, on the other hand, is 
 hurtful, by its mephitic evaporation. 
 
 VIII. A great deal seems to depend likewise on the 
 ground and soil, in a word, on the whole genius loci ; 
 and in this respect a cold soil appears to be the least 
 calculated to promote longevity. 
 
 IX. According to experience, England, Denmark, 
 Sweden, and Norway, are the countries where men at- 
 tain to the greatest age ; and we find by accurate obser- 
 vation, that all the before-mentioned properties are in 
 these united. On the other hand, Abyssinia, some parts 
 of the West Indies, and Surinam, are countries where 
 the life of man is shortest. 
 
 X. The more a man follows Nature, and is obedient 
 to her laws, the longer he will live; the further he 
 deviates from these, the shorter will be his existence. 
 This is one of the most general of laws. In the same 
 districts, therefore, as long as the inhabitants lead a 
 temperate life, as shepherds or hunters, they will attain 
 to old age ; but as soon as they become civilized, and 
 by these means sink into luxury, dissipation, and cor- 
 ruption, their duration of life will be shortened. It is, 
 therefore, not the rich and great, not those who take 
 gold tinctures and wonder-working medicines, who be- 
 come old ; but country labourers, farmers, mariners, and 
 such men as perhaps never in their lives employed their 
 thoughts on the means which must be used to promote 
 longevity. It is among these people only that the most 
 astonishing instances of it are to be observed. 
 
 XI. The most dreadful degree of human mortality, 
 occasioned by two inventions of modern times, is to be 
 
100 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 found among the slaves in the West Indies, and in 
 hospitals for foundlings. Of the negro slaves, one in 
 five or six dies annually ; a proportion equal to that 
 which takes place during the ravages of the most in- 
 veterate pestilence. And of 7000 children who are 
 every year brought into the foundling hospital at Paris, 
 180 only are alive at the end of ten years ; so that 6820 
 perish, and no more than one in forty escapes from that 
 sepulchre. Is it not highly worthy of remark, and a 
 new proof of our former position, that mortality prevails 
 in the greatest degree where men deviate farthest from 
 Nature ; where her most sacred laws are despised ; and 
 where her first and strongest bonds are torn asunder ? 
 Where man, in the most evident manner, sinks below 
 the brute, there the child is dragged from its mother's 
 breast, and consigned helpless to the care of hirelings ; 
 there one brother is separated from another, from his 
 home, from his native soil, and transferred to a strange 
 and unhealthy climate, where, without hope, without 
 comfort, and without enjoyment, while his heart con- 
 tinually sighs after those he left behind, he pines to 
 death, oppressed with severity and labor. I am ac- 
 quainted with no contagion, no plague, no state of man- 
 kind, either in ancient or modern times, during which 
 mortality prevailed to the degree which it does in or- 
 phan-houses. To produce this evil required an excess 
 of refinement reserved only for the most modern times. 
 It required the aid of those wretched political calcula- 
 tors who can assert that the State is the best motheiy 
 and that nothing more is necessary to increase popula- 
 tion than to declare children to be its property, to place 
 them under its protection, and to establish a public abyss, 
 
INFLUENCE OF MARRIAGE. 101 
 
 which may swallow them up. People now see, when it 
 is too late, the horrid consequences of this unnatural 
 maternity; this contempt of the first grand pillar of 
 human society, marriage and parental duty. In so 
 dreadful a manner does Nature avenge every trans- 
 gression of her most sacred commands. 
 
 XII. The result of all experience, and a principal 
 ground of longevity, is, omnia mediocria ad vitam pro- 
 longandam sunt utilia. Moderation in very thing, the 
 aurea mediocritas, so much extolled by Horace, and 
 which Plume calls the best thing on earth, is indeed of 
 the utmost efficacy in prolonging life. In a certain 
 mediocrity of condition, climate, health, temperament, 
 constitution, employment, spirits, diet, etc., lies the 
 greatest secret for becoming old. By all extremes, 
 either too much or too little, too high or too low, pro- 
 longation of life is impeded. 
 
 XIII. The following circumstance also is worthy of 
 remark. All those people who have become very old, 
 were married more than once, and generally at a very 
 late period of life. There is not one instance of a bach- 
 elor having attained to a great age. This observation 
 is as applicable to the female as to the male sex ; and 
 hence it would appear that a certain abundance in the 
 power of generation is favorable to longevity. It forms 
 an addition to the vital power ; and this power of pro- 
 creation seems to be in the most intimate proportion to 
 that of regenerating and restoring one's self; but a cer- 
 tain regularity and moderation are requisite in the em- 
 ployment of it ; and marriage is the only means by 
 which these can be preserved. 
 
102 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 The greatest example of this is a Frenchman, named 
 De Longueville, who lived to the age of 110. He had 
 been married to ten wives ; his last wife he married 
 when in his ninety-ninth year, and she bore him a son 
 when he was in his hundred-and-first. 
 
 XIV. More women than men become old ; but men 
 only attain to the utmost extent of longevity. The 
 equilibrium and pliability of the female body seem, for 
 a certain time, to give it more durability, and to render 
 it less susceptible of injury from destructive influences. 
 But male strength is, without doubt, necessary to arrive 
 at a very great age. More women, therefore, become 
 old ; but fewer very old. 
 
 XV. In the first half of man's age, an active, even a 
 fatiguing life, is conducive to longevity ; but in the last 
 half, a life that is peaceful and uniform. No instance 
 can be found of an idler having attained to a remarka- 
 bly great age. 
 
 XVI. Rich and nourishing food, and an immoderate 
 use of flesh, do not prolong life. Instances of the great- 
 est age are to be found among men who from their 
 youth have lived principally on vegetables, and who 
 perhaps never tasted flesh. 
 
 XVII. A certain degree of cultivation is physically 
 necessary for man, and promotes duration of life. The 
 wild savage does not live so long as man in a state of 
 civilization. , 
 
 XVIII. To live in the country and in small towns, is 
 favorable to longevity : to live in great towns is unfa- 
 vorable. In great cities, from one in twenty-five to one 
 in thirty die every year ; in the country, from one in 
 
RENOVATION IN OLD AGE. 
 
 103 
 
 forty to one in fifty.* Mortality among children is in 
 particular much increased by living in great cities, so 
 that one half of those who are born die generally before 
 the third year; whereas, in the country, the half are not 
 carried off until the twentieth or thirtieth.f The small- 
 
 * The data upon which Hufeland founded these statements 
 were of a very inefficient character, as compared with those which 
 we possess at the present day, in the labors of the Registrar-Gen- 
 eral. Thus, instead of the mortality of large cities ranging from 
 1 in 25 to 1 in 30, the highest known rate of mortality, namely 
 that of Liverpool, is 1 in 30 ; while in the metropolis of London 
 it is only 1 in 40. In the country, taking as examples, Kent, 
 Surrey, and Northumberland, it ranges between one in 51, and 1 
 in 71 1-2. In further illustration of this subject, I have selected 
 the following examples from the Registrar-General's Report on 
 the Mortality of England during the Seven Years 1838-44 : 
 
 MALES. 
 
 All England 1 in 44 
 
 FEMALES. 
 
 1 in 47 1-2 
 
 Liverpool 1 " 28 . . 1 " 32 
 
 London 1 " 37 . . "43 
 
 Kent " 48 . . "54 
 
 Surrey (rural) " 54 . . "57 
 
 Thanct and Eastry ... " 54 . . "64 
 Hendon and Barnet ... " 61 . . "63 
 Bideford and Holsworthy . " 61 . . " 65 
 Godstone, Reigate, Dorking "65 . . 1 " 62 
 Northumberland (3 districts) "71 . . 1 " 72 
 
 EDITOR. 
 
 t According to the Registrar-General's report on the mortality 
 of children, nearly one half of all that are born alive die before 
 the end of the fifth year in Liverpool ; while the same number in 
 London live to the age of 33 ; and in the county of Surrey to 50. 
 In 1845 nearly one half of all the children born in Birmingham 
 died under five years of age ; the entire half in Manchester died 
 in the same period ; and more than one half in Liverpool. In 
 London the proportion was between one half and one third ; and. 
 in Wales less than one third. EDITOR. 
 
104 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 est degree of human mortality is one in sixty annually; 
 and this proportion is found only here and there among 
 country people.* 
 
 XIX. Among some men a kind of renovation seems 
 to be really possible. In several instances of great age 
 it has been remarked that persons in their sixtieth or 
 seventieth year, when others cease to live, acquired 
 new teeth and new hair, and commenced as it were a 
 new period of life, which continued twenty or thirty 
 years longer : a kind of self-reproduction which is to be 
 observed only among the more imperfect part of the 
 creation, t 
 
 The most remarkable instance of this kind with which 
 I am acquainted, is an old magistrate named Bamberg, 
 who lived at Rechingen in the Palatinate, and who died, 
 in 1791, in the 120th year of his age. In 1787, long 
 after he had lost all his teeth, eight new ones grew up. 
 At the end of six months they again dropped out, but 
 their place was supplied by other new ones, both in the 
 upper and lower jaw ; and Nature, unwearied, continued 
 this labor four years, and even till within a month of 
 his death. After he had employed his new teeth for 
 some time with great convenience in chewing his food, 
 
 * In Northumberland, as is shown in the above table, it is 1 in 
 71 1-2. EDITOR. 
 
 t In my work on " Healthy Skin " I have mentioned several in- 
 stances of very old persons in whom the natural color of the hair 
 returned after they had been for years before grey. This was the 
 case with John Weeks, who lived to the age of 114. Sir John 
 Sinclair reports a similar occurrence in an old Scotchman, who 
 lived to be 110; and Susan Edmonds, when in her 95th year, 
 Tecovered her black hair, but became again grey previously to her 
 death, at the age of 105. EDITOR. 
 
NATURAL DURATION OF LIFE. 105 
 
 they took their leave, and new ones immediately sprang 
 up in some of the sockets. All these teeth he acquired 
 and lost without any pain ; and the whole number of 
 them amounted at least to fifty. 
 
 By the observations already made, we are now ena- 
 bled to come to a conclusion respecting the important 
 question : What is the proper term or 'boundary of 
 human life ? One might believe that some degree of 
 certainty could be acquired on this point; but it is in- 
 credible what difference in opinion respecting it prevails 
 among philosophers. Some allow man a very long, and 
 others a very short duration of life. Some are of 
 opinion that, to determine it, nothing is necessary but 
 to examine to what extent it is carried among savages, 
 because in that state of Nature the utmost period of 
 life must be discovered with the greatest precision. 
 This, however, is false. It ought to be considered that 
 this state of Nature is likewise, for the most part, a 
 state of misery, where the want of society and civiliza- 
 tion obliges men to waste themselves, and to undergo 
 fatigue superior to their strength ; and where, in conse- 
 quence of their situation, they are exposed to more 
 destructive influences, and enjoy much fewer means of 
 restoration. We must not take our examples from the 
 class of savages ; for these, in their properties, partici- 
 pate with the inferior animals : but from that class 
 where man, by culture and civilization, has really be- 
 come a rational being ; for he has then in a physical 
 sense first attained to his destination and preeminence, 
 and, by the help of reason, has procured those means 
 of restoration from without, and that happiness of situ- 
 ation, which it is possible for him to acquire. It is then 
 
106 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 only that we can consider him as a man, and collect 
 examples from his condition. 
 
 One might also believe that death by marasmus, that 
 is to say, by old age, is the true boundary of human 
 life. But this reasoning, in the present times, is at- 
 tended with great deception ; for, as Lichtenburg says, 
 men have found out the art to ingraft old age upon 
 themselves before the time ; and one may see very old 
 people of thirty or forty, who have every symptom of 
 extreme age, such as stiffness and aridity, weakness, 
 grey hair, ossified cartilages, etc., which are observed 
 very rarely but among persons who have attained to 
 the age of eighty or ninety. This, however, is an arti- 
 ficial relative old age ; and such a standard cannot be 
 employed in a calculation which has for its object the 
 duration of the life of man in general. 
 
 Some, therefore, have invented the most singular 
 hypotheses to answer this question. The ancient Egyp- 
 tians, for example, believe that the heart increased two 
 drachms annually in weight for fifty years, and de- 
 creased again fifty years in the same proportion. In 
 the hundredth year, according to this supposition, no 
 more heart remained ; and, consequently, the hun- 
 dredth year was the term or boundary of human life. 
 To answer this question in a satisfactory manner, one 
 must, in my opinion, make the following essential dis- 
 tinction : 
 
 1. How long can man exist, in general, considered 
 as a race ; and what is the absolute duration of his life ? 
 We know that each class of animals has a certain abso- 
 lute duration of life, and the case must be the same 
 with man. 
 
NATURAL DURATION OF LIFE. 107 
 
 2. How long can man live as an individual; and 
 what is the relative duration of his life ? 
 
 With regard to the first question, the research re- 
 specting the absolute duration of human life, there is 
 nothing to prevent us from giving it the utmost extent 
 to which, according to experience, it is possible for it to 
 attain. It is here sufficient to know what man's nature 
 is capable of; and a man who has attained to the far- 
 thest .boundary of mortal existence, may be considered 
 as a pattern of human nature in its utmost perfection, 
 and as an instance of what is possible for it under favor- 
 able circumstances. Now, experience incontestably 
 tells us, that a man still may attain to the age of 150 
 or 1 60 years, ; and what is of the greatest importance 
 is, that the instance of Thomas Parr, whose body was 
 opened in his 152nd year, proves that, even at this ajc, 
 the state of the internal organs may be so perfect and 
 sound that one might certainly live some time longer ; 
 and that no doubt would have been the case with him, 
 had not the manner in which he lived, by his not being 
 accustomed to it, brought on a plethora which proved 
 mortal. We may, therefore, with the greatest proba- 
 bility, assert, that the organization and vital power of 
 man are able to support a duration and activity of 200 
 years. 
 
 This assertion Acquires some weight by our finding 
 that it agrees with the proportion between the time of 
 growth and the duration of life. One may lay it down 
 as a rule, that an animal lives eight times as long as it 
 grows. Now, man in a natural state, where the period 
 of maturity is not hastened by art, requires full twenty- 
 
108 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 five years to attain his complete growth and conforma- 
 tion ; and this proportion also will give him an absolute 
 age of 200 years. 
 
 It needs not be objected that great age is the unnatu- 
 ral state, or an exception from the rule ; and that a 
 shorter life is properly the natural condition. We shall 
 see hereafter, that almost all those kinds of death which 
 take place before the hundredth year are brought on arti- 
 ficially, that is to say, by disease or accident ; and it 
 is certain that the far greater part of men die an unna- 
 tural death, and that not above one in a thousand attains 
 to the age of a hundred years. 
 
 But with regard to the relative duration of human 
 life : that, indeed, is extremely variable, and as differ- 
 ent as each individual. It is regulated according to the 
 goodness or badness of the mass of which the person is 
 formed ; his manner of living ; speedier or slower con- 
 sumption ; and a thousand internal and external cir- 
 cumstances which may have an influence on the contin- 
 uance of his existence. We must not imagine that every 
 man, at present, brings with him into the world a vital 
 stock capable of lasting 150 or 200 years. It is unfor- 
 tunately the fate of our generation, that the sins of the 
 father often communicate to the embryo a far shorter 
 stamen vitce.* Let us only reflect on the innumerable 
 host of diseases and accidents which openly and secretly 
 prey upon our lives, and we sjiall clearly see that it is 
 now far more difficult than ever to attain to thaU term 
 which human nature is really capable of reaching. 
 That term, however, we must make our foundation ; 
 
 * Thread of life. EDITOR. 
 
RELATIVE DURATION OF LIFE. 109 
 
 and we shall afterwards examine how far it may be in 
 our power to remove those obstacles which prevent us 
 at present from arriving at it. 
 
 The following table, founded on experience, may 
 serve as a proof of the relative duration of human life 
 at present. 
 
 Of a hundred men who are born, 
 
 50 die before the 10th year, 
 
 20 between 10 and 20 
 
 10 20 " 30 
 
 6 " 30 " 40 
 
 5 " 40 " 50 
 
 3 " 50 " 60 
 
 Therefore, 6 only live to be above the age of 60. 
 Haller, who collected the greatest number of instances 
 respecting the age of man, found the relative duration 
 of life to be in the following proportion : 
 
 Of men who lived from 100 to 110 years the in- 
 stances have been 1000 
 
 110 to 120 60 
 
 120 "130 29 
 
 130 "140 15 
 
 140 " 150 6 
 
 169 1 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 More particular examination of human life. Essential definition of 
 it. Principal operations on which it depends. Accession from 
 without. Assimilation and Animalization. Nutrition and prepa- 
 ration of the organized matter. Power and organs consumed by 
 life itself. Separation and destruction of exhausted parts. Organs 
 necessary for life. History of life. Causes of the long duration 
 of the life of man. Influence of reason and the higher powers of 
 thought. Answer to the question, Why, among men who are more 
 fitted for long life than animals, mortality, however, should be 
 greater ? 
 
 WE now come to our principal object, the application 
 of the foregoing premises to the prolongation of human 
 life. But before we can be able to accomplish this 
 point, we must first thoroughly examine the following 
 questions : In what does the life of man properly con- 
 sist ? On what organs, powers, and disposition of parts 
 does this important operation, and the duration of it, 
 depend ? In what does it essentially differ from the 
 life of other creatures and beings ? 
 
 Man, without doubt, is the highest link, the crown of 
 the visible creation ; the last, the most complete, and 
 the best finished production of the plastic power of Na- 
 ture ; the highest degree of its self-representation which 
 our eyes are capable of seeing, or our senses of com- 
 prehending. With him our sublunary prospect is closed ; 
 he is the extreme point with which and in which the 
 sensible world borders on a higher spiritual world. 
 
ESSENTIAL DEFINITION OF LIFE. Ill 
 
 The organization of man is, as it were, a magic band, 
 by which two worlds of a totally different nature are 
 connected and conjoined ; an eternally incomprehensi- 
 ble wonder, by which he becomes, at the same time, an 
 inhabitant of these two worlds, the material and the in- 
 tellectual. 
 
 One may, with propriety, consider man as a compen- 
 dium of Nature ; as a masterpiece of conformation, in 
 which all the active powers scattered throughout the 
 rest of Nature, all kinds of organs and forms of life, are 
 united in one whole, act in concert, and, by these means, 
 make him, in the strictest sense, a little world ; a copy 
 and epitome of the greater, as he was so often called by 
 the ancient philosophers. 
 
 His life is the most expanded ; his organization the 
 most delicate and best finished; his juices and compo- 
 nent parts the most ennobled and best prepared ; and 
 his intensive life and self-consumption are, therefore, the 
 strongest. He has, consequently, more points of con- 
 tact with the whole of Nature by which he is sur- 
 rounded, and likewise more wants ; but he has, also, a 
 richer and more perfect restoration than any other being. 
 
 The inanimate mechanical and chemical powers of 
 Nature ; the organic or living powers ; and that spark 
 of divine power, the power of thought, are here 
 united and blended together, in the most wonderful 
 manner, to form that godlike phenomenon which we call 
 the life of man. 
 
 Let us now take a short view of the essence and me- 
 chanism of this operation, as far as they can be dis- 
 covered. 
 
 The life of man, considered in a physical view, is 
 
112 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 nothing else than an incessant ceasing and being ; a 
 continual change of destruction and restoration ; an 
 everlasting contest of chemical, decomposing powers, 
 with all the combining and creative vital powers. New 
 component parts are every moment collected from the 
 whole of nature that surrounds us ; called to life from 
 an inanimate state, and transferred from the chemical 
 to the organic living world ; and from these heteroge- 
 neous particles the plastic vital power produces a new 
 uniform mass, which, in every point, is stamped with 
 the character of life. But, in the same unceasing man- 
 ner, the exhausted, worn-out, and corrupted component 
 parts, when their combination is dissolved, become sub- 
 ject again to the mechanical and chemical powers, 
 which are in continual contest with the living powers ; 
 return from the organic to the chemical world ; and 
 again become a part of inanimate nature in general, 
 from which they had been separated for a short time. 
 This uninterrupted business is the work of the vital 
 power ever active within us ; and is, consequently, at- 
 tended with an incessant exertion of that power, which 
 is an important part of vital operation. Life, there- 
 fore, is a continual receiving, appropriation, and giv- 
 ing back ; an incessant mixture of death and new cre- 
 ation. 
 
 What then, in a common sense, we call the life of a 
 creature, considered as a representation, is nothing else 
 than a mere phenomenon, which has nothing peculiar 
 or self-sub^istent but the active spiritual power which 
 forms the ground of it, and which binds and regulates 
 the whole. All the rest is only appearance ; a grand 
 spectacle continued, where the thing represented does 
 
ESSENTIAL OPERATIONS OF LIFE. 113 
 
 not remain the same a moment, but is incessantly 
 changing ; where the whole duration, form, and figure 
 of the representation depend, in a particular manner, on 
 the matter employed, which is always varying, and on 
 the manner in which it is used ; and the whole phenom- 
 enon can exist no longer than the continued influx from 
 without, which supplies nourishment for the process. 
 Its analogy with a flame is, therefore, very great ; only 
 that the latter is merely a chemical, and life a chemico- 
 animal process, a chemico-animal flame. 
 
 The life of man then, according to its nature, depends 
 on the following grand operations : 
 
 I. Accession and reception of vital nourishment from 
 without. 
 
 By nourishment is here meant not merely what we 
 call food and drink, but much rather that influx, from 
 the atmosphere, of subtle, spiritual, vital nourishment, 
 which seems in a particular manner to contribute to- 
 wards the support of the vital power, especially as the 
 former coarse nourishing substances serve more for 
 supporting and repairing the matter of the body and of 
 its organs ; in a word, not that alone which passes 
 through the mouth and the stomach, since our lungs and 
 skin receive an abundance of vital nourishment, and, 
 for spiritual support, are of much greater importance 
 than the stomach. 
 
 II. Appropriation, assimilation^ and animalization ; 
 transition from the chemical to the organic world, 
 through the influence of the vital power. 
 
 Every thing that enters our bodies must first obtain 
 the character of life before it can be called ours. All 
 component parts, nay, the most subtle agents of Nature, 
 8 
 
114 AIIT OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 which flow into us, must be animalized ; that : is to say, 
 be so modified and combined, in a totally new manner, 
 by the help of the vital power, that they no longer act 
 according to the laws of inanimate and chemical nature, 
 but according to the peculiar laws of organic life, and 
 support themselves in opposition to others. In short, 
 as component parts of a living body, they cannot be 
 considered singly, but always as compounded according 
 to their proper nature and the laws of the vital power. 
 Every thing in us, even chemical and mechanical pow- 
 ers, is, therefore, animalized ; and this, for example, is 
 the case with electricity, and oxygen or vital air. As 
 goon as they are made component parts of a living 
 body, they become compounded nature (animalized 
 electricity, animalized oxygen,) and cannot be consid- 
 ered merely according to the laws and influence which 
 they had in common nature, but as subject to, and act- 
 ing under specific organic laws. These observations 
 are applicable not only to oxygen, but also to other new 
 chemical discoveries. But we must beware of ascrib- 
 ing to them the same effects in the vital combination of 
 our bodies, as those which we perceive them to have in 
 the atmosphere ; for they act according to different and 
 specific laws. This observation, in my opinion, cannot 
 be too often repeated ; and it alone may guard us from 
 error in the highly important application of the princi- 
 ples of chemistry to organic life. We, without doubt, 
 have these chemical powers and agencies within us, and 
 a knowledge of them is indispensably necessary ; but 
 their method of operating in our bodies is modified in 
 another manner, as they find themselves in a woild 
 altogether different. 
 
ESSENTIAL OPERATIONS OF LIFE. 115 
 
 This important business of assimilation and animali- 
 zation is the employment, first of the absorbing and 
 glandular system, in its widest latitude ; not merely of 
 the lacteal vessels, but also of the absorbing vessels of 
 the skin and the lungs, which may be called the vesti- 
 bule, through which every thing that is to form a part 
 of us must pass ; and, secondly, of the system of circu- 
 lation, by which the component parts are prepared and 
 brought to organic perfection. 
 
 III. Nutrition ; configuration of the animalized 
 component parts ; farther ennobling of them. 
 
 The component parts, fully animalized, are now in- 
 corporated and changed into organs ; and this opera- 
 tion is the business of the plastic power. By the pre- 
 paration of the finer and more perfect secreting vessels, 
 these organized component parts are brought to their 
 highest degree of purification and refinement ; through 
 the brain as nervous fluid, and through the organic sys- 
 tem as organic juices, both of which are a combination 
 of the purest organic matter, with a rich abundance of 
 vital power. 
 
 IV. Self-consumption of the organs and poioers by 
 vital exertion. 
 
 Active life itself is an incessant exertion of agency 
 and power ; and, consequently, attended with a contin- 
 ual waste of power and consumption of the organs. 
 Every thing in which the power shows itself as an 
 agent, and active, is exertion ; for no vital exertion, not 
 even the smallest, can be made without excitation and 
 reaction of the power. This is a law of organic nature. 
 The voluntary and insensible internal movements, there- 
 fore, of circulation, chylification, assimilation, and secre- 
 
116 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 tion, as well as voluntary movements, and those pro- 
 duced by the operations of the mind, are continual 
 exertions of power, and are incessantly consuming both 
 the powers and the organs. 
 
 This part of life is of the utmost importance in re- 
 gard to its duration and condition. The stronger vital 
 consumption is, the speedier life will be wasted, and the 
 shorter must be its duration ; but if it be too weak, the 
 consequence then is too seldom a change of component 
 parts, imperfect restoration, and a bad habit of body. 
 
 V. Separation and new acquisition of component 
 parts ; transition of them from the organic to the chemi- 
 cal world, and their union again ivith inanimate nature 
 in general. 
 
 The component parts which have been used, and 
 which can no longer be retained in this combination, 
 again separate themselves from it. They lose the in- 
 fluence of the vital power, and begin to be decomposed, 
 to fly off, and to be once more united according to the 
 pure chemical laws of Nature. All our excretions, 
 therefore, carry with them the most evident traces of 
 decomposition, a process merely chemical, which, as 
 such, is never possible, in a state of real life. The 
 function of discharging these parts from the body is 
 committed to the organs of secretion and excretion, 
 which operate with continual activity ; the intestines, 
 kidneys, liver, and, in particular, the whole surface of 
 the skin and lungs. These perform real chemico-ani- 
 mal operations ; the removal of the parts is effected by 
 the vital power, but the productions are entirely chem- 
 ical. 
 
 These grand operations constitute life in general, and 
 
ESSENTIAL OPERATIONS OF LIFE. 117 
 
 at every moment ; for they are continually united, con- 
 tinually present, and < inseparable from the vital opera- 
 tion. 
 
 The organs which belong to life have in part been 
 already mentioned. In the present point of view they 
 may be most conveniently divided into three classes : 
 Those which receive and prepare ; those which evacuate ; 
 and those which keep these contrary movements, as well 
 as the whole internal economy, in equipoise and order. 
 Many thousands of greater or smaller organs are con- 
 tinually employed in separating and throwing off the 
 particles which have been exhausted and corrupted by 
 the internal consumption. Besides the evacuating ducts, 
 properly so-called, the whole surface of the skin and 
 lungs is covered with myriads of secreting organs in 
 continual activity. Equally numerous and various are 
 the passages of the second class, those of restoration. 
 It is not sufficient that the decrease of the coarser parts 
 should be repaired from the nourishment by means of 
 the organs of digestion ; the lungs, the organs of respi- 
 ration, are also continually employed to draw in, from 
 the atmosphere, nourishment, vital heat, and vital power. 
 The heart, and the circulation of the blood, which is de- 
 pendent on it, serve to regulate their movements ; to 
 diffuse to all points the received heat and nourishment ; 
 and to drive off, through these passages of excretion, 
 those particles which have been used and exhausted. 
 All these operations are assisted by the influence of the 
 mental powers and their organs, which are the most 
 perfect in man. This, indeed, increases intensive life 
 and self-consumption, but at the same time it is a highly 
 
118 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 important means of restoration, of which more imper- 
 fect beings are destitute. 
 
 One may form some idea of the extraordinary self- 
 consumption of the human body, when one reflects that 
 the pulsation of the heart, and the motion of the blood 
 connected with it, take place 100,000 times every day ; 
 that is to say, the heart and all the arteries are con- 
 tracted 100,000 times daily, with such force as is able 
 to keep a resistance of from fifty to sixty pounds of 
 blood in continual movement. What clock, what ma- 
 chine of the hardest iron, would not by such use be in 
 a short time worn out ? If we add to this the almost 
 equally incessant muscular motion of our bodies, which 
 must occasion a much greater wasting, as these parts 
 consist more of tender gelatinous particles, we may then 
 have a pretty just conception with what loss of sub- 
 stance a walk, for example of ten miles, or a rapid 
 journey of thirty, must be attended. And not only 
 soft and fluid parts, but even the hardest, are gradually 
 worn out by continual use. This may be clearly per- 
 ceived in the teeth, which are evidently destroyed by 
 long use, and which, on the other hand, by being not 
 used, that is, not exposed to antagonists, become exceed- 
 ingly long. It is proved that, in this manner, we should 
 be very soon destroyed were there no reparation ; and 
 it has been estimated, with great probability, that every 
 three months our bodies are no longer the same, but 
 consist of entirely new particles. 
 
 But equally wonderful and extraordinary is the con- 
 tinual reparation of those parts which have been lost. 
 This may be readily comprehended ; because, notwith- 
 
REPARATIVE POWERS OF LIFE. 119 
 
 standing the incessant loss which we sustain, our mass 
 still continues the same. The fluid parts, however, 
 regenerate themselves soonest; and experience has 
 taught us, that the greatest loss of blood may be again 
 repaired in fourteen days. The solid parts reproduce 
 themselves by the same power and mechanism as are 
 employed in their first creation ; the gelatinous nourish- 
 ing principle is conveyed by circulation to every part 
 of the body, and is organized according to the plastic 
 laws of the different parts. The bones even which are 
 the hardest become regenerated, as is proved in the 
 experiment with madder, by the use of which the bones 
 in a short time become red. Whole bones lost or 
 decayed can renew themselves also; and one finds 
 sometimes with astonishment, in pieces of ivory, the 
 hardest animal body, leaden bullets, which must have 
 been lodged in them by a shot, and which are entirely 
 surrounded with solid bone.* 
 
 * The fact is true, but the explanation removes the wonder. 
 That a bullet should perforate solid ivory, and that the vacuity 
 caused by its passage should close up and become firm and solid 
 is, of course, impossible. The explanation of the phenomenon 
 is as follows : The tusk of the elephant continues to grow as 
 long as the animal lives ; for this purpose it is furnished with a 
 permanent producing organ, or pulp, which occupies the root of 
 the tusk. The pulp is conical in shape, and, as it is constantly 
 engaged in forming successive layers of ivory, the tooth is grad- 
 ually pushed forwards, in other words, it grows. Now, if a bullet 
 enter the substance of this pulp it will, in time, by a common 
 process of expulsion of foreign bodies, reach the surface of the 
 pulp ; and, when that is effected, the next layer of ivory formed 
 by the pulp will be deposited between the pulp and the bullet ; 
 so that now the bullet is not only excluded from the pulp, but 
 
120 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 The usual progress or history of human life is, in a 
 few words, as follows : 
 
 The heart, the grand source of all vital motion as 
 well as vital diffusion, and the grand principle of the 
 excreting as well as renovating operations, becomes 
 always smaller in proportion to the increase of age ; so 
 that, at length, it occupies an eighth part of the space 
 which it did in the beginning of life.* Its substance 
 also becomes always thicker and harder ; and its irrita- 
 bility becomes in the same proportion less. The active 
 powers then decrease more and more every year ; and 
 the retarding powers, on the other hand, increase. The 
 same thing takes place in the whole vascular system, 
 and the organs of motion. All the vessels become 
 gradually harder, narrower, more shrivelled, and unfit 
 
 the pulp has covered it over with a layer of ivory, and as layer 
 after layer of new ivory is formed, the bullet becomes more and 
 more deeply buried, more and more removed from the pulp, and 
 eventually may be found in the solid substance of the ivory 
 several inches, or even feet, distant from its original bed. 
 EDITOR. 
 
 * Hufeland must have meant " an eighth less space ; " he 
 could hardly have intended to make a statement so perfectly 
 erroneous as the above, upon a point so easily put to the proof. 
 The heart, undoubtedly, diminishes a little in size in healthy old 
 age ; becomes firmer in texture, and less frequent in its pulsa- 
 tions ; adapting itself in fact to the smaller volume of blood con- 
 tained within the body; but the amount of diminution is very 
 trifling. In a preceding page (106), the author ridicules, very 
 justly, the hypothesis of the ancient Egyptians concerning the 
 decrease of the heart ; and in the examination of Thomas Parr, 
 to which lie also refers (p. 87), the heart, so far from being 
 diminished in size, was found to be "great, thick, fibrous, and 
 fat." EDITOR. 
 
CESSATION OF LIFE. 121 
 
 for use ; the arteries are ossified and a great many of 
 the finer vessels are entirely closed up. 
 
 The following, therefore, are the unavoidable conse- 
 quences : 
 
 1st. By this closing up and becoming shrivelled, the 
 most important and finest organs of vital regeneration, 
 the passages for assimilation and external accession, the 
 lungs, skin, absorbing and lacteal vessels become de- 
 ranged ; and, consequently, the addition of nourishing 
 and enlivening component parts from without is ren- 
 dered weaker. Nourishment can neither be received 
 in such quantity, nor be prepared and diffused so well 
 as before. 
 
 2nd. By this increasing hardness and aridity of the 
 vessels they lose more and more their power of move- 
 ment and sensation. Irritability and sensibility decrease 
 always in the same proportion as the former increase ; 
 and the active and spontaneous powers within us always 
 give more place to the destructive, mechanical, and 
 chemical powers. 
 
 3rd. By the decrease of the motive power, and the 
 closing up of innumerable vessels, excretion, the most 
 indispensable cause of our continual purification, and of 
 the removal of corrupt particles, principally suffers. 
 The skin, its most important organ, becomes with 
 years always closer, more impenetrable, and less useful. 
 This is the case also with the kidneys, the pores of the 
 intestines, and the lungs. The juices, therefore, in old 
 age, must be always more impure, more acrid, tougher, 
 and more impregnated with earthy particles. Earth, 
 the great enemy of vital motion, acquires in our bodies, 
 by these means, a preponderance; and thus, with a 
 
122 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 living body, we insensibly approach our final destina- 
 tion : " Return to the earth from which thou wast 
 taken ! " 
 
 In this manner does life bring on a cessation of life, 
 that is, natural death ; and its progress is as follows : 
 
 The powers subject to the will first decrease, and 
 then the spontaneous and proper vital movements. The 
 heart can no longer force the blood to the extremities ; 
 pulsation and heat leave the feet and hands ; but the 
 blood is still kept in motion from the heart and larger 
 vessels, and thus the vital flame, though weak, is for 
 some time preserved. At length, the heart has not 
 strength to press the blood through the lungs. Nature 
 now employs all her power to invigorate respiration, 
 and by these means to give some passage to the blood. 
 This power, at last, is exhausted ; the left ventricle of 
 the heart, consequently, receives no more blood, and is 
 no longer irritated, and continues at rest. The right 
 still receives a little transmitted to it from parts already 
 half dead ; but these parts soon become perfectly cold ; 
 the juices* curdle ; the heart receives heat no more, all 
 its motion ceases, and death is complete. 
 
 Before I proceed further I must examine some prob- 
 lematical circumstances, which present themselves in 
 the course of every research into the duration of human 
 life, and which are deserving of particular attention. 
 
 The first problem is : How is it possible that man, 
 whose organization is the most delicate and most com- 
 plex, whose self-consumption is the most rapid, and 
 whose duration of life ought consequently to be the 
 shortest, should, however, exceed so evidently, in duration 
 of life, all classes of the more perfect animals, which 
 
SUPERIOR DURATION OF HUMAN LIFE. 123 
 
 have the same size, the same organization) and the same 
 place in the scale of creation ? 
 
 It is well known that the more imperfect the organi- 
 zation, the greater is the duration of life, or at least the 
 vital tenacity. Man, as the most perfect of all 
 creatures, ought consequently, in this respect, to be far 
 inferior to others. Besides, it appears from the forego- 
 ing research, that the duration of life of an animal will 
 be shorter the more numerous its wants are for support- 
 ing that life. Of these, man without doubt has the 
 greatest number, and this is a new ground for a shorter 
 duration. It has been likewise shown already that, 
 among animals, the highest degree of self-consumption 
 is the process of generation, and that it shortens in a 
 very sensible manner their duration of life. In this 
 the perfection of man is remarkably apparent ; and ii 
 him there is also a new kind of generation, the spiritual, 
 or the business of thinking; and his duration must 
 thereby suffer still more. 
 
 It may be asked, then, by what means has man such 
 a superiority in regard to the duration of life ? 
 
 In my opinion, the question may be answered from 
 the following grounds : 
 
 I. The texture of the whole cellular membrane is 
 much softer and tenderer in man than in animals of the 
 same class. Even the so-called nervous coat of an 
 intestine is, in a dog, much harder, and cannot be 
 so inflated as that of a man. The veins also, the bones, 
 and the brain, are, in animals, much more solid, and 
 abound with a greater quantity of earth. Now, I have 
 before shown that too great a degree of hardness or 
 brittleness in the organs is prejudicial to duration of 
 
124 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 life, because the organs thereby lose sooner their plia- 
 bility and fitness for use ; and because that stiffness and 
 aridity which bring on old age, and at length a com- 
 plete stoppage of the whole machinery, are thus 
 hastened ; man, consequently, must have old age later, 
 and a more extensive period of life. 
 
 II. Man grows more slowly ; attains later to matu- 
 rity ; all his powers are longer in expanding ; and I 
 have before shown, that the existence of a creature is 
 lengthened in proportion to the time required for its 
 expansion. 
 
 III. Sleep, the greatest means of vital retardation 
 and support, is in man more peculiarly regular and 
 constant. 
 
 IV. The perfect organization of the soul,* the fac- 
 ulty of thinking, that is, reason, makes in man a very 
 great difference. 
 
 This higher and divine power, which exists in man 
 alone, has the most visible influence, not only on his 
 character in general, but also on the perfection and 
 duration of his life ; and in the following manner : 
 
 1st. It is perfectly natural that the sum of the active 
 
 * I hope my readers will not here misunderstand my mean- 
 ing, and imagine that I reckon the soul to be a part, a produc- 
 tion, or property of the body. This is by no means the case. 
 The soul, in my opinion, is something distinct from the body ; a 
 being of a totally different, more exalted, intellectual world ; but 
 in this sublunary combination, and to be a human soul, it must 
 have organs to fit it not only for action, but also for sensation, 
 and even for the higher functions of thinking and combining 
 ideas. The first cause of thought is, therefore, spiritual ; but the 
 business of thinking itself, as carried on in this mortal machine, is 
 organic. 
 
SUPERIOR DURATION OF HUMAN LIFE. 125 
 
 vital powers within us should be increased by the 
 assistance of this most pure and divine power. 
 
 2d. Man, by the most refined and most perfect 
 organization of the brain, acquires an entirely new 
 organ of restoration peculiar to himself; or rather, his 
 whole vital capacity is thereby increased. 
 
 3d. By this highly perfect power of the soul, man 
 enters into connection with an entirely new world 
 the spiritual ; which is concealed from the rest of the 
 creation. It gives him points of contact altogether 
 new new influences, and a new element. Might not 
 one in this respect call man an amphibious being (par- 
 don the expression) of a higher kind, for he is a being 
 who lives at the same time in two worlds, the material 
 and the intellectual; and apply to him what I have 
 shown from experience, respecting amphibious animals, 
 that existence in two worlds at the same time prolongs 
 life ? What an immense ocean of spiritual nourishment 
 and spiritual influences is opened to us by this higher 
 and more perfect organization. An entirely new class 
 of means to nourish and excite the vital power, pecu- 
 liar to man alone, here presents itself. I mean the 
 more refined mental and more exalted moral sensations 
 and affections. I shall, on this occasion, mention .only 
 the enjoyment and comfort which lie in music ; the art 
 of painting, and the enchantments of poetry, and the 
 imagination ; the pleasure which attends the investiga- 
 tion of truth or a new discovery ; the rich source of 
 happiness that may be found in the idea of futurity ; in 
 the power of anticipating it, and of living, through hope, 
 when the scenes now present shall be no more. What 
 comfort, what unshaken firmness may we not acquire 
 
126 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 from the single idea and belief of immortality. In short, 
 the circle of human life is hereby extended in an aston- 
 ishing manner ; and man actually derives his vital sub- 
 sistence from two worlds at the same time, the material 
 and the immaterial, the present and the future. His 
 duration of life must, therefore, necessarily be a gainer. 
 
 4th. The more perfect powers of the soul contribute 
 also so far to the support and prolongation of life, that 
 man thereby is made a partaker of reason, which enables 
 him to regulate his conduct in all things ; which mode- 
 rates instinct, a faculty merely animal, as well as the 
 furious passions, and the rapid consumption connected 
 with them ; and which, by these means, is able to pre- 
 serve him in that middle state which we have already 
 shown to be so necessary for long life. 
 
 In short, man evidently has more spiritual part than 
 was requisite for him in the present world; and this 
 superabundance of spiritual power carries with it, as it 
 were, the bodily. It is the bodily only, which is sub- 
 ject to wasting, and to death. 
 
 I cannot here omit to remark, how apparently the 
 moral object, the higher destination of man, is interwo- 
 ven with his physical existence : and how reason and 
 the t higher powers of thought, which properly render 
 him a man, display not only his moral, but his physical 
 perfection ; consequently, a proper cultivation of his 
 spiritual powers, particularly the moral, makes him, 
 beyond all dispute, more perfect, not only morally, but 
 also physically ; and, as we shall have occasion to see 
 hereafter, increases his vital capacity and vital dura- 
 tion. The man merely savage sinks, in regard to 
 duration of life, to the level of the inferior animals, 
 
SPIRITUALITY OF HUMAN LIFE. 127 
 
 with which he is on an equality as to size and strength ; 
 while, on the other hand, the weakest man, by this 
 spiritual subsistence, can often prolong his life far 
 beyond that of the strongest animal. 
 
 From the same principles we can resolve also the 
 second problem : How comes it that among men, whose 
 duration of life so far exceeds that of animals, and 
 who, as experience shows, can live to an extraordinary 
 age, so few attain to their real term of existence, and 
 that the greater part of them die before the time ; or, in 
 other words, that where the longest duration is possible, 
 there mortality is the greatest. 
 
 The great softness and tenderness of the organs, 
 which render man more capable of long duration, 
 expose his life also to more dangers, to more interrup- 
 tions, to more derangements, and to more injuries. 
 
 Besides, the more points of contact he has with the 
 whole of surrounding Nature, he is rendered the more 
 susceptible of a multitude of prejudicial influences 
 which a coarser organization does not feel. The grati- 
 fication of his multiplied wants multiplies his dangers. 
 
 Even the spiritual life is attended with its peculiar 
 poisons and dangers. What knows an animal of de- 
 luded hope, disappointed ambition, slighted love, care, 
 repentance, or despair? And how destructive and 
 pernicious to the life of man are these poisons of the 
 mind! 
 
 Lastly, one main point is, that man, though organ- 
 ized for a reasonable being, is, however, at liberty to use 
 his reason or not; animals, instead of reason, have 
 instinct ; and, at the same time, are far more insensible 
 and callous in regard to destructive impressions. 
 
128 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 Instinct teaches them to use that which is good for 
 them, and to shun that which hurts them. It tells them, 
 when they have enough, when they require rest, when 
 they are indisposed. Instinct, without the help of regi- 
 men, secures them from intemperance and dissipation. 
 Among men, on the other hand, every thing, even what 
 concerns medicine, is referred to reason. Man has 
 neither instinct to guard against error, nor resolution 
 enough to withstand it. All this ought to be supplied 
 by reason. If that be wanting, or if he neglect to 
 listen to its admonition, he loses his only guide, his 
 greatest means of support ; and sinks, physically, not 
 only to the level of the brute, but even below it, 
 because brutes are indemnified by Nature for the want 
 of reason in regard to their vital support. Man, on 
 the contrary, without reason, is a prey to every noxious 
 influence, and becomes the most perishable and corrup- 
 tible being under the sun. The natural want of reason 
 is far less prejudicial to the support and duration of life 
 than the interrupted exercise of it, where it has been 
 bestowed by Nature. But, as Haller, with so much 
 truth, says, 
 
 O wretched being, to thy interest blind, 
 .In whom the angel and the brute are join'd ! 
 God gave thee reason to direct thy choice ; 
 Yet thou thy ear turn'st from its friendly voice. 
 
 In this lies the principal cause why among men, who in 
 every respect are best fitted for long life, mortality is 
 greatest. 
 
 One need not object that this assertion is contradicted 
 by many madmen who live to a great age. The first 
 
MORTALITY OF MAN. 129 
 
 thing to be considered here is the species of insanity. 
 If it be attended with rage and fury, these certainly 
 shorten life very much ; because they are accompanied, 
 in the highest degree, with exertion of the powers and 
 vital consumption. And the case is the same with the 
 deepest melancholy and distress of mind, as these injure 
 the noblest organs, and destroy the powers. But in a 
 mean state, where reason is not entirely gone, where 
 the disorder displays itself by incoherent ideas, and 
 false but often very agreeable sports of the imagina- 
 tion, there the physical use of reason may continue, 
 while the moral is lost. Nay, a man in this state is to 
 be considered as one under the influence of a pleasant 
 dream, on whom a multitude of wants, cares, disagree- 
 able and life-shortening impressions, and even physical 
 causes of disease, as experience shows, produce no 
 effect ; who lives happy in his self-created world ; and 
 is far less exposed to destruction and vital consumption. 
 It is to be observed, in the last place, that when a luna- 
 tic is totally deprived of reason, those by whom he is 
 attended and taken care of, think for him, and as it were 
 lend him their reason. He is therefore supported by 
 reason, whether it be his own or that of another. 
 
 9 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Signs of long life in individuals. Sound stomach and organs of 
 digestion. Good teeth. Well-organized breast. Heart not too 
 irritable. Strong natural power of restoration and healing. Suffi- 
 cient quantity and diffusion of the vital power. Good tempera- 
 ment. Faultless and well-proportioned make of body. No partic- 
 ular weakness of any part. Portrait of a man destined to long 
 life. 
 
 AFTER explaining these general principles, I can 
 now proceed to lay down the special and individual 
 grounds of long life, which must exist in the man him- 
 self. I shall here, therefore, describe those grand pro- 
 perties, and that frame, which, according to experience 
 and the foregoing observations, must be possessed by 
 every man before he can lay claim to a long existence. 
 This sketch may, in some measure, serve as a register 
 of the signs of longevity. 
 
 The properties, which may be called the foundations 
 of long life in man, are the following : 
 
 I. Above all things, the stomach, and the whole sys- 
 tem of digestion, must be sound and well formed. It is 
 incredible of what importance this most powerful of all 
 the rulers in the animal kingdom is, in the above 
 respect ; and one may justly affirm, that, without a good 
 stomach, it is impossible to attain to a great age.* 
 
 * In a good stomach we have the secret of Thomas Parr's 
 great age ; in the report of his examination after death, it is 
 
SIGNS OF LONG LIFE. 131 
 
 The stomach, in two respects, is the foundation of 
 long life. First, as it is the principal and most impor- 
 tant organ of the restoration of our nature ; the door 
 through which every thing that is to form a part of us 
 must enter ; and the first vessel on the good or bad con- 
 dition of which, not only the quantity, but also the qual- 
 ity of the addition made to our bodies must depend. 
 Secondly, because by the state of the stomach, the effect 
 even which the passions, the causes of disease, and other 
 destructive influences, have over our bodies, is modified. 
 " He has a good stomach," says the proverb, when one 
 wishes to characterize a person to whom neither grief, 
 care, nor sorrow, is prejudicial; and certainly in that 
 expression there is a great deal of truth. All these 
 passions must, in a particular manner, affect the stomach, 
 and must be felt by it before they can pass into, or in- 
 jure, our physical constitution. A strong robust stomach 
 is not susceptible of any impression from them : on the 
 other hand, a weak sensible stomach is every moment 
 subject to some derangement in its whole frame ; and, 
 consequently, the important business of restoration is 
 continually interrupted, and carried on in an imperfect 
 manner. The case is the same with most of the physi- 
 cal causes of disease. The greater part of them make 
 their first impression on the stomach : and, therefore, a 
 want of digestion is the earliest symptom of illness. It 
 is thus the first vessel by which they insinuate them- 
 
 stated that "his viscera were sound and strong, especially his 
 stomach ; and it was observed of him that he used to eat often, 
 both by night and by day, taking up with old cheese, milk, coarse 
 bread, small beer, and whey ; and what is most remarkable, he 
 ate at midnight, a little before he died." EDITOR. 
 
132 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 selves into our bodies, and disturb the whole economy. 
 Besides, it is a principal organ, on which the equilib- 
 rium of the nervous motions, and in particular their 
 tendency to the periphery, depends. If it be power- 
 ful and active, morbid irritations cannot so easily fix 
 themselves : they are removed and driven off' through 
 the skin, before they effect a real derangement of the 
 whole system ; that is to say, before they bring on 
 disease. 
 
 A good stomach may be known two ways ; not merely 
 by an excellent appetite, for that may be the conse- 
 quence of any stimulus ; but, in particular, by an easy 
 and perfect digestion. Whoever feels that he has a 
 stomach, cannot have a good one. One must not be sen- 
 sible that one has eaten ; must not be drowsy, dejected, 
 or uneasy after meals ; must have no phlegm in the 
 throat in the morning ; and the evacuations must be 
 regular and well concocted. 
 
 We are taught, by experience, that all those who at- 
 tained to a very great age had a good appetite, which 
 they retained to the last. 
 
 For good digestion, good teeth are extremely neces- 
 sary ; and one, therefore, may consider them among the 
 essential properties requisite for long life, and in two 
 points of view. First, good and strong teeth are al- 
 ways a sign of a sound, strong constitution, and good 
 juices. Those who lose their teeth early, have, in a 
 certain measure, taken possession of the other world 
 with a part of their bodies. Secondly, the teeth are 
 a great help to digestion, and consequently to resto- 
 ration. 
 
 II. A well-organized breast and organs of respira- 
 
HEART. PULSE. TEMPERAMENT. 133 
 
 tion. These may be known by a broad, full chest ; the 
 power of keeping in one's breath for a long time ; ;i 
 strong voice, and by being seldom subject to a cough. 
 Breathing is one of the most incessant and necessary 
 of the vital operations, the means of the most indis- 
 pensable, spiritual restoration ; and, at the same time, 
 the cause by which the blood is continually freed from 
 a multitude of corrupted particles. Those in whom 
 these organs are well formed, possess the greatest 
 assurance of longevity ; arid for this reason, because 
 an important passage, by which death and the causes 
 of destruction might insinuate themselves, is fully se- 
 cured. The breast is among the principal atria 
 mortis,* one of those parts of which death first lays 
 hold. 
 
 I If. A heart not too irritable. We have alrea<! 
 that a principal cause of our internal consumption, or 
 spontaneous wasting, lies in the continual circulation of 
 the blood. He who has a hundred pulsations in a 
 minute, must be wasted far more speedily than he who 
 has only fifty. Those, therefore, whose pulse is always 
 quick, and in whom every trifling agitation of the mind, 
 Or every additional drop of wine?, increases the motion 
 of the heart, are unfortunate candidates for longevity, 
 since their whole life is a continual fever; and the pro- 
 longation of it is thereby counteracted in a double 
 manner, partly by the speedier waiting connected with 
 it, and partly because restoration is impeded by nothing 
 go much as by an inee.s.-.'intly accelerated circulation. 
 A certain decree of rest is absolutely necessary, that 
 the nourishing particles may settle, and be converted 
 * Entrance halls of death. EDITOR. 
 
134 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 into the substance of our bodies. Such people, also, 
 will never become corpulent. 
 
 A slow, uniform pulse is, therefore, a strong sign of 
 Jong life, arid a great means to promote it. 
 
 IV. A sufficient quantity and diffusion of the vital 
 power. A good temperament. Calmness, order, and 
 harmony in all the internal operations and movements, 
 are of the utmost importance for supporting and pro- 
 longing life ; but these, in a particular manner, depend 
 on a proper state of the general irritability and sensi- 
 bility of the body ; and the latter qualities must be 
 neither too strong nor too weak, and be uniformly dif- 
 fused, so that no part may have too great or too small 
 a proportion. A certain degree of insensibility, a small 
 mixture of phlegm, are also ingredients highly neces- 
 sary for prolonging the duration of life ; as they lessen, 
 at the same time, self-consumption, favor a far more 
 perfect restoration, and contribute most effectually to 
 preserve our existence. A good temperament, there- 
 fore, may so far be the foundation of a long life. The 
 best is the sanguine, tempered with a little of the 
 phlegmatic. This produces a serene, cheerful mind, 
 moderate passions, undaunted courage, and, in short, 
 that state of soul which is most fitted for longevity. 
 The cause of this disposition is generally an abundance 
 of the vital power. And as Kant has already proved 
 that such a mixture of temperament is the properest 
 for attaining to moral perfection, I am of opinion that 
 one may reckon it among the best gifts of heaven. 
 
 V. A strong natural power of restoration and healing 
 by which all those losses which we daily sustain are not 
 only repaired, but repaired well. This depends, ac- 
 
FAULTLESS CONFORMATION. 135 
 
 cording to the above principles, on a good digestion, 
 and a calm, uniform circulation of the blood. To these 
 may be also added a perfect and vigorous activity of 
 the absorbing vessels (the lymphatic system), and the 
 good condition and regular operation of the organs of 
 secretion. The effect of the former is, that the nour- 
 ishing substances pass easily into our bodies, and are 
 enabled to reach the places of their destination ; by the 
 latter, they are completely freed from all extraneous 
 and pernicious mixture, and enter us perfectly pure. 
 And this properly gives an idea of the most complete 
 restoration. 
 
 It is incredible how much this quality contributes 
 to the support of life. In a man who possesses it, 
 consumption may be exceedingly strong without his 
 sustaining much loss, as it is again repaired with the 
 utmost speed. We have, therefore, instances of men 
 who, even amidst a life of debauchery and fatigue, be- 
 came very old : and thus, for example, could a Duke de 
 Richelieu and a Louis XV. attain to a great age. 
 
 A- strong natural power of healing must also be united 
 with that of restoration ; or, in oilier words, that fac- 
 ulty of Nature by which it assists itself easily in cases 
 of derangement and interruption, keeps back and re- 
 moves the causes of disease, and favors the healing of 
 wounds. There is an astonishing power of this kind 
 in our bodies, as is shown by the example of savages, 
 who are scarcely subject to any diseases, and among 
 whom the most dreadful wounds heal up entirely of 
 themselves. 
 
 VI. An uniform and faultless conformation of the 
 ivhole body. Without uniformity of structure there can 
 
136 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 be no uniformity of powers and motion, and without 
 these it is impossible to become old. Besides, an im- 
 perfect structure gives an easy opportunity for the rise 
 of local diseases which may bring on death. One will 
 not, therefore, find that an overgrown person ever at- 
 tained to a very great age. 
 
 VII. No part, no intestine must have a great degree 
 of weakness, otherwise such a part may serve to give a 
 ready admission to the causes of disease, to the first 
 seeds of some disorder or derangement, and become, as 
 it were,- the atrium mortis. Even where the organiza- 
 tion is very good and perfect, this may be a secret 
 enemy, from which destruction may be afterwards con- 
 veyed to the whole body. 
 
 VIII. The texture of the organization must be of a 
 mean quality ; strong and durable, but not too dry or 
 rigid. We have already seen, that, through all the 
 classes of organized beings, too great aridity or hard- 
 ness is prejudicial to the duration of life. Among men 
 it must be so in the highest degree ; because their 
 organization, according to their destination, is the ten- 
 derest of all, and, by a superfluity of earthy particles, 
 may be soonest rendered useless. These are injurious 
 two ways, partly by bringing on much sooner old age, 
 the grand enemy of life ; and partly by making the 
 finest organs of restoration much sooner unfit for dis- 
 charging their functions. Hardness of organization, in 
 order to favor long life, must not consist so much in 
 mechanical toughness as in hardness of sensation ; and 
 must not be the property so much of a coarser texture 
 as of the powers. The quantity of earth must be ex- 
 actly so great as to give sufficient elasticity and tone ; 
 
FAULTLESS CONFORMATION. 137 
 
 but neither so large as to prove inflexibility, nor so 
 small as to occasion too much facility of movement ; for 
 both these are hurtful to duration of life. 
 
 Let me now be permitted to delineate the portrait of 
 a man destined to long life. He has a proper and well- 
 proportioned stature, without, however, being too tall. 
 He is rather of the middle size, and somewhat thick-set. 
 His complexion is not too florid : at any rate, too much 
 ruddiness in youth is seldom a sign of longevity. His 
 hair approaches rather to the fair than the black ; his 
 skin is strong, but not rough. His head is not too big ; 
 he has large veins at the extremities, and his shoulders 
 are rather round than flat. His neck is not too long ; 
 his abdomen does not project ; and his hands are large, 
 but not too deeply cleft. His foot is rather thick than 
 long ; and his legs are firm and round. He has also a 
 broad arched chest ; a strong voice, and the faculty of 
 retaining his breath for a long time without difficulty. 
 In general, there is a complete harmony in all his parts. 
 His senses are good, but not too delicate; his pulse is 
 slow and regular. 
 
 His stomach is excellent, his appetite good, and his 
 digestion easy. The joys of the table are to him of 
 importance ; they tune his mind to serenity, and his 
 soul partakes in the pleasure which they communicate. 
 He does not eat merely for the sake of eating ; but each 
 meal is an hour of daily festivity ; a kind of delight 
 attended with this advantage, in regard to others, that 
 it does not make him poorer, but richer. He eats 
 slowly, and has not too much thirst. Too great thirst 
 is always a sign of rapid self-consumption. 
 
 In general, he is serene, loquacious, active, suscepti- 
 
138 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 ble of joy, love, and hope ; but insensible to the impres- 
 sions of hatred, anger, and avarice. His passions never 
 become too violent or destructive. If he ever gives 
 way to anger, he experiences rather an useful glow of 
 warmth, an artificial and gentle fever, without an over- 
 flowing of the bile. He is fond also of employment, 
 particularly calm meditation and agreeable speculations ; 
 is an optimist, a friend to nature and domestic felicity, 
 has no thirst after honors or riches, and banishes all 
 thoughts of to-morrow. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Examinations of various new methods for prolonging life. By vital 
 elixirs. Gold tinctures and wonder-working essences. By harden- 
 ing the organs. By rest and suspending for a time vital activity. 
 By guarding against consumption, and the external causes of 
 disease. By fast living. Account of the only methods possible 
 by which life can be prolonged. Proper union of the four princi- 
 pal indications. Increasing the vital power. Strengthening the 
 organs. Moderating vital consumption. Favouring restoration. 
 Modification of these methods, according to difference of constitu- 
 tion, temperament, age, and climate. 
 
 VARIOUS are the methods and plans which have been 
 proposed for the prolongation of life. The old super- 
 stitious, astrological, and fantastic methods we have 
 already examined and appreciated ; but there are 
 others, more modern, which appear to be founded on 
 juster principles of life and viial duration, and which 
 still deserve some inquiry before we proceed to estab- 
 lish that which alone is possible. 
 
 I think I have sufficiently proved, that the prolonga- 
 tion of life is possible, four different ways : 
 1st. By increasing the vital power itself. 
 2nd. By hardening the organs. 
 3rd. By retarding vital consumption. 
 4th. By facilitating and assisting restoration. 
 On each of these ideas have been founded plans and 
 methods, which in part are very plausible, and which 
 
140 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 have been much commended ; but they are all deficient, 
 chiefly in this, that they regard only one object, and 
 neglect the rest. 
 
 Let us, therefore, examine and appreciate some of the 
 principal. 
 
 On the first idea, that of increasing the quantity of 
 the vital power, has been, in particular, founded, the 
 method of those who prepare and who use gold tinctures, 
 astralish salts, the philosopher's stone, and elixirs of 
 life. Electricity even, and animal magnetism, belong 
 in part to this class. All the Adepts, Rosicrucians, and 
 Consorts, and a multitude of people sensible in other 
 respects, are fully convinced that their first matter can 
 not only convert the rest of the metals into gold, but 
 continually supply the lamp of life with new oil. A 
 man, therefore, needs only take daily a small quantity 
 of such tinctures to recruit the vital power ; and thus, 
 according to their theory, we can never be exposed 
 to a want or a total loss of it. On this is founded the 
 history of the celebrated Gualdus, who by these helps 
 lived 300 years, and, as some firmly believe, is alive 
 still. 
 
 Those, however, who place confidence in these helps 
 are miserably deceived. The use of such medicines, 
 which are all hot and stimulating, increases naturally 
 vital sensation; and such people consider increase of 
 vital sensation as a real increase of the vital power, 
 without reflecting that a continual increase of the former 
 is, by irritation, the surest means of shortening life, and 
 in the following manner : 
 
 1st. These, in part, spirituous medicines act as strong 
 stimulants, increase the internal motion and intensive 
 
GOLD TINCTURES. VITAL ELIXIRS. 141 
 
 life, consequently the self-consumption, and occasion a 
 more rapid wasting of the organs. Such is the case not 
 only with the coarser, but also with the more refined 
 substances of this kind. Even electricity, magnetism, 
 and the inspiring dephlogisticated air (oxygen gas), 
 which one certainly might believe to be the gentlest 
 method of instilling vital power, increase self-consump- 
 tion in a high degree. This may be very clearly per- 
 ceived in asthmatics, who are made to inspire such air. 
 Their vital sensation is thereby much exalted, but they 
 die sooner. 
 
 2d. These stimulating medicines, as they exalt vital 
 sensation and also sensibility, expose one more to exer- 
 tion of the powers ; to enjoyment, and to sensual gratifi- 
 cations, which some, however, particularly recommend ; 
 and by these means increase self-consumption. 
 
 3rd. They contract and desiccate, consequently make 
 the finer organs much sooner unfit for use, and bring 
 on premature old age, which they ought rather to 
 keep off. 
 
 And even supposing that our vital sensations required 
 to be so much exalted, neither alembics nor crucibles 
 are necessary for that purpose. Nature herself has 
 provided for us that most excellent spirit, wine, which 
 excels all those prepared by the art of man. If there 
 be anything in the world which one may call the prima 
 materia, that contains the spirit of the earth in an incor- 
 porated form, it is certainly this noble production ; and 
 yet we find that too liberal a use of it occasions a 
 speedier consumption, brings on old age, and evidently 
 shortens the duration of life. 
 
 But it is, indeed, foolish to endeavor to accumulate 
 
142 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 the vital power in a concentrated form within the body, 
 and then to imagine that one has accomplished some- 
 thing great. Are opportunities of doing this, want- 
 ing ? It abounds in every thing near and around us. 
 All the nourishment we take, each mouthful of air 
 that we breathe, is filled with it. The principal point 
 is to preserve our organs in a state capable of absorb- 
 ing, receiving, and appropriating it. Let a lifeless 
 body be filled ever so much with vital drops, it will 
 not begin to revive, because it has no longer organs 
 to appropriate them. It is not the want of vital ac- 
 cession, but of vital capacity, which in the end makes 
 men unfit to live longer. But here Nature herself is 
 our guardian ; and, in this respect, all vital drops are 
 unnecessary. 
 
 On the second idea, strengthening the organs, a very 
 favorite system, that of hardening, \\&s also been founded. 
 It is therefore believed that the more the organs are 
 hardened, the longer they must naturally withstand 
 consumption and destruction. 
 
 But we have already seen what a great difference 
 there is between the mechanism of a thing and its vital 
 duration ; and that a certain degree only of solidity is 
 favorable to the latter, and that too much is highly 
 prejudicial. The essential character of life consists in 
 the Uninterrupted and free activity of all the organs, 
 and of the circulation of the juices ; and what can be 
 more destructive to these, and consequently to the dura- 
 tion of life, than too great hardness and rigidity ? Fish 
 certainly have the softest and most watery flesh ; yet 
 they far exceed, in vital duration, stronger and more 
 solid animals. 
 
HARDENING THE ORGANS. 143 
 
 The favorite method of hardening, which consists in 
 endeavoring, by the continued use of the cold bath ; keep- 
 ing the body exposed, almost naked, to the keenest air, 
 and the most fatiguing exercise, to make one's self strong 
 and indestructible, produces no other effect than that our 
 organs become drier, tougher, and more rigid, conse- 
 quently much sooner unfit for use; and therefore, instead 
 of prolonging life, we bring on premature old age and 
 speedier dissolution. 
 
 There is, however, some truth, upon the whole, in this 
 method ; and it has proved unsuccessful, because people 
 united with it false ideas, and carried it too far. It is 
 not so much a hardening of the vessels as of the feel- 
 ing, that can contribute to the prolongation of life. 
 When one, therefore, employs the hardening method 
 so far as to make the vessels strong, but not hard or 
 stiff, so that their too great irritability, a principal 
 cause of speedy wasting, is blunted or removed, and 
 the body rendered thereby, at the same time, less sus- 
 ceptible of destructive influences, it may certainly, in 
 that case, be of some service in lengthening our exis- 
 tence. 
 
 The third idea, that of retarding vital consumption, is 
 highly captivating ; and has been adopted, in particular, 
 with great satisfaction, but very improperly employed,, 
 by those who are naturally much inclined to indolence 
 and ease. To waste the body by labor and exertion is, 
 to such people, unpleasant in itself; they are rejoiced, 
 therefore, to find it not only disagreeable, but also pre- 
 judicial, and to have, in indolence, a grand secret for 
 prolonging life, superior to all the arcana of Cagliostro 
 and St. Germain. 
 
141 , ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 Some have even gone still further, and in particular 
 Maupertuis, who conceived it might be possible, by a 
 complete suspension of vital activity, or an artificial 
 apparent death, to check self-consumption entirely, and 
 by such pauses, to preserve life for perhaps several 
 centuries. He supported his proposition on the life of 
 a chicken in the egg, and of insects in their state of 
 nymph and chrysalis, which, by the help of cold and 
 other means, whereby the animal is kept longer in its 
 deathlike sleep, can actually be prolonged. According 
 then to these principles, nothing is necessary but to ac- 
 quire the art of half-killing one. The same idea 
 occurred even to the great Franklin. While in France, 
 he received from America a quantity of Madeira wine, 
 which had been bottled in Virginia. In some of the 
 bottles he found a few dead flies, which he exposed to 
 the warm sun, in the month of July ; and in less than 
 three hours these apparently dead animals recovered 
 life, which had been so long suspended. At first they 
 appeared as if convulsed ; they then raised themselves 
 on their legs, washed their eyes with their fore feet, 
 dressed their wings with those behind, and began in a 
 little time to fly about. This acute philosopher pro- 
 posed, therefore, the following question : " Since, by 
 such a complete suspension of all internal as well as 
 external consumption, it is possible to produce a pause 
 of life, and at the same time to preserve the vital prin- 
 ciple, might not such a process be employed in regard 
 to man ? And if that be the case," adds he, like a true 
 patriot, "I can imagine no greater pleasure than to 
 cause myself to be immersed, along with a few good 
 iriends, in Madeira wine, and to be again called to life 
 
PERIODICAL SUSPENSION OF LIFE. 145 
 
 at the end of fifty or more years, by the genial solar 
 rays of my native country, only that I may see what 
 improvement the State has made, and what changes 
 time has brought along with it." 
 
 This proposal, however, vanishes again into nothing 
 when we consider the real essence and object of human 
 life. What is meant by the life of man ? Not, indeed, 
 mere eating drinking, and sleeping, else it would agree 
 perfectly with the life of a swine, to which Cicero could 
 give no other name than a preventive of corruption. 
 The life of man has a higher destination action, 
 business, and enjoyment. It is not enough that it be 
 present, it must expand, and bring to perfection those 
 divine seeds which exist within him ; it must give hap- 
 piness to himself and to others. Man must not merely 
 fill up a gap in the creation, he must be the lord, the 
 ruler, and the benefactor of it. Can one say of a man. 
 that he lives, when he spins out life amidst sleep, indo- 
 lence, or apparent death ? But what is still more, we 
 find here also a new proof in how inseparable a manner 
 the moral object is interwoven with his physical appoint- 
 rnent arid destination, and how promoting the one con- 
 duces to improve the other. Such an unmanly life, as 
 it may be properly called, would contribute directly not 
 to prolong, but to shorten human existence, and in two 
 ways : 
 
 1st. Human life is composed of so tender and delicate 
 organs that they very readily become unfit for use by 
 rest and inactivity. It is only action and exercise 
 which make them useful and durable. Rest and want 
 of exercise are their most deadly poison. 
 
 2nd. We have already seen that not merely lessening 
 10 
 
146 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 consumption, but promoting restoration also, in a suf- 
 ficient degree, is necessary for the prolongation of life. 
 But two operations are here requisite : first, perfect 
 assimilation of what is useful; and, secondly, excre- 
 tion of what is hurtful. The latter can never take 
 place without proper activity and motion. What would 
 be the consequence of a prolongation of life by means 
 of rest and indolence ? The body would be consumed 
 very little or not at all, and yet restoration would be 
 carried on. A most destructive plethora must thence 
 arise, because the body always receives and never 
 throws off. And, what is still worse, universal corrup- 
 tion, with its train of evils, acrid humors, disease, etc., 
 must gain the upper hand, as the secretion of what is 
 prejudicial has been stopped. It is very natural, there- 
 fore, to suppose that such a body would be much sooner 
 destroyed, as experience teaches us. 
 
 3d. With regard to the prolongation of life by a sus- 
 pension of the vital activity, during a temporal state of 
 apparent death, I shall, in the last place, observe, that 
 this idea has been founded on the example of insects, 
 tortoises, and other animals, which, as we have before 
 seen, can, by such a deathlike sleep, be preserved a 
 hundred years and more, and, consequently, far beyond 
 the natural term of their existence. 
 
 But, in making such proposals, people do not reflect 
 that all those experiments were tried upon very imper- 
 fect animals, among which the transition from their 
 natural half-animated state to actual torpor is much less 
 abrupt than it would be among men, who possess the 
 highest degree of vital perfection. And one, in particu- 
 lar, must here observe the important difference made 
 
PERIODICAL SUSPENSION OP LIFE. 147 
 
 by the business of respiration. All these animals have 
 naturally less need of breathing ; and warmth is less 
 necessary to them in order to retain life. Man, on the 
 other hand, requires, for the preservation of his life, a 
 continual accession of heat and spiritual powers ; in 
 short, of the pabulum vitce* which exists in the atmos- 
 phere. Such a total suspension of breathing would, by 
 an entire loss of internal heat, soon become mortal. 
 The more perfect agency of the soul is so interwoven 
 with the organization of man, that its influence could 
 not be stopped so long without causing the death and 
 destruction of the more delicate organs which belong 
 to it. 
 
 Others have attempted to prolong life by endeavoring 
 to avoid or remove the causes of disease, such as heat 
 and cold, certain kinds of food and drink, etc. But this 
 method is attended with one disadvantage, which is, 
 that we are not able to guard against all these evils ; 
 and that we are, therefore, rendered much more sensi- 
 ble of those which affect us. The preventing of con- 
 sumption externally may also be here included. In 
 warm countries, where the heat of the atmosphere 
 keeps the skin always open, and makes the evaporation 
 of the component parts of our bodies far more constant, 
 people find some benefit from rubbing the skin continu- 
 ally with ointments and oil, which stop up the pores, 
 and prevent the more watery and volatile particles 
 from flying off in perspiration. By this process one 
 experiences a real sensation of strengthening ; and, in 
 such climates, it appears to be necessary to check too 
 
 * Food of life. EDITOR. 
 
148 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 speedy consumption by profuse evaporation. But it is 
 certain that it is in warm climates only that it can be 
 employed. In our climate, where the atmosphere it- 
 self acts as a medium to shut up the pores of the skin, 
 we have more need of promoting perspiration than of 
 preventing it. 
 
 I must now say a few words respecting an entirely 
 new experiment for prolonging vital existence, which 
 consists merely in increasing intensive life. On this 
 principle the duration of life is determined, not by num- 
 ber of days, but by the sum of its use or enjoyment ; 
 and it is believed that if one, within a certain period, 
 has had twice as much action and enjoyment as another, 
 he has lived as much as the other in double the time. 
 However much I respect this method in itself, if it con- 
 sist in laudable exertion, and be the consequence of a 
 mind fertile in action ; and though I am fully convinced 
 that, considering the uncertainty of our life, it presents 
 an idea highly captivating ; I must confess, that it will 
 never obtain its object, and that the principle of it 
 appears to be altogether false. As this opinion has 
 found so many advocates, I hope I shall be permitted 
 to analyze it a little more accurately, and to explain 
 the grounds of my assertion. 
 
 All the operations of nature require not only energy 
 or intensive life, but also extension or time. Let fruit 
 receive twice as much heat and nourishment as it has 
 in its natural state, and in half the time it will attain to 
 apparent ripeness ; but certainly not to that degree of 
 perfection which the same fruit acquires in its natural 
 state, with half the intensive activity, in double the time. 
 
 The case is the same with the life of man. We must 
 
INCREASED INTENSIVE LIFE. 149 
 
 consider it as a whole compounded of various effects ; 
 as a grand ripening process, the object of which is to 
 give the utmost expansion and perfection possible to 
 human nature, and to make it fill up that point which 
 it holds in the creation. Now ripening and maturity 
 are the produce only of time and experience ; and it is, 
 therefore, impossible that a man who has lived thirty 
 years, though in that time his action and labour may 
 have been doubled, should have attained to the same 
 perfection and maturity that are acquired in a period 
 of sixty years. Besides, he was perhaps destined to 
 be useful in the course of his life to two or three gen- 
 erations ; but his prematurity hurries him off before 
 he has seen the end of the first. He accomplishes, 
 then, neither in regard to himself nor to others, Jie 
 object and destination of complete life ; interrupts the 
 course of his days ; and remains a more refined suicide. 
 
 In a still worse point of view appear those who en- 
 deavour to prolong life by concentrating its enjoyments. 
 By these means they may be wasted much sooner ; and 
 what is worst of all, they are often punished for their 
 folly, because they must lead a life merely intensive 
 without any extension ; that is, they must become a 
 burden to themselves and to others, or rather they exist 
 longer than they live. 
 
 The true art of prolonging human life consists in 
 uniting properly, and employing, the before-mentioned 
 four principles, or indications, as they are termed by 
 physicians ; but in such a manner that none of them be 
 sacrificed to the rest, and that one never forget that the 
 question is concerning the life of man, which, to deserve 
 that name, must consist not merely in existing, but in 
 
150 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 business and enjoyment, and in fulfilling the end of his 
 destination. I shall here take a short view of the whole 
 method. 
 
 I. The sum or fund of the vital power must he suffi- 
 ciently supplied and nourished ; yet never to such a 
 degree as to occasion too violent exertion of it, but 
 only so far as may be necessary for it to perform the 
 external and internal functions with proper ease, strength, 
 and duration, and to give the component parts and 
 juices that organic character which is requisite for 
 their destination, and for guarding against chemical cor- 
 ruption. This may be done with the greatest cer- 
 tainty, 
 
 1st. By sound and powerful generation. 
 
 2d. By pure and wholesome vital nourishment or 
 accession from without ; also pure atmospheric air ; 
 and good, fresh, well-digested food and drink. 
 
 3d. By a sound and useful state of those organs by 
 which every thing added to us from without must be 
 assimilated before it can do us good. These essential 
 organs are the lungs, stomach, and skin ; on the pre- 
 serving of which in a sound state, vital nourishment 
 depends in a very particular manner. 
 
 4th. By an uniform diffusion of the power throughout 
 the whole body. Every part, every intestine, every 
 point of our bodies, must obtain such a quantity of the 
 vital power as may be necessary to enable it to dis- 
 charge its functions properly. Does any part acquire 
 too little, a weakness of it is the consequence ; if it ac- 
 quire too much, the consequences are too violent motion, 
 irritation, accumulations of it ; and then that harmony, 
 the grand pillar of sound life, is, at any rate, always 
 
TONE AND STRENGTH OF ORGANS. 151 
 
 destroyed. This uniform distribution of the power may 
 be promoted, in particular, by the uniform use and ex- 
 ercise of each part and each organ of the body ; by 
 bodily motion ; proper gymnastic exercises ; the tepid 
 bath, and friction. 
 
 II. A sufficient degree of solidity or hardness must be 
 given to the organs or corporeal matter ; but not such as 
 to render them actually stiff and rigid, which, instead of 
 being beneficial to the body, would be hurtful to it. 
 
 The hardness to which I here allude is of two kinds : 
 increased binding and cohesion of the component parts, 
 as well as physical solidity of the vessels ; and next, 
 hardening the sensation against noxious and morbid 
 impressions. 
 
 Sufficient solidity or cohesion of the vessels, which 
 physicians call tone, acts in the following manner, in 
 regard to the prolongation of life : 
 
 First, as the cohesion of our component parts is 
 thereby increased, they cannot be so speedily wasted, 
 destroyed, and separated by the vital process ; conse- 
 quently the change of the component parts is not so 
 rapid : it is not necessary that they should be so often 
 renewed ; and the whole intensive life is more slow, 
 which is always an advantage in regard to its extension 
 and duration. For the better illustration of this sub- 
 ject, I shall here only compare the life of a child with 
 that of a man. In the former, the power of cohesion, 
 the solidity of the vessels are much less ; the connection 
 of the component parts is weaker and more lax, it 
 wastes away therefore much speedier ; the change of 
 its component parts is more rapid ; it must eat more, 
 and much oftener ; it must sleep longer, and more fre- 
 
152 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 quently, to renew what has been lost ; and the blood 
 must circulate with far greater velocity ; in a word, its 
 intensive life and self-consumption are much stronger 
 than in a man who has vessels more solid. 
 
 Secondly, as the organs are thereby, in reality, first 
 strengthened. The vital power alone supplies no 
 strength. To produce what we call strength of the 
 organs, and also of the whole system, a sufficient degree 
 of the simple power of cohesion must be combined with 
 the vital power. This likewise will appear in the 
 clearest manner, from the comparison of a child with a 
 man. A child is far more abundant in vital power, 
 irritability, tendency to growth, and the power of repro- 
 duction, than a man ; yet this body, so rich in life, has 
 less strength than that of a man, merely because the 
 cohesion of the vessels in the child is weaker and more 
 loose. 
 
 Lastly, because the too great morbific or irregular 
 irritability, sensibility, and general delicacy of the ves- 
 sels, are regulated, moderaied, kept wiihin proper 
 bounds, and preserved in good order, by a sufficient 
 mixture- of the power of cohesion ; and by these means 
 the too strong irritation and consumption of the powi r 
 by life is lessened ; the extension and duration of life 
 are, consequently, increased ; and this advantage also 
 is gained, that external noxious causes of irritation act 
 less rapidly, and with less violence. 
 
 By a stronger cohesion, the capacity of the matter 
 for receiving vital power seems also to be heightened; 
 at any rate, a stronger connection of the vital pow( r 
 with the matter is effected. 
 
 The means by which this increased solidity and co- 
 
TONE AND STRENGTH OF ORGANS. 153 
 
 Lesion of the vessels can be produced, are as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 1st. Exercise, and the use of the muscular powers 
 and vessels, both voluntary, by voluntary muscular mo- 
 tion, as well as involuntary, for example, of the stomach 
 and intestines by suitable stimulants, such as food some- 
 what solid or hard ; and of the bloodvessels, by some- 
 what stimulating medicines. On each movement of a 
 vessel, it contracts ; that is to say, its component parts 
 approach each other; and if this be done often, its 
 cohesion or tone will be increased. One only must be 
 extremely cautious not to occasion too strong an irrita- 
 tion, else consumption might be too much increased, 
 and the consequences become dangerous. 
 
 2nd. The use of gelatinous, corroborating nourish- 
 ment, impregnated with ferruginous particles, wh'ch 
 increase this power ; and to avoid too many watery 
 substances, which might lessen it. 
 
 3rd. To promote moderate perspiration by friction, 
 motion, etc. 
 
 4th. A cool temperature of the atmosphere, and of 
 the whole system, a point of the utmost importance. 
 Though cold is not a positive strengthener of the vital 
 power, yet it increases and strengthens the weak cohe- 
 sive power or tone ; corrects too strong exertion of the 
 vital power, as well as prevents it from being exhausted ; 
 and, in this manner, can be a negative strengthener of 
 the vital power itself. Warmth, on the other hand, 
 weakens, partly by relaxing the cohesion, and partly 
 by exhausting the vital power. 
 
 1 must, however, repeat, in regard to all these means, 
 cold, strong substantial nourishment, motion, etc., that 
 
154 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 one must not carry them too far, lest, instead of the 
 requisite solidity, too great stiffness or rigidity of the 
 vessels should be produced. 
 
 The sensation will be best hardened against the 
 causes of disease, if one accustoms oneself to such im- 
 pressions, and to sudden changes. 
 
 III. The vital consumption must be so lessened, or 
 moderated, that it may not be attended with too speedy 
 wasting of the powers and the organs. 
 
 The whole vital operation, as has been already shown, 
 consists in action, exertion of the vital power ; and is 
 consequently connected, in an inseparable manner, with 
 consumption and wasting of that power. This is the 
 case, not only in regard to the voluntary, but also the 
 involuntary, functions ; not only in the external, but 
 also the internal, vital operations ; for they are sup- 
 ported by continual irritation and reaction. Neither of 
 these, therefore, must be overstrained, if we are desir- 
 ous of preventing consumption. 
 
 Among these I reckon, in a particular manner, the 
 following irritations and exertions of power : 
 
 1st. Straining the system of the heart and blood, 
 with too great quickening of the circulation ; that is, by 
 too stimulating, hot nourishment, affections, and feverish 
 disorders. Great wine and brandy drinkers, as well as 
 passionate people, have a quick accelerated pulse, and 
 keep themselves in an incessant artificial fever, by which 
 they are as much wasted and consumed as they would 
 be by a real fever. 
 
 2d. Too strong or continued straining of the powers 
 of thought ; by which, not only the vital power is ex- 
 hausted, but the stomach and system of digestion are 
 
RESTRICTED VITAL CONSUMPTION. 155 
 
 injured, and, consequently, the most important means 
 of restoration are weakened. 
 
 3d. Too abundant and too strong irritation and grat- 
 ification of the animal passions. These tend as much 
 to hasten vital consumption, as straining the powers of 
 thought. 
 
 4th. Too violent and too long continued muscular 
 motion. Very great excess, however, is necessary 
 before this can be hurtful. 
 
 5th. All strong or long continued excretions, such as 
 perspiration, diarrhoea, catarrh, cough, loss of blood, 
 etc. These exhaust not only the power, but also the 
 matter, and tend to corrupt the quality of the latter. 
 
 6th. All too violent or too long continued causes of 
 irritation acting upon us, by which the power is always 
 exhausted. The more irritable a life is, the quicker it 
 will pass away. To these belong too strong or too 
 incessant irritation of the organs of the mind and sensa- 
 tion ; passions, excess in wine, brandy, spiceries, and 
 seasoning of food. Frequent overloading the stomach 
 may be included in the same class ; especially as it for 
 the most part renders necessary the use of evacuants 
 and purgatives, which, as they weaken, are also preju- 
 dicial. 
 
 7th. Diseases with highly increased irritation, parti- 
 cularly such as are feverish. 
 
 8th. Heat, when it acts upon us too incessantly and 
 with too much strength. Keeping the body too warm, 
 therefore, from infancy, is one of the greatest means to 
 hasten consumption, and to shorten the duration of 
 life. 
 
 9th. In the last place, too great a degree of irrita- 
 
156 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 bility and sensibility in the vessels deserves also to be 
 inserted in this rubric. The greater these are, the easier 
 can any stimulus, even the smallest, excite violent irrita- 
 tion, exertion of power, and consequently occasion a waste 
 of that power. A man with this faulty constitution is 
 sensible of a great many impressions which have no 
 effect on common men, and is doubly affected even by 
 the most usual accidents of life. His intensive life, of 
 course, is infinitely stronger ; but his vital consumption 
 must be greatly accelerated. Every thing, therefore, 
 which can increase irritability, either moral or physical, 
 may be reckoned to belong to those means which hasten 
 consumption. 
 
 IV. Restoration of the lost powers and matter must 
 be effected easily and completely. For this purpose the 
 following things are necessary : 
 
 1st. Soundness, vigor, and activity of those organs 
 by which the restorative particles must pass into our 
 bodies. This process is, in part, continual and perma- 
 nent, as through the lungs ; and partly periodical, as 
 through the stomach. To these organs belong the 
 lungs, the skin, the stomach, and the intestines. That 
 restoration may be performed well, these parts must be 
 thoroughly sound, fit for use, and active. They are 
 consequently of the utmost importance in prolonging 
 life 
 
 2d. Soundness, activity, and vigor of the innumera- 
 ble vessels, by which the component parts received 
 into our bodies must be assimilated, rendered homoge- 
 neous, be brought to perfection, and ennobled. This is 
 first, and in a particular manner the function of the 
 absorbing or lacteal system, with its multitude of 
 
RESTORATION OF VITAL POWER. 157 
 
 glands ; and, secondly, of circulation, or the system of 
 the blood, by which organic ennobling is completed. I 
 consider the absorbing system, therefore, as one of the 
 grand means of restoration. In this respect we must, 
 above all things, direct our attention to infancy ; for the 
 first nourishment in the tenderest state of childhood, 
 the treatment, during the first year of life, determine, 
 for the most part, the condition of this system, as it too 
 often happens that it is destroyed in the beginning, by 
 weak, corrupted, viscid nourishment, and impurities ; 
 and an essential foundation is thus laid for a short life. 
 
 3d. A sound state of the nourishment and matter 
 from which we are restored. Our food and drink must 
 be pure, that is, free from corrupted particles ; abun- 
 dant in nutritive principles ; stimulating in a certain 
 degree, for that quality is necessary to promote proper 
 digestion and the whole vital operation, but combined, 
 at the same time, with a sufficient quantity of water or 
 of fluids. The last is ah important circumstance, but 
 often neglected. Water, if it be not nourishment of 
 itself, (though this, by the instance of fishes, worms, 
 etc., who may be fed for a long time with water alone, 
 seems highly probable,) is at any rate indispensably 
 necessary for the business of restoration and nourish- 
 ment ; first, because it must be the vehicle for the 
 proper nutritive substances, in order that they may be 
 sufficiently diifused from the intestines to every point 
 of the body ; and, secondly, because this vehicle is abso- 
 lutely necessary to produce sufficient secretion and 
 evacuation of what is corrupted, and consequently for 
 the purification of the body. 
 
 4th. A healthful and proper state of the atmosphere 
 
158 ART 9F PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 in which and on which we live. The air is our pecu- 
 liar element ; and, in two points of view, an important 
 medium of restoration. First, because it communicates 
 to us two of the most spiritual and most necessary com- 
 ponent parts of life, oxygen and heat ; and, secondly, 
 because it is the most important vehicle for attracting 
 from us and absorbing our component particles which 
 have become corrupted. It is the principal medium for 
 this continual exchange of the finer component parts. 
 The far most considerable and important of our excre- 
 tions are gaseous ; that is to say, the matter must be 
 converted into vapour in order to be expelled. To 
 these belong all excretions of the superficies of our 
 bodies, the skin, and the lungs. This evaporation de- 
 pends not merely on the power and activity of the 
 vessels of respiration, but on the quality of the air 
 which they draw in. The more it is already loaded 
 with component parts, the less new substance can it re- 
 ceive ; and, therefore, moist air checks perspiration. 
 From these principles we may deduce the following 
 conclusions : The atmosphere in which we live must 
 contain a sufficient quantity of vital air, but not too 
 much, else it might stimulate too violently and hasten 
 vital consumption. It must likewise contain as few 
 foreign component parts dissolved in it as possible : it 
 must also be neither moist, nor rendered impure by 
 earthy, .vegetable, or animal particles :* its temperature 
 
 * In defining corrupted air an accurate distinction should be 
 made between impure air and saturated air, which in general are 
 confounded. Corruption of the air may consist either in too small 
 a quantity of oxygen gas, or in the chemical mixture ; and air so 
 corrupted may be called impure air, in opposition to pure vital 
 
RESTORATION OF VITAL POWER. 159 
 
 must be neither too warm nor too cold ; for, in the 
 former case, it exhausts and weakens the power, in the 
 latter makes the vessels too stiff and rigid : and it must 
 neither in its temperature, mixture, nor pressure, be 
 subject to too rapid changes ; for it is a law, fully con- 
 firmed by experience, that uniformity in the atmosphere 
 and climate is uncommonly favourable to long life. 
 
 5th. A free passage and active organs to promote 
 secretion and evacuation of the corrupted component 
 particles. Our life consists of a continual change of 
 component parts. Were not those which have been 
 Exhausted and rendered useless continually separated 
 and expelled, it would be impossible that we could ap- 
 propriate new ones in sufficient quantity ; and, what is 
 still worse, the new addition, by being mixed with those 
 particles kept back, would itself acquire the character 
 of corruption. Hence, the so-called acridity, viscosity, 
 impurity, and putrefaction of the juices, or rather of the 
 whole matter of the body. Restoration, therefore, is by 
 bad secretion prevented two ways ; partly in the quan- 
 tity and partly in the quality. The organs on which 
 this secretion and purifying of the body principally de- 
 pend are the skin, the kidneys, the liver, the intestines, 
 and the lungs. Of these the first is the most important, 
 as it is calculated that two thirds of the component parts 
 which have been used, evaporate by the insensible per- 
 spiration of the skin. 
 
 6th. To stimulate the senses in an agreeable manner, 
 and with moderation. Man, in consequence of the su- 
 
 air ; or it may be corrupted by foreign component parts received 
 into it, and then it is called saturated. 
 
160 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 periority of his organization, as has been already shown, 
 and of his higher physical perfection, is susceptible of 
 more refined as well as more exalted impressions ; and, 
 consequently, they must have a greater influence on the 
 physical state of his life than on animals. By these 
 means there is opened for him a new source of restora- 
 tion, which is denied to animals ; the enjoyment and 
 stimulus of sensual pleasure, when not carried to too 
 great a length. 
 
 7th. Putting the mind in an agreeable frame ; joyful 
 and moderate affections ; a succession of new, grand 
 ideas ; creating, combining, and varying them. These 
 more exalted pleasures, exclusively peculiar to man, 
 belong to this catalogue of the means which contribute 
 to prolong his existence. Hope, love, and joy are there- 
 fore happy affections ; and there is nothing which tends 
 with so much certainty and so generally to preserve 
 life and health as cheerfulness and serenity of mind. 
 Such a disposition keeps the vital power in a proper 
 uniform state, promotes circulation and digestion, and 
 assists, in a very powerful manner, the function of in- 
 sensible perspiration. Happy, therefore, even in a 
 physical point of view, is that man on whom Heaven 
 has bestowed a contented and serene mind, or who, by 
 improving and cultivating his moral faculties, has been 
 able to procure that blessing. He has within himself 
 the noblest and purest balsam of life. 
 
 The principles here laid down contain the funda- 
 mental rules on which every rational general plan for 
 prolonging life must be founded. But what is necessary 
 in regard to every dietetic and medicinal precept is 
 
PRINCIPLES MODIFYING RESTORATION. 161 
 
 necessary here, that, in applying them, regard must be 
 had to special cases ; and that, therefore, they must be 
 more accurately modified and determined. 
 
 The following circumstances, in particular, are to be 
 attended to in the application of them : 
 
 Difference of constitution, in the subjects, in regard to 
 their simple component parts and vessels. The drier, 
 the harder, and more rigid the state of the body natu- 
 rally is, the less need there will be for employing the 
 means of the second indication, that is, a proper hard- 
 ening ; but the more relaxed .the vessels are by nature, 
 the contrary must be the case. 
 
 Further, the different innate temperaments, under 
 which I comprehend the different degrees of irritability, 
 and their relation to the powers of the soul. The more 
 a subject inclines to the phlegmatic temperament, the 
 more and the stronger irritants may be employed. A 
 degree of irritation, which in a sanguine temperament 
 would waste and exhaust, is here beneficial ; necessary 
 to promote a sufficient degree of vital operation, and a 
 means of restoration. The case is the same with the 
 melancholic temperament: it requires more irritation, 
 but variegated, of a pleasant nature, and not too vio- 
 lent. The more the sanguine temperament prevails, 
 the more cautiously and moderately must all stimulants 
 as well physical as moral be employed ; and in this 
 respect, the choleric, where the smallest stimulus may 
 often produce the most violent exertion arid rapid 
 wasting, requires the greatest attention. 
 
 The periods of life. Children and young people 
 have far more vital power and irritability ; their struc- 
 ture is less solid and the change of their component 
 11 
 
162 ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 parts is more rapid. Much less irritation must, there- 
 fore, be here given, because a small irritation excites 
 strong reaction. More regard must be proportionally 
 paid to restoration and hardening. In old age, on the 
 other hand, every thing called irritation may be em- 
 ployed in a stronger degree. What in infancy would 
 be consumption, is here restoration. Milk is wine for 
 children; wine is milk for old people. Old age requires, 
 therefore, on account of the great rigidity connected 
 with it, not an increase of that quality by the second 
 indication, but a lessening of it by means of emollients 
 and moistening things, meat-broths, strong soups, and 
 the tepid bath. 
 
 Lastly, Climate, also, makes some difference. The 
 more southern it is, the greater is the irritability ; the 
 stronger continual irritation is, the more rapid will the 
 stream of life flow, and the shorter will be its duration. 
 Great attention is here necessary that this exhausting 
 of the power by too strong irritation, may not be accele- 
 rated. In a northern climate, on the other hand, where 
 the temperature being cooler concentrates the power 
 more, and keeps it together, this is much less to be ap- 
 prehended. 
 
ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 PART THE SECOND. 
 
 I NOW proceed to the most important part of this 
 Treatise, the Practical Art of Prolonging Life ; and I 
 can now make known with confidence, and on good 
 grounds, those means by which alone prolongation of it 
 is possible. If they are not so specious, so boasting, 
 and so mysterious as those commonly recommended, 
 they have this advantage, that they may be everywhere 
 found without expense, nay, that they in part lie within 
 ourselves ; that they are perfectly consistent with reason, 
 as well as experience ; and that they prolong, not 
 merely life, but also the enjoyment of it. In a word, 
 according to my idea, they deserve the name of univer- 
 sal remedies, much more than all the panaceas of 
 quackery and imposture. 
 
 We are continually surrounded by the friends and 
 the enemies of life. He who keeps company with its 
 friends, will become old ; but he who prefers its ene- 
 mies, will shorten his existence. It might be expected 
 of every prudent man, that he would prefer the former, 
 and be always on his guard against the latter ; but it is 
 
164 MEANS WHICH SHORTEN LIFE. 
 
 an unfortunate circumstance that these enemies of life 
 are not all public and known. They, in part, carry on 
 their attacks secretly and imperceptibly; so that some 
 of them assume the mask of life's best friends. It is, 
 therefore, difficult to discover them ; and some we even 
 harbor within our own bosoms. 
 
 The principal part of this Art, then, will consist in 
 being able to distinguish our friends from our enemies, 
 and in learning to guard against the latter. In other 
 words, the Art of prolonging Life may be divided into 
 two parts : 
 
 I. Guarding against the enemies of life, and those 
 
 means which shorten it. 
 
 II. The knowledge and use of those means which 
 tend to prolong it. 
 
 MEANS WHICH SHORTEN LIFE. 
 
 ACCORDING to the principles before laid down, the 
 Only grounds on which the duration of life depends, it 
 will not be difficult to determine in how many different 
 ways it may be shortened. 
 
 I 1st. Every thing must shorten it which lessens the 
 
 sum of the vital powers ; 
 
 2nd. Every thing that takes from the organs of life 
 their duration and renders them unfit for use ; 
 3rd. Every thing that hastens vital consumption ; 
 4th. And every thing that prevents restoration. 
 
MEANS WHICH SHORTEN LIFE. 165 
 
 Every thing that shortens life may be comprehended 
 in these four classes; and we have now a standard by 
 which the greater or less mischief, occasioned by their 
 influence, can be determined and appreciated. The 
 more these four properties are in any thing united, the 
 more dangerous and hostile will it be to our vital dura- 
 tion ; and the fewer it contains, it will be less so. Nay, 
 there are mixed substances which present as it were 
 two sides, one friendly, and another hostile ; that is to 
 say, which possess one of the above properties, but at 
 the same time are more favorable and beneficial to us 
 than hurtful. These may form one peculiar class, but 
 we shall here, according to their prevailing quality, 
 assign them a place, either among those things which 
 are friendly, or those which are hostile. 
 
 Between those things which shorten life, there is a 
 difference still more important. Some act slowly, suc- 
 cessively, and often very imperceptibly. Others, on the 
 contrary, violently as well as suddenly ; and these may 
 be rather named the destroyers of life. To these belong 
 certain diseases, and the various kinds of violent death, 
 as they are properly called. The latter, in general, 
 are much more dreaded than the former, because their 
 effects are more perceptible and more terrible : but I 
 can assure my readers, that they are at bottom much 
 less dangerous than these secret enemies; for they are 
 so open that people can be much sooner on their guard 
 against them than against the former, which carry on 
 their destructive approaches in private, and daily steal 
 from us some part of life without our perceiving it, 
 though the loss in the end may amount to a sum truly 
 alarming. 
 
166 MEANS WHICH SHORTEN LIFE. 
 
 I must here make one melancholy remark, which is, 
 that the enemies of our life have, in modern times, 
 dreadfully increased ; and that the degree of civilization, 
 luxury, refinement, and deviation from nature, in which 
 we at present live, by so highly exalting our intensive 
 life, tends also to shorten, in the same proportion, our 
 existence. We shall find, on close examination, that 
 men appear, as it were, to have anxiously studied how 
 they might deprive each other of life secretly and im- 
 perceptibly, and often in the most ingenious manner 
 possible. Much more precaution and attention are, 
 therefore, now necessary in order to secure ourselves 
 from danger. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 \ 
 
 Delicate nursing and treatment in infancy. 
 
 THERE is no surer method of rendering the vital 
 thread of a being from its origin short and perishable, 
 than by giving it, during the first years of life, which 
 may be considered as a continued generation and ex- 
 pansion, a very warm, tender, and delicate education ; 
 that is, by guarding it from every breath of cool air ; 
 burying it for at least a year among pillows and blankets, 
 and keeping it like a chicken in a real state of hatching; 
 not omitting, at the same time, to stuff it immoderately 
 with food ; and, by coffee, chocolate, wine, spice, and 
 such like things, (which for children are nothing else 
 than poison,) to irritate it beyond measure, and to ren- 
 der its whole vital activity too strong and violent. 
 By these means its internal consumption is from its 
 birth so accelerated, its intensive life is so early exalted, 
 and its organs are rendered so weak, tender, and sensi- 
 ble, that one may assert that, through two years' treat- 
 ment of this kind, an innate vital capacity of sixty 
 years may be reduced one half; nay, as experience un- 
 fortunately shows, to much less, without reckoning those 
 evil accidents and diseases which may besides be the 
 consequence. The premature expansion of our organs 
 and powers is by nothing so much hastened as by 
 such a forced education ; and we have before proved 
 
168 MEANS WHICH SHORTEN LIFE. 
 
 what an intimate connection there is between rapid or 
 slow expansion, and a longer and shorter duration of 
 life in general. Speedy ripening carries always along 
 with it* speedy destruction. This, certainly, is one 
 great cause of the dreadful mortality which prevails 
 among children. But men overlook those causes which 
 lie nearest to them, and assume rather the most absurd, 
 in order that their minds may be at rest, and that they 
 may have as little to do as possible. 
 
 # One of the most remarkable instances of the prematurity of 
 nature was Louis II., King of Hungary. He was born so long 
 before the time that he had no skin. In his second year he was 
 crowned ; in his tenth he succeeded ; in his fourteenth he had a 
 complete beard ; in his fifteenth he married ; in his eighteenth he 
 had gray hair, and in his twentieth he died. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 Physical excess in youth. 
 
 "As youth is the period of growth, of forming and 
 collecting the powers of the future man, every kind of 
 excess calculated to weaken or exhaust the vital powers 
 should be carefully guarded against. There are certain 
 active properties which belong to this period, such as 
 muscular motion, which can hardly be carried beyond 
 the bounds of health. But the excesses most to be 
 dreaded are those which spring from a too early antici- 
 pation of the future man, in which the imagination and 
 the feelings play a conspicuous part. Youth, it cannot 
 be too often repeated, is the time for storing strength, 
 both physical and moral ; and every act which can in 
 any way impede or frustrate this all-wise intention of 
 Nature, will tend to lay the foundation of a weak and 
 imperfect body, and shorten the days of its possessor. 
 Among the passions of the future man, which at this 
 period should be strictly restrained, is that of physical 
 love; for none wars so completely against the princi- 
 ples which have been already laid down as the most 
 conducive to long life ; no excess so thoroughly lessens 
 the sum of the vital power; none so much weakens and 
 softens the organs of life ; none is more active in hasten- 
 ing vital consumption; and none so totally prohibits 
 restoration. 
 
170 MEANS WHICH SHORTEN LIFE. 
 
 I might, if it were necessary, draw a painful, nay, a 
 frightful picture, of the results of these melancholy ex- 
 cesses ; but I refrain, in the hope that this simple 
 caution will be sufficient. To my youthful readers I 
 will simply say, Be wise in time. Experience may 
 appear a harsh, but, nevertheless, she is a just mon- 
 itor." EDITOR. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 Overstrained exertion of the mental faculties. 
 
 MENTAL as well as bodily excess, is attended with 
 destructive consequences ; and it is worthy of remark, 
 that too great exertion of the mental faculties, and the 
 waste of the vital power connected with it, produce on 
 the health and vital duration almost the same effects 
 as a waste of the physical powers loss of the power 
 of digestion, depression, dejection, weakness of the 
 nerves, consumption, and premature death. 
 
 Much, however, depends here on the difference of 
 structure and constitution ; and those who have natu- 
 rally a stronger and more active organization of soul, 
 must suffer less from such exertion than those who are 
 destitute of that advantage. Those, therefore, are most 
 affected by it, who, with a moderate structure of mind, 
 attempt to force it beyond its powers ; and that exces- 
 sive mental exertion which we make involuntarily, and 
 without pleasure in the object of it, will hence weaken 
 us most. 
 
 But it may here be asked, What is meant by excess 
 in mental exertion ? This, in general, is as difficult to 
 be defined as excess in eating and drinking ; because 
 the whole depends on the difference in the capacity and 
 state of the mental powers, and these are as different 
 
172 MEANS WHICH SHORTEN LIFE. 
 
 as the powers of digestion. That may be excess of 
 mental exertion for one, which is not so for another, 
 endowed with stronger faculties. The circumstances, 
 also, under which that function is exercised, make a 
 very essential difference. I shall, therefore, define 
 more accurately what is to be understood by excess in 
 the function of thinking. 
 
 1st. When one, while employed in abstruse thought, 
 neglects too much the body. Every irregular exertion 
 of our powers is hurtful ; and as a man is infinitely 
 more weakened when he exercises his thought without 
 attending to bodily exercise, it is equally certain that 
 those can undergo more mental labor, and with much 
 less injury to their health, who, in the mean time, give 
 to the body suitable and periodical exercise. 
 
 2d. When one thinks too incessantly on the same 
 subject. The same law prevails here as in regard to 
 muscular motion. When one moves the arm continu- 
 ally in the same direction, one, in a quarter of an hour, 
 will become more fatigued than if the limb had been 
 moved two hours in various directions. Nothing ex- 
 hausts so much as uniformity in the pursuit and em- 
 ployment of the mental powers ; and Boerhaave tells 
 us that after having bestowed intense study, for a few 
 days and nights, on the same object, he fell suddenly 
 into such a state of lassitude and relaxation, that he lay 
 some time in an insensible and deathlike condition. A 
 proper change of objects is, therefore, the first rule in 
 order to study without injury to the health, and even 
 to accomplish more work upon the whole. I am ac- 
 quainted with great and intense thinkers, mathemati- 
 cians, and philosophers, who, at an advanced period of 
 
OVERSTRAINED MENTAL EXERTION. 173 
 
 life, are still happy and contented; but I know also 
 that they have made this variety a law, and that they 
 always divide their time between these abstract studies 
 and reading history, agreeable poetry, travels, and 
 works of natural history. It is of great benefit, in this 
 respect, to unite always a practical with a speculative 
 life. 
 
 3d. When one employs the mind on too abstract or 
 difficult subjects ; as for example, problems of the 
 higher mathematics and metaphysics. The object 
 makes a very essential difference. The more abstract 
 it is, and the more it obliges one to disengage one's self 
 from the sensual world, and, as it were, to insulate the 
 mind separated from the body, the most unnatural state, 
 without doubt, that can possibly be, the more weaken- 
 ing and overstraining is its effect. Half an hour of 
 such abstraction exhausts more than a whole day em- 
 ployed in translation. But here, also, a great deal is 
 relative. Many are born for such labor, and have 
 those powers and that frame of mind which it requires ; 
 while on the other hand, many are destitute of both, 
 and yet endeavor to force them. It appears to me very 
 singular that, when it is requisite to raise up a corpo- 
 real burden, people always first try it by their strength, 
 to discover whether it be not too heavy for them ; but 
 in regard to a mental burden, never consult their powers 
 to know whether they are sufficient to sustain it. How 
 many have I seen miserable and enervated, merely 
 because they attempted to dive to the depths of philoso- 
 phy without having philosophical heads ! Must every 
 man, then, be a philosopher by profession, as seems to 
 
174 MEANS WHICH SHORTEN LIFE. 
 
 be the mode at present ? In my opinion, a particular 
 organization is necessary for that purpose ; and it may 
 be left to the chosen few to investigate and unfold the 
 secrets of philosophy ; as to others, let them be contented 
 with acting and living like philosophers. 
 
 4th. I consider it also as excess, when one labors 
 always in creating and never in enjoying what has 
 been created by others. The labor of the mind may 
 be divided into two parts : the creative, which produces 
 of itself and gives birth to new ideas ; and the recipient, 
 or passive, which merely receives and enjoys foreign 
 ideas, as, for example, by reading or hearing others. 
 The former is by far the most exhausting ; and one 
 ought, therefore, to vary them, and to enjoy them in 
 turns. 
 
 oth. When one begins to overstrain the mind too 
 early in infancy. At this period a small exertion is 
 highly prejudicial. Before the age of seven, all men- 
 tal labor is an unnatural state, and attended with con- 
 sequences as fatal to the body as the most exhausting 
 excess. 
 
 Gth. When one studies invita Minerva, that is ap- 
 plies to subjects on which one labors involuntarily, and 
 not con amore. The more inclination one has for any 
 kind of mental enjoyment, exertion will be the less 
 hurtful. More caution, therefore, is necessary in the 
 choice of studies ; and wretched must those be who 
 neglect an object of so much importance. 
 
 7th. When one stimulates, strengthens, or prolongs 
 mental exertion by artificial means. People employ 
 commonly, for this purpose, wine, coffee, or snuff; and 
 
OVERSTRAINED MENTAL EXERTION. 175 
 
 though these artificial helps of thought are in general 
 not to be approved, because they always exhaust 
 doubly, it must, however, be confessed, that, at those 
 times when the labor of the mind does not depend upon 
 the will, but on periods and hours, they cannot alto- 
 gether be dispensed with ; and on such occasions, a 
 dish of coffee, a pipe of tobacco, or a pinch of snuff, 
 may be the most sufferable. But let people be on their 
 guard against excess ; because an abuse of them must 
 increase, in an incredible degree, the mischiefs of men- 
 tal exertion. 
 
 8th. When one overstrains the mind during the time 
 of digestion. This occasions double injury : one weak- 
 ens one's self more, as more exertion is then necessary 
 for thinking, and interrupts at the same time the impor- 
 tant function of digestion. 
 
 9th. When one employs, in mental labor, that time 
 which ought to be devoted to sleep ; a custom highly 
 prejudicial to life, and of which I shall speak more ex- 
 pressly when I come to treat on sleep. 
 
 10th. When one unites study with hurtful external 
 circumstances ; and of these there are two in particu- 
 lar, sitting in a bent posture, and confined air ; which 
 are often more destructive in their consequences than 
 intense thinking itself. People, therefore, ought to 
 accustom themselves to study lying, standing, walking, 
 or riding on a hobby ; not always in the closet, but 
 sometimes in the open air ; and they will then suffer 
 much less from those diseases which are so incident 
 to men of letters. The ancient philosophers undoubt- 
 edly studied as much as the modern literati ; and yet 
 
176 MEANS WHICH SHORTEN LIFE. 
 
 never suffered from bodily disease induced by such 
 study. The sole cause of this was, that they medi- 
 tated more, lying or walking, and in the open air ; be- 
 cause they never drank coffee, or used tobacco ; and 
 because at the same time that they exercised the mind, 
 they never neglected the care and the exercise of the 
 body. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Diseases. Injudicious manner of treating them. Sudden kinds of 
 death. Propensity to self-murder. 
 
 DREADFULLY, has this host of the secret and open 
 enemies of life increased in modern times. When one 
 reflects how little a savage of the South Sea Islands 
 knows of diseases, and then takes a view of an Euro- 
 pean compendium of pathology, where they are mar- 
 shalled by regiments and companies, and where their 
 number amounts to several thousands, one cannot help 
 being alarmed to find that so much is possible for lux- 
 ury, corruption of morals, unnatural modes of living, 
 and excesses. Many, nay, the greater part of these 
 diseases, are occasioned by our own fault ; and it is 
 equally certain that new ones may be created by the 
 like conduct. Others came into the world no one 
 knows when or how, and were altogether strangers to 
 the ancients. These are the most inveterate and de- 
 structive ; the smallpox, the measles, and scarlet fever : 
 and these even are so far owing to ourselves, that we 
 suffer them to spread and exercise their ravages, with- 
 out forming any regulations to check them ; though it is 
 proved that, by a proper exercise of reason, with the 
 help of those observations that have been collected, we 
 might banish them from our boundaries, in the same 
 manner as they were introduced. 
 12 
 
178 MEANS WHICH SHORTEN LIFE. 
 
 The greater part of diseases act either as violent 
 kinds of death ; the means of suddenly stopping vital 
 operation, like the apoplexy ; or as the means of short- 
 ening it gradually, by being either totally incurable, or, 
 even when they are cured, by leaving behind them such 
 a loss of the vital power, or such weakness and derange- 
 ment of the nobler organs, that a body so affected can 
 no longer attain to that term of life to which it was 
 originally destined. 
 
 The following short view, collected from different 
 bills of mortality, will show, in the clearest manner, 
 how monstrous that los is which mankind sustain at 
 present by disease. Of a thousand persons who are 
 born, 24 die at their very birth ; teething carries off 
 50 ; convulsions and other diseases during the two first 
 years, 277; the smallpox, which, as is well known, 
 destroys one in ten, carries off 80 or 90 ; and the mea- 
 sles 10. If they are females, 8 die in childbed. The 
 asthma, consumption, and disorders of the chest, at least 
 in England, destroy 190 ; violent fevers, 150 ; apo- 
 plexy, 12, and the dropsy, 41. Of a thousand persons 
 also, we can allow only 78 who die of old age, or rather 
 at an advanced period of life ; for the greater part of 
 these will fall a sacrifice to accidental affections. In 
 short, it hence appears, that nine-tenths of mankind 
 die always prematurely, and by the effects of disease. 
 
 I must here mention also a new and detestable dis- 
 order, which tends to the immediate destruction of life, 
 I mean a propensity to self-murder. This unnatural 
 passion, which prevailed formerly through direful ne- 
 cessity and heroic resolution, has now become a disease, 
 which, in the bloom of youth, amidst the most favorable 
 
MANAGEMENT OF DISEASES. 179 
 
 circumstances, merely by disgust and satiety of life, can 
 excite the most horrid and irresistible desire to deprive 
 one's self of existence.* There are, indeed, men in 
 whom every source of vital sensation and vital enjoy- 
 ment is so exhausted, in whom every germ of activity 
 and happiness is so deadened, that they find nothing so 
 insipid, so disagreeable, and so disgustful as life ; that 
 they have no longer any points of contact with the 
 world which surrounds them ; and that life, at last, 
 becomes to them such an oppressive burden, that they 
 cannot withstand the desire of getting rid of it. And 
 these men, for the most part, are such as, by youthful 
 dissipation, and too early a wasting of the powers and 
 vigor which ought to be the seasoning of life, have 
 exhausted themselves, and become incapable of relish- 
 ing its enjoyments. Is it not natural that such unfor- 
 tunate beings should prefer death without all sensation, 
 to a living death which their life may undoubtedly be 
 called ? 
 
 But the mischiefs of these already too numerous and 
 dangerous enemies are infinitely increased, because 
 people in part treat them very improperly, and in gen- 
 eral abuse medicine too much. 
 
 Among those improprieties which regard the treat- 
 ment of diseases, I reckon the following : "When peo- 
 ple, notwithstanding every proof of their mischief, suffer 
 the causes of disease to remain in activity : when one, 
 for example, evidently observes, that drinking wine, the 
 use of too light clothing, or sitting up late at night, 
 
 * In seventy-five years, twice as many people in London fall 
 a sacrifice to suicide as to the ple'urisy. 
 
180 MEANS WHICH SHORTEN LIFE. 
 
 brings on disease, and yet continues these practices ; 
 also, when one totally mistakes the disease, or will not 
 allow that any exists, by which means a very trifling 
 indisposition may be converted into a serious malady. 
 And here I cannot help particularly mentioning a neg- 
 ligence to which the lives of thousands are undoubtedly 
 sacrificed ; I mean neglecting a catarrh or cough. 
 People in general consider this as a necessary, and, in 
 part, useful evil ; and in that respect they are right, if 
 the catarrh be moderate, and do not continue too long. 
 But one ought never to forget that every catarrh is a 
 disease, and may readily end in an inflammation of the 
 lungs, or, what is more frequently the case, in an 
 asthma or consumption ; and I do not say too much when 
 I assert, that one-half of all the asthmas arise from ca- 
 tarrhs which have been thus neglected. Such mischief 
 follows when they continue too long, or have been im- 
 properly treated ; and I therefore recommend the two 
 following rules, which ought to be sacredly observed by 
 every one who is attacked by a catarrh of the chest. 
 One must not overlook a catarrh cough more than a 
 fortnight ; if it continue longer, it must be considered as 
 a disease, and be treated by a physician. Secondly, 
 during the time every catarrh lasts, one must guard 
 against violent heating of the body, cold, and the use of 
 spices, wine, and other spirituous liquors. 
 
 It is also a too common mode of improperly treating 
 diseases, that people often, partly from ignorance or 
 prejudice, and partly through mistaken tenderness, do 
 exactly the contrary of what ought properly to be done. 
 Of this kind are, when people oblige the patient to eat, 
 
FREQUENCY OF VIOLENT DEATH. 181 
 
 though he has no appetite ; when, during feverish dis- 
 orders he is suffered to use beer, wine, coffee, meat- 
 soups, and other rich and nourishing things, by which 
 the slightest degree of fever may be changed into the 
 most violent ; when people, on the patient's complaining 
 of a fever, and that cold which is connected with it, 
 bury him immediately under bed-clothes, shut up the 
 doors and the windows, and heat the air of the apart- 
 ment as much as possible ; and when they do not pay 
 sufficient attention to cleanliness and ventilation. This 
 injudicious treatment destroys more of mankind than 
 disease itself; and is principally the cause why, in the 
 country, so many strong sound men fall a sacrifice to 
 death ; why diseases there so readily assume a malig- 
 nant quality ; why, for example, the smallpox is more 
 destructive there in winter than in summer, because 
 people shut the doors and windows, and, by artificial 
 means, keep up in the patient's bed-chamber a heat 
 equally great perhaps as that which prevails during the 
 summer. 
 
 And lastly, I reckon among these improprieties, when 
 one consults no physician, or consults one that is unskil- 
 ful, uses medicine injudiciously, has recourse to quacks, 
 and employs secret means, universal remedies, etc., of 
 which I shall treat more at length when I come to the 
 rational use of medicine. 
 
 The violent kinds of death also sweep off an immense 
 number of mankind ; and these, in modern times, have 
 unfortunately made great progress. Not only have a 
 more enlarged spirit of enterprise, the greater frequency 
 of sea-voyages, and more extensive trade, multiplied 
 such accidents ; but people have fallen upon inventions 
 
182 MEANS WHICH SHORTEN LIFE. 
 
 for accomplishing the object of shortening life in an 
 incredibly quick and refined manner. I shall here 
 mention only gunpowder, and several new sorts of poison, 
 such as Aqua Toffana, Succession Powder, etc. Nay, 
 the art of killing has now become a peculiar and ex- 
 alted science. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 Impure air. Men living together in large cities. 
 
 ONE of the greatest means of shortening human life 
 is, men living together in great cities. Dreadful is the 
 preponderance which the ravage thence occasioned has 
 in the bills of mortality. In Vienna, Berlin, Paris, 
 and London, the twentieth or twenty-third person dies 
 annually ; while in the country around them, the pro- 
 portion is only one in thirty or forty. Rousseau is per- 
 fectly right when he says that men, of all animals, are 
 the least formed for living together in great multitudes. 
 The breath of a man is deadly for his fellow-creature ; 
 and this is the case both in a proper as well as a figu- 
 rative sense. The moisture, or, as it is commonly 
 called, the thickness of the air, is not what alone makes 
 it prejudicial, but the animalization which it acquires 
 by so many people being crowded together. We can 
 at most breathe the same air only four times ; for it is 
 then, from the finest support of life, converted by our- 
 selves into the most deadly poison. Let one now only 
 reflect on the atmosphere of such monstrous places, 
 where it is impossible for an inhabitant to inspire a 
 mouthful of air that has not been for some time already 
 in the lungs of another. This produces a general secret 
 poisoning, which, upon the whole, must necessarily 
 shorten the duration of life. Those men who are able, 
 
184 MEANS WHICH SHORTEN LIFE. 
 
 ought to avoid living in great cities : they are open 
 sepulchres for mankind ; and not only in a physical, but 
 in a moral point of view. Even in cities of moderate 
 size, where perhaps the streets are somewhat narrow, 
 people should prefer a residence in the suburbs ; and it 
 is at least their duty to quit the city atmosphere for an 
 hour or half an hour every day, merely in order that 
 they may inspire a little fresh air. 
 

 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Intemperance in eating and drinking. Refined Cookery. Spirituous 
 liquors. 
 
 THE first thing which, in regard to diet, can act 
 as a shortener of life, is immoderation. Eating and 
 drinking too much is prejudicial to life two ways. It 
 overstrains the powers of digestion, and thereby 
 weakens them. It prevents digestion, because with 
 such a quantity the whole cannot be properly prepared; 
 arid crudities*in the intestines, and bad juices are tle 
 consequence. It increases also proportionably the 
 quantity of the blood, and thereby accelerates circula- 
 tion and life ; and besides, it gives rise to indigestion, 
 and the necessity of using evucuants, which always 
 weaken. 
 
 To eat too much, means when people eat till they 
 can eat no longer; and the following are the signs: 
 When one experiences a heaviness and fulness of the 
 stomach, yawning, eructation, drowsiness, and confusion 
 in the head. The old rule, which contains much truth, 
 ought therefore to be always observed : Give over eat- 
 ing while you have still some appetite left. 
 
 Too refined cookery belongs to the same class. Un- 
 fortunately I must here exclaim against this friend of 
 our palate, as one of the greatest enemies of life; as 
 one of the most destructive inventions for shortening it, 
 and in the following mariner: 
 
186 MEANS WHICH SHORTEN LIFE. 
 
 1st. It is well known that the principal part of this 
 art consists in making every thing piquant and stimula- 
 ting. Every article of food, therefore, is half com- 
 posed, according to this preparation, of hot, stimulating 
 substances; and instead of accomplishing, by eating, 
 what is the natural object of it, nourishment and resto- 
 ration, we increase rather, by irritation, internal con- 
 sumption, and actually produce the contrary. After a 
 meal of this kind one has always an artificial fever; and 
 those who use such food may justly say, consumendo 
 consumimur.* 
 
 2nd. The worst is, that people, by this cookery, are 
 always induced to eat too much. They become such 
 friends to their palate, that every remonstrance of the 
 stomach is ineffectual; and as the palate is always 
 tickled in a new and agreeable manner, the stomach 
 has thrice or four times as much labor as it is capable 
 of performing. For it is a very common fault, that one 
 does not make a distinction between the appetite of the 
 palate and that of the stomach ; but considers that as a 
 real, which is only a false, appetite ; and this error is 
 by nothing favored so much as refined cookery. Man 
 thereby loses, at length, one of the greatest supports 
 of life, the property of knowing when he has had 
 enough. 
 
 3rd. One grand maxim in this cookery is, by the 
 most unnatural and most variegated compositions, to 
 produce new stimulants, and new dishes. And hence 
 it happens that things which singly and alone were per- 
 fectly harmless and innocent, acquire, by combination, 
 properties altogether new and destructive. Acids and 
 
 * In consuming we are ourselves consumed. EDITOR. 
 
INTEMPERANCE IN EATING. 187 
 
 sweet substances, for example, do not hurt when used 
 separately ; but when used together, they may become 
 prejudicial. Eggs, milk, butter, and flour, are each, 
 used by itself, very easy of digestion ; but when joined 
 together, and formed into a fat solid pudding, the produce 
 will be extremely heavy and indigestible. It may, 
 therefore, be laid down as a fundamental principle, that 
 the more compounded any kind of food is, the more 
 difficult it will be of digestion ; and what is still worse, 
 the more corrupt will be the juices which are prepared 
 from it. 
 
 4th. A grand acquisition in the newest mode of 
 cookery is the art of bringing nourishing juices into 
 the body in the most concentrated form. Hence we 
 have consommes jus, coulus, and many other things of 
 the like kind. By expression and boiling, people have 
 found means to concentrate the substance of several 
 pounds of beef, capon, and marrow-bones, into the small 
 size of a jelly or soup; and they imagine they have 
 accomplished something great when they send such an 
 essence of nourishment immediately, and at once, into 
 the blood, without exposing the teeth to the trouble of 
 chewing, or the stomach to the labor of digesting. That 
 is to say, people imagine they can restore themselves 
 full gallop ; and this is the favorite system of those who 
 consume themselves in that manner. But these people 
 are miserably deceived ; for, 
 
 In the first place, one can never deviate from the 
 regulations of Nature without injury. Not without 
 reason has it been made a law, that the stomach can 
 receive only a certain quantity ; a degree more would 
 be too much for the whole. Everybody can admit only 
 
188 MEANS WHICH SHORTEN LIFE. 
 
 a proportionable quantity of nourishment; and this 
 capacity of the whole is always in direct ratio with the 
 stomach. Man here defrauds Nature : he goes beyond 
 the first principle, if! may say so; and smuggles, as it 
 were, into the body, thrice or four times as much nour- 
 ishment as it is capable of receiving. The consequence 
 is, a continual plethora of all the vessels ; and this 
 always destroys the equilibrium as well as the health, 
 and, in the end, life itself. 
 
 Secondly, it has been established by Nature, on 
 grounds equally good, that our nourishment should be 
 used in a form rather coarse. The advantage of this 
 law is, that our food is first chewed in the mouth, 
 macerated, and mixed with saliva: in the next place, 
 that it is longer retained in the. stomach, in order, by its 
 stimulating quality, to incite the stomach to more reac- 
 tion : consequently it is much better assimilated and 
 changed into the nature of our substance. On this 
 properly depends real restoration; for nourishment can 
 pass into our bodies, and become truly useful to us, only 
 after it has been, by the powers of the stomach, ren- 
 dered homogeneous and similar to our substance. 
 
 By trangressing this first principle, one creates in the 
 body juices, which, because they have not been suf- 
 ficiently assimilated, are unable to effect proper restora- 
 tion; which, as foreign particles, tend rather to irritate; 
 and thus promote consumption, much more than resto- 
 ration. 
 
 In my opinion, therefore, it is highly proper that an 
 art which prevents restoration, which fills us with raw 
 undigested juices, and which increases internal con- 
 sumption, should be considered, not as a friend of our 
 
SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS. 189 
 
 life, but as one of its most essential enemies. One might 
 almost imagine that it was invented to convert one of 
 the noblest gifts of God into a secret poison. 
 
 Lastly, we may place in this class, of things that tend 
 in a particular manner to shorten life, all preparations 
 of spirituous liquors, which, under whatever name 
 known, are, in that respect, highly prejudicial. "When 
 people drink these, they drink liquid fire. They accele- 
 rate vital consumption in a dreadful manner ; and make 
 life, in the properest sense, a process of burning. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Passions and dispositions of mind which shorten life. Peevishness. 
 Too much occupation and business. 
 
 CERTAIN habits and dispositions of mind, such as 
 melancholy, care, dejection, fear, anxiety, faint-hearted- 
 ness, and, in particular, avarice and hatred, which are 
 hostile to life, claim a distinguished rank among those 
 means which tend to shorten it. 
 
 All these exhaust the finest of the vital powers ; de- 
 stroy, in particular, digestion and assimilation ; weaken 
 the vigor of the heart ; and, by these means, impede 
 the important business of restoration. The first or mel- 
 ancholy affections act, however, negatively in shorten- 
 ing life. On the other hand, those of avarice and hatred 
 have, as it were, a positive property of bringing on 
 death. They not only deprive the body of its vital 
 powers, but, as they incessantly sharpen the bile, they 
 are continually preparing a secret poison ; and by the 
 general irritation of the bile, increase, in an extraordi- 
 nary degree, self-consumption. That motto, therefore, 
 is highly proper : Avarice consumes itself. 
 
 To these belongs that malignant disposition of mind 
 known by the name of peevishness. Nothing can so 
 much blast the bloom of life, shut up every access to 
 pleasure and enjoyment, and change the beautiful stream 
 of life into a stagnated puddle, as this disagreeable habit. 
 
PEEVISHNESS. FEAK. 191 
 
 I advise every one who regards his life to fly from this 
 deadly poison, and never to suffer it even to approach. 
 
 Fear, also, deserves here a particular place. It be- 
 longs, in like manner, to those bad habits of mind which 
 one can harbor or banish at pleasure. 
 
 Walter, an Englishman, who sailed round the world 
 with Anson, was conversing one day with young Berk- 
 enhout ; and as the latter happened to mention the 
 word Fear, Walter, with some emotion, replied, Fear is 
 a base passion, beneath the dignity of man. And, with- 
 out doubt, it is one of the most absurd : a passion which 
 debases and degrades man, as much as its opposite 
 passion, courage, can exalt and elevate him above 
 human nature. Fear robs him of power, reflection, 
 judgment, resolution ; in a word, of all that preemi- 
 nence which the human mind enjoys ; and, to accustom 
 children not to fear, ought to be one of the first prin- 
 ciples of education. But, unfortunately, the direct con- 
 trary is the case. I shall here enlarge on two only of 
 the most usual kinds of fear : fear of thunder, and fear 
 of apparitions or spirits. Now he who is subject to 
 both these may bid farewell to happiness and tranquil- 
 lity. The period of night, which by its obscurity is so 
 wisely destined for sweet repose, is to him the signal 
 of the most painful uneasiness. While others enjoy 
 peaceful sleep, he listens with trembling and dismay to 
 the smallest sound ; the sweat of horror bursts forth 
 from every pore of his body ; and he is more fatigued 
 in the morning, than at the moment when he lay down. 
 
 The joyful season of summer is to him also a period 
 of terror and dread ; and every fine day brings with it 
 the idea of thunder, and the apprehension of danger. 
 
 One may easily comprehend what destructive influ- 
 
192 MEANS WHICH SHORTEN LIFE. 
 
 ence such continual misery must have on the duration 
 of life. Fear is an incessant cramp ; it contracts all 
 the smaller vessels ; the whole skin grows cold, and 
 perspiration is completely checked. The blood is col- 
 lected in the interior large vessels ; pulsation becomes 
 irregular ; the heart is overcharged, and cannot move 
 with freedom. The important business of circulation is 
 therefore deranged. Digestion is also interrupted, and 
 crampish affections take place. All the muscular power 
 is palsied ; the sufferer attempts to run, but is not able ; 
 he is seized with a general shivering ; he breathes short, 
 and with difficulty ; in a word, fear has all those effects 
 which are produced by a mortal secret poison, and its 
 consequences are equally pernicious in shortening life. 
 
 It is impossible for me to omit here a characteristic 
 of modern times, which certainly deprives us of a valu- 
 able part of our life : namely, that unfortunate spirit of 
 restless enterprise (polypraymosine), which at present 
 subdues a great part of the human race ; an incessant 
 fickleness, and propensity to new undertakings, new 
 labors, and new plans. The genius of our age seems 
 to incline men, much more than is natural for them, to 
 reflection, activity, speculations, and reformation of 
 every kind ; and to exercise with more vigor all the 
 powers which they possess : for the great increase of 
 luxury, by still multiplying its wants, makes new schemes 
 and new exertions of the faculties always more neces- 
 sary. Hence arises that endless uneasiness which de- 
 stroys all sensation of internal tranquillity and con- 
 tentment ; which never suffers men to enjoy that degree 
 of peace and relaxation indispensably requisite for re- 
 storing them ; and which, consequently, in an alarming 
 manner, accelerates consumption. 
 
CHAPTEE VIII. 
 
 The fear of death. 
 
 No kind of fear is attended with more unhappiness" 
 than the fear of death. He who is subject to it dreads 
 something which is totally unavoidable, and against 
 which we can never be a moment secure. He enjoys 
 pleasure with trembling and anxiety ; he denies himself 
 every thing, because every thing may be the vehicle of 
 death ; and by this everlasting apprehension of losing 
 life, he loses it in reality. No one who feared death 
 ever attained to a great age. 
 
 Love life, and fear not death ! is a command and a 
 prophecy, the only true frame of mind to become happy 
 and old ; for, whoever fears death may bid farewell to 1 
 happiness. To him no enjoyment is pure ; every plea- 
 sure is poisoned with the idea of death ; he is always 
 like a malefactor pursued ; the enemy is continually at 
 his heels ; and yet there are an immense number of 
 people who are not able to banish from them this 
 disease of the mind. For the benefit of these I shall 
 here lay down some rules, which, though they may not 
 display much metaphysical acuteness, I can recom- 
 mend as good preservatives against the fear of death ; 
 and which I know by experience, to have been effec- 
 tual : 
 
 1st. Let a man make himself very familiar with the 
 13 
 
194 MEANS WHICH SHORTEN LIFE. 
 
 idea of death. He alone, in my opinion, is happy, who 
 has so often, and in so undaunted a manner, looked this 
 unavoidable enemy in the face, that by long custom, it 
 has at length become to him a matter of indifference. 
 How much do those deceive themselves who imagine 
 they have found, in banishing the thoughts of death, 
 the best remedy for the fear of it. Before they are 
 aware, amidst the most lively enjoyment will the idea 
 rush upon them, and derange them the more, the less 
 they are acquainted with it. In a word, I can call 
 those alone fortunate who have carried this custom so 
 far, that in the moment of joy they can think of death 
 -without being depressed ; and my readers may believe 
 me, for 1 assert it on my own experience, that, by often 
 dwelling upon this idea, and moderating its appearances, 
 we shall at length acquire a wonderful indifference re- 
 specting it. Let us only turn our attention to soldiers, 
 sailors, and miners. Where shall we find men more 
 contented and happy, more susceptible of every joy ? 
 And for what reason ? Because, by their continual 
 approach to death, they have learned to despise it. He 
 who no longer fears death is alone free ; there is no- 
 thing else that can fetter his senses, disturb him, or 
 render him unhappy. His soul is filled with exalted 
 and undaunted courage, which strengthens the vital 
 power, and which is therefore a positive means of re- 
 moving this fear. 
 
 This custom is attended also with some concomitant 
 'circumstances which are undoubtedly of no little im- 
 portance. It is an excellent help to enable one to 
 ^continue honest and virtuous. On every occasion of 
 -doubt, when the question arises whether an action be 
 
FEAR OP DEATH. 195 
 
 right or wrong, let a man think only on the last hour 
 of his life, and ask himself, Wouldst thou then do so ; 
 wilt thou then wish to have acted so ? Innocence is 
 certainly that happy state, that enjoyment of life, which 
 can enable a man to think on death without terror. If 
 a man harbor enmity or revenge against another, if he 
 entertain a wish of avenging an injury done to him, let 
 him only reflect on that hour, and on the state in which 
 hfs thoughts will then be, and I engage that his ideas 
 of enmity and revenge will immediately forsake him. 
 The reason is, that, by thus changing the theatre of ac- 
 tion, all those little selfish objects by which we are usu- 
 ally gaided are removed ; every thing at once appears 
 in its proper point of view, under its just proportion ; 
 the deception vanishes, and nothing remains but what 
 is real.* 
 
 * Allied with the fear of death is the foolish objection which 
 some people have to making their wills, and doing that which 
 none others can do so well as themselves, namely, arranging 
 their affairs. Indeed I have known some so irrational as to en- 
 tertain alarm at the insurance of their lives ; as though the 
 thought on death could hasten its approach. The duty of mak- 
 ing a will is one which ought to be performed by every person, 
 the moment he arrives at man's or woman's estate, and the neg- 
 lect of that duty I regard as a dangerous sin. The great Locke, 
 in a letter to Lord King, has these memorable reflections on 
 making his will : "I shall not die the sooner for having cast 
 up my reckoning, and, judging as impartially of my state as I 
 can, I hope I shall not live one jot the less cheerfully the time 
 that I am here, nor neglect any of the offices of life whilst I 
 have it ; for whether it be a month, or a year, or seven years 
 longer the longest any one out of kindness or compliment can 
 propose to me is so near nothing when considered and in re- 
 spect of eternity, that if the sight of death can put an end to 
 
196 MEANS WHICH SHORTEN LIFE. 
 
 2d. Many fear death much less than the operation 
 of dying. People here form the most singular concep- 
 tion of the last struggle, the separation of the soul from 
 the body ?> and the like. But this is all void of founda- 
 tion. No man certainly ever felt what death is ; and 
 as insensibly as we enter into life, equally insensibly 
 do we leave it. The beginning and the end are here 
 united. My proofs are as follows : First, man can 
 have no sensation of dying ; for to die, means nothiiTg 
 more that to lose the vital power ; and it is the vital 
 power by which the soul communicates sensation to the 
 body. In proportion as the vital power decreases, we 
 lose the power of sensation, and of consciousness*; and 
 we cannot lose life, without at the same time, or rather 
 before, losing our vital sensation, which requires the 
 assistance of the tenderest organs. We are taught also 
 by experience, that all those who ever passed through 
 the first stage of death, and were again brought to 
 life, unanimously asserted that they felt nothing of dy- 
 ing, but sunk at once into a state of insensibility. Let 
 us not be led into a mistake by the convulsive throbs, 
 the rattling in the throat, and the apparent pangs of 
 death, which are observed in many persons when in a 
 dying state. These symptoms are painful only to the 
 spectators, and not to the dying, who are not sensible of 
 them. The case here is the same as if one, from the 
 dreadful contortions of a person in an epileptic fit, 
 should form a conclusion respecting his internal feelings. 
 From what affects us so much, he suffers nothing. 
 
 the comforts of life, it is always near enough, especially to one 
 of my age, to have no satisfaction in living." Lord King's Life 
 of Locke, 2d edit. p. 40. EDITOR. 
 
FEAR OF DEATH. 197 
 
 3d. Let one always consider life, as it really is, a 
 mean state, which is not an object itself, but a medium 
 for obtaining an object, as the multifarious imperfec- 
 tions of it sufficiently prove ; as a period of expansion 
 and preparation, a fragment of our existence, through 
 which we are to be fitted for and transmitted to other 
 periods. Can the idea, then, of really making this 
 transition ; of ascending to another from this mean 
 state, this doubtful problematical existence, which never 
 affords complete satisfaction, ever excite terror ? With 
 courage and confidence we may, therefore, resign our- 
 selves to the will of that Supreme Being, who, without 
 our consent, placed us upon this sublunary theatre ; and 
 give up to his management the future direction of our 
 fate. 
 
 4th. Remembrance of the past, of that circle of 
 friends who were nearest and always will be dearest to 
 our hearts, and who, as it were, now smile to us with a 
 friendly look of invitation from that country of dark- 
 ness, will tend also very much to allay the fear of death. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Idleness. Inactivity. Languor. 
 
 BUT an opposite conduct, that of neglecting to exer- 
 cise our powers, may tend also to shorten life; because, 
 by these means, the organs will soon become unfit for 
 use ; and derangement of them, interrupted purification 
 of the juices, and bad restoration must be the conse- 
 quence. It was the first and unalterable destination of 
 man, that he should earn his bread by the sweat of his 
 brow. And this principle is fully confirmed, in a physi- 
 cal sense, by experience : he who eats without labor 
 will never thrive. If the necessary proportion be not 
 preserved between restoration and self-consumption, it 
 is impossible to retain health or prolong life. If we 
 consult observation, we shall find that no idler ever at- 
 tained to a great age, and that those who have been dis- 
 tinguished by their longevity were all men whose lives 
 had been extremely active and laborious. 
 
 But mental idleness is hurtful, as well as bodily; and 
 I now come to a means of shortening life, which per- 
 haps my readers did not expect, because it apparently 
 makes the time appear to us so long : I here allude to 
 languor. Let us examine the physical effects of it a 
 little closer, and we shall see that this unpleasant state 
 of mind is by no means a matter of indifference, but 
 that it is attended with very important consequences to 
 
IDLENESS. INACTIVITY. LANGUOR. 199 
 
 the condition of our bodies. What do we remark in a 
 man who is subject to languor ? He begins to yawn ; 
 this already betrays that the passage of the blood 
 through the lungs is interrupted. The power of the 
 heart and vessels suffers of course, and becomes too tor- 
 pid. If the evil continue longer, accumulations and 
 stoppages of the blood take place. The organs of di- 
 gestion acquire a tendency to weakness ; and inactivity 
 and debility, melancholy, flatulency, and hypochondriac 
 affections ensue : in a word, all the functions are thereby 
 weakened and deranged ; and I think I may with truth 
 affirm, that a state which disturbs the most important 
 operations of the body, and which enfeebles the noblest 
 powers, is a shortener of life also. 
 
 Languor, in a physical as well as a moral view, is a 
 state of danger. Weikard mentions the instance of a 
 child born of poor parents, who were obliged to earn 
 their bread by their daily labor. The state of this 
 child, from its birth, was therefore languor. At first 
 the parents suffered it to lie alone in its cradle, where 
 it spent its time in looking at its hands and feet. When 
 it became bigger, it was always shut up in a hen-house, 
 where it could see only through a small hole. What 
 was the consequence? The child, when it grew up, 
 remained heavy and stupid ; showed no signs of reason, 
 and could scarcely speak. 
 
 Nay, it is attended with effects still more destructive. 
 With a melancholy temperament, languor may at length 
 conduct one to self-rnurder. A dull English author, 
 who has written a voluminous work on suicide, relates, 
 that he one day met one of his countrymen who exhibit- 
 ed every appearance of deep thought. " Whither art 
 
200 MEANS WHICH SHORTEN LIFE. 
 
 thou going, my friend ? " said the author. " To the 
 Thames, to drown myself." " I beg of yon," replied 
 the author, " to return home for this time, and to read 
 over my work on suicide." " God forbid ! " answered 
 the other. " It was reading that cursed, tedious book, 
 which excited in me such a dreadful disgust of life that 
 I am now firmly resolved to drown myself." 
 
 But I think I hear every one ask, What in the world 
 is the best remedy for languor ? It accompanies us to 
 the ball, to the play-house, to the tea-table, in our walks ; 
 in short, it is impossible for us to get rid of it! What 
 you say is perfectly true, but it does not relieve us. 
 There is only one, but not a very agreeable remedy for 
 it, and that is regular employment. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 Overstrained power of the imagination. Imaginary diseases. 
 Sensibility. 
 
 IMAGINATION was given us as the seasoning of life ; 
 but as physical seasoning must not be made our daily 
 nourishment, our mental life, in the like manner, must 
 not abuse this seasoning of the soul. Too much of it 
 will, indeed, exalt vital sensation ; but one thereby in- 
 creases intensive life together with consumption, and 
 prevents restoration, as is proved by the meagreness of* 
 such people as have fervid imaginations. Besides one, 
 by these means, disposes the body to sudden as well as 
 violent revolutions, which may become dangerous to 
 life, because, with an overstretched imagination, it is 
 possible for a small spark to produce a most dreadful 
 explosion. He, therefore, who wishes to live long, 
 must never suffer this power of the soul to assume a 
 superiority, or to occasion a continued state of exalta- 
 tion ; he will apply it to that purpose for which it was 
 bestowed upon us, to give a higher lustre to the agree- 
 able moments of life, to season the unfortunate or insipid, 
 and to enliven the melancholy. 
 
 This faculty may be highly prejudicial to life, when 
 it acquires certain tendencies, which, by their collateral 
 effects, produce double mischief; and of these, two ap- 
 
202 MEANS WHICH SHORTEN LIFE. 
 
 pear to me to be particularly dangerous, a propensity 
 to imagine diseases and too great sensibility. 
 
 The first disease of the imagination is principally pe- 
 culiar to hypochondriacs ; but may be excited in those 
 who are not physicians, if they read works on medicine, 
 which they do not, like professional men, apply to the 
 art, but to their own persons ; and who, for want of 
 sufficient knowledge, conjecture often very erroneously. 
 Of this I have seen astonishing instances. Not only 
 people who, with features perfectly regular, supposed 
 that their noses stood awry ; and who, though slender 
 and sound in every respect, could not get rid of the idea 
 that they were in the last stage of the dropsy, but I 
 have seen a lady who, if asked whether she had not 
 this or the other local disorder, felt in a mom'ent every 
 'symptom of it. Having asked her if she had not the 
 headache, she was instantly seized with it; and on 
 asking, in the like manner, respecting the cramp in the 
 arm, and the hiccup, both these affections immediately 
 took place. 
 
 Tulpius mentions the instance of a man who, by read- 
 ing a great number of medical and chirurgical books, 
 became quite frantic. 
 
 Monro saw a man, who, by studying medicine under 
 Boerhaave, had become hypochondriacs!. Whenever 
 he attended any of Boerhaave's lectures, he always 
 imagined that he was affected with the disease which 
 had been the subject of it. By these means he was a 
 continual living commentary on the science of physic ; 
 but he had scarcely gone half through this destructive 
 course of medicine, when he found himself so wretched 
 and exhausted that he was obliged to give up the study 
 altogether. Nay, we have had the instance of a per- 
 
EXTREME SENSIBILITY. 203 
 
 son who imagined himself to be actually dead, and 
 who, therefore, would have been starved, had not a 
 friend, who pretended to be dead also, persuaded him 
 that it was customary in the other world to eat a suffi- 
 cient quantity daily. 
 
 The misfortune attending this weakness not only is 
 that it occasions constant fear and dread, and that many 
 diseases are actually excited because people suppose 
 they are afflicted with them, but it induces patients to 
 have recourse to useless and preposterous medicines, 
 and to quackery without end, which often consume the 
 body much more rapidly than the disease itself would, 
 did it really exist. 
 
 No less dangerous is the second disease of the imagi- 
 nation, sensibility ; a romantic turn of mind, melan- 
 choly enthusaism. It is altogether the same whether 
 one really suffers under distressful events, or, by read- 
 ing romances and indulging sensibility too much, has 
 made oneself so feelingly alive to every impression 
 as to be overcome by the sensation it occasions. 
 Nay, the latter case is the more prejudicial ; as the one 
 is the natural state, but the other artificial ; and its 
 affections are, therefore, more violent and stronger! 
 We have already seen how highly destructive melan- 
 choly is to the vital power and to every vital movement. 
 One may easily comprehend, then, how baneful such a 
 state must be, which subjects the mind to continual 
 affliction at the hazard of life, and which cannot par- 
 take in refined pleasures without tears and heart-break- 
 ing sensations. What extinction of all energy, of all 
 cheerfulness and courage ! Two years spent in such a 
 state of ahguish, would undoubtedly shorten life in a 
 considerable degree. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Poisons physical as well as infectious. 
 
 BY these I understand all those substances which, 
 even in small quantity, are capable of producing very 
 prejudicial or destructive effects on the human body. 
 Of these there is a great abundance in nature, and of 
 various kinds. Some act violently, others secretly ; 
 some suddenly, others slowly ; some externally, others 
 internally ; some visibly, others invisibly ; and it can- 
 not be denied that they may be classed among the most 
 general and the most dangerous enemies of life. 
 
 I consider it, therefore, very necessary, as an essen- 
 tial part of that universal knowledge which ought to be 
 cultivated among mankind, that every one should learn 
 to know and to guard against these poisons ; because 
 people otherwise may, through mere ignorance and 
 inattention, be liable to be poisoned a thousand ways. 
 Animals have instinct to enable them to distinguish and 
 to avoid poisons ; man has reason and experience ; but 
 these, in this respect, are far from being sufficiently 
 employed. My object, therefore, here, is to give man- 
 kind such a comprehensive knowledge and conception 
 of their danger as may induce them to guard against 
 these enemies of life. 
 
 It is a very hurtful prejudice that people, in common, 
 
POISONOUS METALLIC SALTS. 205 
 
 consider nothing as poisonous but what can be received 
 through the mouth. On the contrary, we may be poi- 
 soned externally, as well as internally, through every 
 part of our bodies, so far as they have absorbing ves- 
 sels ; through the mouth and stomach, through the 
 whole superficies of the skin, the nostrils, the ears, and 
 the lungs, by means of bad air. The only difference is, 
 that the effects, in many parts, take place slowly ; in 
 others, rapidly ; and that many kinds of poison have an 
 effect, in particular, upon one part, and some upon 
 another. 
 
 I divLle poisons in general into two classes, physical 
 and contagious ; the latter of which are distinguished 
 by their being generated in a living body, and possess- 
 ing the power of communicating themselves to another. 
 
 Among physical poisons, a knowledge of the follow- 
 ing is particularly necessary : 
 
 Arsenic, better known under the name of rat-poison, 
 is the most violent of all. The smallest dose (five or 
 six grains) is sufficient to destroy a person with the most 
 excruciating torture. Numberless are the instances of 
 people having suffered a severe death from it, but 
 rather through ignorance and carelessness than through 
 intention. I am of opinion, therefore, that it would be 
 much better if this horrid poison were entirely banished ; 
 especially as it is of so little use, and is employed 
 almost for nothing else than to kill rats and mice. At 
 any rate, it ought not to be kept by grocers and apothe- 
 caries, near drawers where there is coffee, sugar, or any 
 article used as food. In the mean time, I consider it 
 as my duty to call the public attention to a few ways in 
 which poisoning by arsenic may very easily be possible ; 
 
206 MEANS WHICH SHORTEN LIFE. 
 
 in which it often happens ; and to warn mankind 
 against them. One of the most frequent is, when it 
 is used to destroy vermin. If one reflects how many 
 people have been deprived of existence by poison des- 
 tined for mice, this practice ought to be altogether 
 abandoned. Let not any one imagine that all danger 
 may be prevented by great caution. I know an in- 
 stance where some sweet milk, standing in a cellar, 
 was poisoned by mice who had used some of it after 
 eating rat-poison. It is much safer to employ for the 
 same purpose poison-nuts, (Nux vomica) ; which are 
 far less hurtful to man, but at the same time are a 
 strong poison for animals. Another kind of poisoning 
 with arsenic, less observed, is that by means of arsen- 
 ical colors. Painters by profession know how to secure 
 themselves against it ; but amateurs and children should 
 be very cautious in using such colors, and at any rate 
 .avoid that bad practice of drawing the brush through 
 their mouth. Equally dangerous are toys painted with 
 these colors, which ought never to be allowed. Lastly, 
 I advise every one to guard against a method of poison- 
 ing with arsenic which is practised by quacks and 
 mountebanks. These impostors sell abundance of 
 drops, as a cure for the cold fever, which contain 
 nothing but arsenic. They indeed often cure the 
 disease immediately ; but they occasion consumption 
 afterwards, and other fatal consequences. Let people, 
 for Heaven's sake, avoid all such arcana. 
 
 A poison no less dreadful is lead. It is, perhaps, so 
 far more terrible, as it acts more secretly as well as 
 more slowly ; does not discover itself immediately, by 
 such violent effects ; and because people may be com- 
 
POISONOUS METALS. 207 
 
 plctely ruined by it, before it is known that they are 
 poisoned. With this substance, in particular, poisoning 
 is possible several ways, which the greater part of the 
 public have never remarked, and against which I must 
 here put them on their guard. In the first place, when 
 people daily swallow with their food and drink some 
 portion of lead, the most dreadful symptoms, impossible 
 to be cured, may at length break out, often, even at the 
 end of some years. This happens when victuals are 
 dressed in vessels made of tin, which contains much 
 lead, or in such as are badly glazed ; or when one 
 drinks wine adulterated with lead. Another very usual 
 method of poisoning is by painting the face with white 
 lead, using washes made from lead, etc. All paints are 
 prejudicial, but chiefly the white, because the whole of 
 them almost contain white lead ; and the leaden par- 
 ticles may be conveyed into our bodies, as well through 
 the skin as through the stomach. Lastly, poisoning 
 by means of apartments newly painted with Avhite 
 lead, or oil-varnish, ought not to be forgotten. Who- 
 ever inhabits these too soon, may, in particular, receive 
 the poison into their lungs, and become hectic and asth- 
 matic. 
 
 To the same class belong, also, quicksilver, antimony, 
 and preparations of copper ; which ought all to be con- 
 sidered as noxious poisons, and which should be guard- 
 ed against, particularly the last, in regard to cooking 
 victuals in copper vessels. Even the greater part of 
 neutral salts, when used in too great quantity at once, 
 and not sufficiently dissolved in water, may be attended 
 with poisonous effects. I have met with some instances 
 where an ounce, or an ounce-and-a-half of alum or salt- 
 
208 MEANS WHICH SHORTEN LIFE. 
 
 petre, taken at once, instead of Glauber's salts, excited 
 every symptom of the most violent poison, and which 
 could not be removed but with difficulty. 
 
 The vegetable kingdom contains a multitude of poi- 
 sons, which partly occasion death by torpor, such as 
 opium and deadly nightshade ; and partly by burning 
 and inflammation, as mezereon and euphorbium. Great 
 mistakes are committed here, also, through inattention. 
 Numberless are the instances where people, instead of 
 chervil (chcenopodium) for salad, have used hemlock ; 
 instead of parsnips, have eaten the roots of henbane ; 
 instead of common mushrooms, poisonous fungi ; or used 
 the berries of the nightshade, mezereon, etc., by which 
 they brought on death. In every seminary of learn- 
 ing, therefore, a sufficient knowledge of all the poi- 
 sonous plants growing in the neighborhood should be 
 taught. 
 
 The poisonous plants most pernicious, and which it 
 is most necessary to know and guard against, are the 
 belladonna ; hemlock (cicuta) ; henbane (hyosciamm) ; 
 wolfsbane (aconitum) ; foxglove (digitalis) ; nightshade 
 (solanum) ; darnel (lolium temulentum) ; mezereon 
 (Daphne) ; several sorts of the ranunculus ; poisonous 
 lettuce (lactuca virosa) ; and the laurel-cherry (lauroce- 
 rasus). To these belong also bitter almonds, which, ac- 
 cording to the latest experiments, contain a deadly poi- 
 son, not inferior to that of the laurel. 
 
 The air even, in which we live, can be poisoned so 
 as to destroy us either suddenly or secretly. I shall 
 here speak, in the first place, of that poison which we 
 ourselves communicate to the atmosphere by living and 
 breathing. Living beings consume, in a certain quan- 
 
POISONOUS PLANTS AND AIR. 209 
 
 tity of air, pure substance which we call vital air (oxy- 
 gen) ; and, in place of it, give back an impure substance 
 (carbonic acid gas) not fit for breathing. If a great 
 multitude of people are shut up in a small space, death 
 may soon be the consequence.* If the space be larger, 
 and the number less, though death may not ensue, the 
 effects may be still prejudicial. All places, therefore, 
 where numerous bodies of people are crowded together, 
 ought to be avoided ; particularly when they have not 
 a sufficient height or free passage for the air. This is 
 most frequently the case in play-houses. One of the 
 surest signs of the air being poisoned, is when the 
 lights will no longer burn clear and readily, or here 
 and there go out of themselves. In an equal degree 
 is it then unfit for life, because fire and life require the 
 same part of the air for their support. Those who 
 keep their sitting apartments or bed-chambers always 
 closely shut, expose themselves to a slow poisoning of 
 the like kind. In the same manner may the air be 
 poisoned when a great many lights are kept burning 
 in a close room. And the case is the same when one 
 sleeps in a close bed-chamber where coals are burning, 
 by which death is often the consequence. When one 
 keeps in a close bed-chamber, during night, a great 
 many plants and shrubs, the air experiences a similar 
 kind of poisoning ; while, on the other hand, the same 
 plants, in the daytime, and exposed to the sun, render 
 the air more pure and wholesome. Evaporation from 
 
 * This is sufficiently proved by the dreadful instance which 
 happened in the black hole at Calcutta, where, of 146 English- 
 men, confined scarcely twelve hours, 123 were destroyed by the 
 air being thus poisoned. 
 
 14 
 
210 MEANS WHICH SHORTEN LIFE. 
 
 putrid substances is capable of producing the like effect. 
 The strong smelling effluvia of flowers can communi- 
 cate to the air, in close apartments, a pernicious, and 
 even , a deadly quality also ; and therefore it is not 
 proper to keep in one's bed-chamber strong scented 
 flowers, such as the narcissus, roses, etc. 
 
 But far more important and dangerous appear to me 
 the class of infectious poisons, to which I now proceed ; 
 and I earnestly request that my readers will pay the 
 utmost attention to the observations I shall make re- 
 specting them. Concerning physical poisons, people 
 may always procure information : there are works 
 which treat of them ; they are known, and conse- 
 quently can be avoided. With infectious poisons the 
 case is quite different. They have been overlooked, as 
 unavoidable and necessary evils; they have not been 
 much considered as poisons, but in regard to the dis- 
 eases which they occasion ; people poison, and are 
 poisoned; and this dreadful secret trade is carried on 
 daily and hourly, without men knowing or reflecting 
 what they are about. Physical poisons, as is proper, 
 have been subjected to police laws : the State takes care 
 that they shall be carefully kept, and that the use of 
 them be limited ; and those who wilfully administer 
 them to others, are treated as criminals, and punished. 
 The infectious poisons, on the other hand, are restrained 
 by no laws, by no police ordinances: they exercise 
 their ravages among us without interruption ; the hus- 
 band poisons the wife, the son the father ; and no one 
 takes any trouble to remedy this evil. Lastly, physical 
 poisons hurt only the individual ; whereas the infectious 
 possess the peculiar power of reproducing themselves 
 
INFECTIOUS TOISONS. 211 
 
 in every living being, and of multiplying without end ; 
 they injure, therefore, not only those poisoned, but ren- 
 der them new sources by which whole neighborhoods 
 and districts may be infected. 
 
 I could here produce the most melancholy instances 
 of men who merely through ignorance were poisoned 
 in this manner ; and of some who infected others, even 
 their nearest friends, because they were unacquainted 
 with these poisons, and the way in which they are pro- 
 pagated. I, therefore, consider a knowledge on this sub- 
 ject so necessary, and so defective among the public, 
 that I with pleasure embrace the present opportunity 
 of saying something upon it, which may be of general 
 utility. 
 
 Infectious poisons are such as can be no otherwise 
 generated than in a living body ; and which possess the 
 power of reproducing themselves when communicated 
 to another, and of giving rise to the same corruption 
 and disease which prevailed in the former. Each class 
 of animals has one peculiar to itself, and which does not 
 take any effect upon another. Thus mankind have 
 some which do not attack animals : for example, the 
 smallpox. * Animals, on the other hand, are suscepti- 
 ble of some which do not affect men ; as, the disease 
 among horned cattle, and the glanders among horses.f 
 I am acquainted with only one peculiar to men as well 
 as animals, and that is the poison of canine madness. 
 
 * The smallpox is met with in sheep ; and the cowpox is now 
 recognized as the smallpox of the cow. In my work on " Dis- 
 eases of the Skin, " I have recorded examples of human small- 
 pox being communicated to cows. EDITOR. 
 
 t Glanders is now too well known to be communicable to man 
 and to give rise in him to a virulent and fatal disorder. EDITOR. 
 
212 MEANS WHICH SHORTEN LIFE. 
 
 A very remarkable difference between these poisons 
 is, that some of them never appear again without fresh 
 external infection; as, the smallpox, measles, and 
 plague : while others may be again produced, without 
 infection, merely by corruption, and certain changes 
 which take place in animal bodies ; and among the 
 latter class are the putrid fevers. It has, therefore, 
 been often asked, Whence did the poisons of the first 
 class arise ? And, indeed, it is difficult to answer this 
 question. The analogy of the latter class, however, 
 allows us to suppose that they were first generated in 
 the human body, but through so rare a concurrence of 
 external as well as internal circumstances that thou- 
 sands of years, perhaps, must be necessary before the 
 same thing can again happen. It hence follows, that 
 these poisons, as they must always, in order to continue, 
 be produced in a human body, may again cease, as soon 
 as they have been deprived, either by accident or pre- 
 cautionary regulations, of an opportunity to regenerate. 
 A consoling reflection, on which the extirpation, or at 
 least banishment of them from certain districts depends ; 
 and of the truth of which we may be convinced by 
 finding that some of these poisons, such as those of 
 the pla"gue and leprosy, have, by wise establishments, 
 been driven from among civilized nations. But this 
 consequence is also equally well founded, that, by a 
 new concurrence of uncommon circumstances and cor- 
 ruption in the bodies of animals, an entirely new poison 
 of the like kind, hitherto unknown in the world, may 
 be again created. 
 
 Before all these kinds of poison, however, can have 
 effect, there is necessary, not only a communication or 
 
INFECTIOUS POISONS. 213 
 
 infection from without, but also a certain disposition or 
 sensibility of the body. Hence that remarkable pheno- 
 menon, that many can be poisoned very easily, some 
 with difficulty, and many not at all : nay that many of 
 these poisons can affect us only once, because, by being 
 once poisoned, the whole sensibility of the body, in 
 regard to the infection, is destroyed ; as we find to be 
 the case in the smallpox and measles. 
 
 Infection may apparently be communicated in a great 
 variety of ways ; but it is always confined to this simple 
 principle, that immediate contact with the poison is 
 necessary before it can be conveyed to another. This, 
 however, must be properly understood. One may come 
 into immediate contact with the poison, either by touch- 
 ing the body of a diseased person, or any other body 
 with which the poison is united, or to which it has at- 
 tached itself; as, for example, clothes, fwrniture, etc. 
 A few poisons of this kind have the property of diffus- 
 ing themselves through the atmosphere, as those of the 
 smallpox, measles, and putrid fevers ; but this con- 
 taminated air remains poisonous only in the neighbor- 
 hood of the diseased, or, in other words, the atmos- 
 phere only around the diseased person is poisonous. If 
 it be, however, mixed with and thinned by purer air, 
 like every other poisonous solution, it ceases at length 
 to have a poisonous effect ; that is to say, the poison 
 cannot be conveyed by the atmosphere to any great 
 distance. 
 
 My principal view here is to enable that part of the 
 public unacquainted with physic to guard against these 
 poisons ; or, what cannot be a matter of indifference to 
 any person of benevolence, to avoid communicating the 
 
214 MEANS WHICH SHORTEN LIFE. 
 
 poison to others when one is infected. I shall, there- 
 fore, first, give a few rules how people may secure 
 themselves from infection in general ; and then treat 
 singly of those kinds of poison which appear most com- 
 monly among us, and show how they may be dis- 
 tinguished and avoided. 
 
 The best means by which people, in general, may 
 secure themselves from infection of every kind, consist 
 in the following rules : 
 
 1st. Pay the utmost attention to cleanliness ; for the 
 greater part of the poisons of this kind are conveyed to 
 us through the external surface of our bodies : and it is 
 fully proved, that poison, already communicated, has 
 been by cleanliness removed before it could actually 
 produce any bad effect. I here allude, in particular, to 
 frequent washing, bathing, rinsing the mouth, combing 
 the hair, andoften changing the linen, clothes, and bed. 
 
 2nd. Be careful to admit pure air into your apart- 
 ments, to enjoy the free air often, and to give the body 
 proper exercise. By these means, one will preserve 
 the perspiration and vital power of the skin ; and the 
 more active these are, the less danger is to be appre- 
 hended from external infection. 
 
 3rd. Let people endeavor to keep themselves in 
 good spirits, and preserve serenity of mind. Such a 
 disposition is best calculated to support the counteract- 
 ing power of the body, free perspiration, and the out- 
 ward tendency of the juices, by which the catching of 
 infection is much prevented. This rule is particularly 
 to be recommended where putrid fevers prevail ; and 
 there also a glass of good wine may be serviceable. 
 
 4th. Avoid coming into close contact with people, 
 
RULES FOR AVOIDING INFECTION. 215 
 
 the physical state of whose bodies you do not perfectly 
 know ; and, in particular, beware of touching them with 
 parts which have no skin, or one exceedingly delicate 
 and tender ; such as wounds, the lips ; as, by these, in- 
 fection is soonest imbibed. Of the like nature is the 
 touching of substances which a little before may have 
 been used by others. 
 
 5th. When infectious diseases are prevalent in any 
 district, I would strongly advise people not to go abroad 
 at night, because one imbibes infection much more 
 readily in the night than the daytime. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Old age. Premature ingrafting of it on youth. 
 
 Tins is the most unavoidable of all those means that 
 tend to shorten life. It is a secret thief, as Shakspeare 
 calls it, the necessary consequence of life itself : for, by 
 the vital process, our vessels must become gradually 
 more desiccated and unfit for use, our juices more acrid 
 and less, the smaller vessels shrivelled, the organs in- 
 capable of performing their functions ; and the earthy 
 part, the surest means of our destruction, must gain a 
 superiority. 
 
 It cannot, therefore, be altogether prevented. The 
 question only will be : Is it in our power to bring it on 
 sooner or later? And, unfortunately, this question 
 must be answered in the affirmative. Modern times 
 afford us astonishing instances of the possibility of 
 bringing on premature old age, and of causing the pe- 
 riods of life to follow each other much more rapidly. 
 We may see at present, particularly in great cities, men 
 come to maturity in their eighth year ; in their six- 
 teenth, attain to the highest point possible of their 
 perfection ; in their twentieth, struggling with every 
 infirmity, a proof that they are already on the decline ; 
 and in their thirtieth, have every appearance of ex- 
 hausted age, such as wrinkles, dryness and stiffness of 
 the joints, a crooked spine, loss of sight and memory, 
 
PREMATURE OLD AGE. 217 
 
 grey hair, and a tremulous voice. I once dissected the 
 body of such an artificial old man, who had scarcely 
 attained the age of forty ; and found not only his hair 
 grey, but the cartilages of the ribs, which do not be- 
 come bones until the greatest age, totally ossified. 
 
 One, therefore, can imitate by art, in our climates, 
 that hastening of the periods of expansion as well as of 
 old age, which, in warm countries, takes place naturally. 
 
 I must now say a few words on the art of ingrafting 
 old age on youth. This is done by weakening very 
 early the vital power as well as the juices, and giving 
 to the vessels the highest possible degree of hardness, 
 stiffness, and want of pliability, which characterizes old 
 age. 
 
 I shall here lay before my readers the surest means 
 to accomplish this, as it is of importance to know sucii 
 prescriptions, in order that people may be better 
 enabled to counteract them. If one, therefore, will only 
 live altogether contrary to the following rules, one may 
 be enabled to preserve one's self in a state of youth to 
 an advanced period of life. 
 
 1st. Endeavor, by every art physical and moral, to 
 attain to maturity as speedily as possible, and waste the 
 vital power with as much profusion as possible. 
 
 2nd. Begin very early to expose yourself to the 
 utmost fatigue. Forced journeys of several days, con- 
 tinual dancing, sitting up all night, and shortening every 
 period of rest, will, in this respect, be of most service. 
 By these means you will accomplish two objects, that 
 of speedily exhausting the vital power, and that of 
 making the vessels soon hard and brittle. 
 
 3rd. Drink abundance of wine and strong liquors. 
 
218 MEANS WHICH SHORTEN LIFE. 
 
 This is an excellent prescription to desiccate the body, 
 and to make it become shrivelled. 
 
 4th. Care, fear, and sorrow, are extraordinarily well 
 calculated to bring on, very early, every characteristic 
 of old age. We have instances of persons acquiring 
 grey hair in the course of one night spent under the 
 highest degree of grief and terror. Now, one might 
 believe, that certain causes are absolutely necessary to 
 produce these affections: but there are people who 
 understand, in. a masterly manner, the art of seeing 
 everything in a melancholy light, of dreading some evil 
 from every man, and pf finding in the most common 
 circumstances abundant matter to excite wretchedness 
 and misery. 
 
 5th. That system, carried too far, or at least badly 
 understood, of hardening the organs by the means of 
 cold, bathing frequently and for a long time in cold 
 water ; nothing can be more proper to produce every 
 symptom of age. 
 
 But it is not enough that people now attain old age, 
 in a period during which our ancestors were still young : 
 they unfortunately go further. They have found out 
 the art of bringing into the world children with old age 
 upon them. Such phenomena I have sometimes seen. 
 These shrivelled beings enter upon the stage of life with 
 the strongest features of age; and, after two weeks 
 spent amidst misery and crying, they close their aged 
 life, or rather begin existence by ending it. But I 
 shall draw a veil over these horrid productions of 
 parental dissipation, which appear to me like the em- 
 bodied sins of the parents. 
 
PART III. 
 MEANS WHICH PROLONG LIFE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Good physical descent. 
 
 IF we take a retrospective view of the principles on 
 which longevity depends, and the properties necessary 
 for promoting it, we shall readily perceive that much in 
 particular will depend on the mass from which we are 
 formed ; what quantity of vital power is communicated 
 to us at our creation ; and whether a foundation be 
 then laid for a strong or a weak constitution, a sound 
 or a diseased structure of the vital organs. All this is 
 intimately connected with the healthful state of our 
 parents, and the important point of our first existence ; 
 and in that sense, to be of good birth is what ought to 
 be wished in regard to every man. It commonly be- 
 longs to those unknown yet important benefits which 
 we receive ; and is a means of prolonging life. This 
 advantage, however, we are not able to procure to our- 
 selves ; but we have it in our power, and it is our duty 
 to communicate it to others. 
 
 Three points are here to be considered: the state of 
 health in which the parents are ; the moment of genera- 
 tion ; and the period of pregnancy. 
 
220 MEANS WHICH PROLONG LIFE. 
 
 
 
 1st. The state of health, or the vital stock of the pa- 
 rents. How important this is may be seen by the 
 instance of whole families in which longevity has been 
 as it were a privilege ; like the family of the before- 
 mentioned Parr, who not only attained to a great age 
 himself, but also his father and children. In the lon- 
 gevity of parents lies a great ground for enabling their 
 children to attain to the same. This, therefore, ought 
 to be a powerful motive to induce those who intend to 
 have children to spare and preserve their vital power 
 as much as possible. We are a copy of our parents, 
 not merely in regard to the common form and texture, 
 but in respect to particular weaknesses and faults of 
 single parts. A foundation even for diseases, which 
 have their root in our structure and constitution, may 
 be thus communicated. I am convinced, above all, 
 bv repeated experience, that great weakening of the 
 constitution by early excesses, communicates to children 
 a peculiar weakness of the glandular and lymphatic 
 system, which ends in the scrofula, as it is called ; and 
 occasions this disease to appear in the first months of 
 life, or even at the very birth. The too youthful or too 
 great age of the parents is likewise prejudicial to the 
 strength and vital duration of the children. 
 
 2nd. The moment of generation. This is of much 
 more importance than commonly believed, and has 
 great influence, both in a moral and physical view, on 
 the life of the future being. The first germ of a new 
 creature is here quickened ; the first vital power is 
 communicated to it. How much must the perfection or 
 imperfection of the produce be determined by a perfect 
 or imperfect, sound or a diseased condition of the active 
 
GOOD PHYSICAL DESCENT. 221 
 
 causes ? Is it not to be wished that parents would pay 
 some attention to this remark, and never forget that the 
 above moment is of the utmost importance ; that it is 
 the moment of creation ; and that Nature, not without 
 reason, has connected with it the highest exaltation of 
 our existence ? However difficult it may be to collect 
 observations from experience on this subject, I have 
 known some undeniable instances where children, 
 begotten in the moment of intoxication, remained stupid 
 and idiots during their whole life. Now, what can be 
 effected by the highest extremity, may be done, on a 
 small scale, by a mean degree , and why should it not 
 be admitted, that a being procreated at the period of 
 ill-humour, bodily indisposition, or nervous debility, may 
 carry with it, during its whole existence, some- small 
 particles of these evils ? Hence the evident preference 
 of the child of love to the children of duty. In my 
 opinion, therefore, it is of the utmost importance, even 
 in the married state, that this moment should be con- 
 fined to a period when the sensation of collected powers, 
 ardent passion, and a mind cheerful and free from care, 
 invites to it on both sides ; and this forms a new ground 
 against the too frequent, forced, or mechanical enjoy- 
 ment of wedded love. 
 
 3rd. The period of pregnancy. Though the father, 
 without doubt, is the original source from which the 
 future being acquires its first quickening, its earliest 
 breath of life, the general mass and most material part 
 proceeds entirely from the mother. The latter is the 
 soil from which the seed derives its juices ; and the 
 future constitution, the proper substance of the child, 
 
222 MEANS WHICH PROLONG LIFE. 
 
 must principally assume the character of that being of 
 whom it makes so long a part, and of whose flesh and 
 blood it is actually composed. Besides, not only the* 
 constitution of the mother, but also other favorable or 
 unfavorable causes, during the time of pregnancy, must 
 have a great influence on the whole formation and life 
 of the being. This is confirmed by experience. The 
 child's state of health, and the greater or less strength 
 of its constitution are determined, in a particular man- 
 ner, much more according to the condition of the mother, 
 than that of the father. By a weakly father a robust 
 child can always be produced, provided the mother 
 have a sound and vigorous body. The substance of 
 the father is, as it were, in her ennobled. On the other 
 hand, the strongest man will never obtain a lively, 
 healthy child from a mother who is weak and sickly. 
 "With regard to the protection of the child during 
 pregnancy against all dangers and hurtful effects, we 
 find a regulation which displays the provident care of 
 Divine Wisdom. Though the most intimate connection 
 subsists between it and the mother, and though for 
 nearly a year it forms a part of her, and partakes of 
 her nourishment and juices, it is secured not only 
 against accidental injuries by its situation and floating 
 in a watery element, but also against moral and ner- 
 vous impressions by there being no nervous connection 
 between it and the mother. We have, therefore, nu- 
 merous instances of the mother dying, while the child 
 continued alive. Nature has even conjoined with this 
 state a certain immunity from sickness ; and it is a 
 principle established by experience, that a pregnant 
 
GOOD PHYSICAL DESCENT. 223 
 
 woman suffers much less from infectious and otjier 
 causes of disease ; and that a female has never a greater 
 probability of living than while in that condition. 
 
 So much have mankind been, at all times, impressed 
 with the importance of this period, that, among ancient 
 nations, a pregnant woman was considered as a person 
 sacred and secure from injury, and that every one who 
 hurt or ill-treated her was thought deserving of double 
 punishment. Our age, unfortunately, has here made a 
 difference, both in a physical and a political view. The 
 weak nerved, sensible, and delicate constitution of the 
 female sex, at present, renders the preservation of the 
 fruit in the mother's womb much more uncertain and 
 dangerous. The womb of the mother is no longer a 
 place of safety, the undisturbed atelier of Nature. 
 Through that unnatural sensibility which is now so pe- 
 culiar to a great part of our women, they have become 
 far more susceptible of a thousand prejudicial effects, a 
 multitude of passions ; and the fruit suffers by every 
 mental affection, every alarm, every cause of disease, 
 and even by the most trifling accident. It is, therefore, 
 impossible that a child, in a place where its formation 
 and expansion are every moment interrupted and dis- 
 turbed, should acquire that degree of perfection and 
 strength to which it was destined. And yet little 
 attention do mankind pay, either in a civil or political 
 point of view, to the importance of this condition. 
 Who thinks, at present, on the sacredness of a pregnant 
 woman ; or, who regulate their behavior to her, by re- 
 flecting that the life, or at any rate the physical and 
 moral formation, of a future being may thereby be en- 
 dangered ? Nay, how few pregnant women take that 
 
224 MEANS WHICH PROLONG LIFE. 
 
 care of this condition which it deserves ! and how few 
 are able to deny themselves that pleasure and those 
 gratifications which may be attended with mischief! 
 
 In my opinion, therefore, the following rules may, 
 with great propriety, be founded on these observations : 
 
 1st. Such highly weak nerved and sensible people 
 ought never to marry ; if not through a regard for them- 
 selves, and on account of the sufferings which they may 
 thereby avoid, at any rate out of compassion for the 
 miserable race of which they would be authors. In the 
 education of daughters, people above all things should 
 be attentive to guard against this unfortunate sensi- 
 bility ; because, from a regard for the complection, for 
 appearance, and a multitude of other points which be- 
 long merely to etiquette, a contrary conduct is observed. 
 And lastly, it is the duty of every man, when he chooses 
 a wife, to be particularly careful that her nervous sys- 
 tem be not too irritable. Should this be the case, the 
 principal object of marriage, to produce sound and 
 robust children, is entirely lost. 
 
 2nd. Women ought to pay more attention to this 
 period, and to observe a good moral as well as physical 
 regimen ; for they have then in their power the degree 
 of perfection or imperfection, of the good or bad struc- 
 ture of the mind and body of their child. 
 
 3rd. Men in general should have respect for a preg- 
 nant woman in this point of view ; and, as the deposi- 
 tary of a human being during its state of formation, 
 treat her with every care, tenderness, and attention. 
 Every husband, in particular, ought to make this a 
 duty ; and to reflect that he thereby watches over the 
 life and health of his offspring, and deserves, in the 
 fullest sense, the title of father. 
 

 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Prudent physical education. 
 
 THE physical treatment during the two first years of 
 existence is, in particular, a very important circum- 
 stance in regard to the prolongation of life. That 
 period ought properly to be considered as a continued 
 generation. The first part only of formation and ex- 
 pansion takes place in the mother's womb ; the second, 
 which is no less important, takes place externally dur- 
 ing the two first years of life. A child comes into the 
 world as a being only half finished. The most im- 
 portant and delicate expansion, that of the nerves and 
 organs of the soul, the organs of respiration, the mus- 
 cular system, the teeth, the bones, the organs of speech, 
 and all the other parts, both in regard to form and 
 structure, now follows. One may readily comprehend, 
 therefore, what influence the different circumstances, 
 under which this continued process of formation and 
 expansion is carried on, whether they act so as to im- 
 pede, derange, and weaken, or to accelerate, must have 
 on the perfection and duration of life. A foundation: 
 may certainly be here laid for slow or rapid consump- 
 tion ; for a body exposed to more or to fewer dangers. 
 
 All the precepts and rules respecting this period may 
 be reduced to the following principles : 
 
 1st. All the organs, but in particular those on which 
 15 
 
226 MEANS WHICH PROLONG LIFE. 
 
 health and the duration of physical as well as spiritual 
 life chiefly depend, must be completely formed, exer- 
 cised, and brought to the highest degree of perfection. 
 Among these I reckon the stomach, the lungs, the skin, 
 the heart, the vascular system, and the organs of thought. 
 A foundation may be laid for good lungs, by pure open 
 air ; and afterwards, by speaking, singing, running ; 
 for a sound stomach by wholesome food, easy of di- 
 gestion ; but neither too strong and stimulating, nor 
 too highly seasoned : for a sound skin, by cleanliness, 
 washing, bathing, pure air, a temperature, neither too 
 hot nor too cold, and, afterwards, by exercise : and for 
 a strong heart and vessels, by all the above means ; in 
 particular, by wholesome nourishment, and afterwards 
 by bodily motion. 
 
 2nd. The successive expansion of the physical and 
 spiritual powers must be properly supported; and be 
 neither impeded, nor too much promoted. Attention 
 must be always paid to an uniform distribution of the 
 vital power ; for harmony and equality in the motions 
 are the foundation of health and life. Bathing and free 
 air will contribute to this in the beginning, and after- 
 wards bodily exercise. 
 
 3rd. The sensation of the body in regard to disease, 
 that is to say, its susceptibility of the causes of disease, 
 must be hardened and blunted ; as also its sensation 
 of cold and heat, and afterwards that of small irregu- 
 larities and fatigue. By these means two advantages 
 will be gained ; vital consumption, by the sensibility 
 being moderated, will be lessened ; and the derange- 
 ment of it by diseases will be guarded against. 
 
 4th. Every cause and germ of disease in the body 
 
PRUDENT PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 227 
 
 must be removed and banished ; such as accumulations 
 of phlegm, obstructions of the mesentery, and sharp 
 acrid humors ; faults which may arise from external 
 hurts and impressions, too confined bandages, want of 
 strict cleanliness, etc. 
 
 5th. The vital power itself must be always sufficiently 
 nourished and strengthened, particularly by means of 
 fresh air ; and the healing power of nature must, above 
 all things, be supported from the beginning, because it 
 is the principal means which lies in ourselves for render- 
 ing the causes of disease ineffectual. This may be done 
 chiefly by not accustoming the body at first too much 
 to artificial assistance ; otherwise Nature will be so 
 used that she will depend on foreign aid, and at length 
 lose altogether the power of assisting herself. 
 
 6th. The whole operation of life and vital consumption 
 must not at first be put into too great activity but be 
 preserved in a moderate state ; by which means its tone 
 may be regulated for the whole life, and also for a slow 
 and a long life. 
 
 The following simple means, which, in my opinion, 
 form the principal part of physical education, may 
 serve for accomplishing what is contained in the above 
 precepts. 
 
 We must here, however, distinguish two periods. 
 The first period is from birth to the end of the 
 second year ; and the chief points to be observed are as 
 follow : 
 
 I. The nourishment must be good, but suited to that 
 tender age ; easy of digestion, rather fluid than solid ; 
 fresh and sound ; nutritive, but not too strong, stimulat- 
 ing, or heating. 
 
228 MEANS WHICH PROLONG LIFE. 
 
 Nature, here, is our best guide ; as she has destined 
 milk to be the earliest food of man. Milk possesses 
 all the above qualities, in the most perfect degree : it 
 is full of nutritive substance, but mild and nourishing, 
 without heating or stimulating : it holds a mean rank 
 between animal and vegetable food ; unites the advan- 
 tage of the latter, that of being less stimulating than 
 flesh, with all the advantages of flesh : that is to say, 
 its being already assimilated to us by preparation in a 
 living animal body, which makes it more easily assume 
 the character of our substance ; and, in a word, it is 
 altogether suited to the nature of an infant. 
 
 The body of a child lives quicker than that of a full- 
 grown man, and changes oftener its component parts. 
 Besides, it requires nourishment, not merely for its sup- 
 port, but for its continual growth, which is never so 
 rapid during the whole course of life as the first year. 
 It is evident, therefore, that it has occasion for abun- 
 dance of concentrated nourishment ; but as its powers of 
 digestion are weak, it is not able to prepare and assimi- 
 late food that is solid or heterogeneous to its nature ; 
 such, for example, as vegetables. Its nourishment must 
 then be fluid, and already animalized ; that is, be prepared 
 and rendered like its nature in another animal body. 
 It has, however, a great degree of irritability and sensi- 
 bility ; so that a small irritation, which a grown-up 
 person would scarcely feel, may in it produce an artifi- 
 cial fever, or the cramp and convulsions. The nourish- 
 ment of a child must on this account be mild, and ex- 
 actly suited to its irritability. 
 
 I consider it, therefore, as one of the first laws of 
 Nature, and a principal ground for a long and healthy 
 
PRUDENT PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 229 
 
 life, that a child should be nourished, during the whole of 
 the first year, by the milk of its mother, or of a sound 
 nurse. 
 
 From this law of Nature people in modern times 
 make many deviations, which undoubtedly have the 
 most prejudicial influence on the duration of life and 
 health, and which I must therefore here mention. 
 
 Some have attempted to nourish and educate chil- 
 dren by slimy vegetable substances. These sometimes, 
 and in particular cases, may be useful, but, without 
 any other food, are certainly hurtful ; for they do not 
 afford sufficient nourishment, and, what is worse, do 
 not become properly animalized, and retain still a part 
 of their sour vegetable nature in the body of the child. 
 Such food, therefore, produces weak meagre childien, 
 continually tormented with acidities at the stomach, 
 sour eructations, phlegm, obstructions in the glands, and 
 the scrofula. 
 
 Still worse is the custom of nourishing children with 
 flour-pap ; for this food, besides the disadvantage of its 
 acid nature, as being a vegetable aliment, obstructs the 
 tender lacteal vessels, and those of the mesentery ; and 
 lays a certain foundation for the scrofula and consump- 
 tion of the lungs. 
 
 Others, to avoid these evils, and partly through an- 
 glomania, make choice of flesh nutriment for their 
 children, and give them wine, beer, and other things 
 of the like kind. This prejudice deserves in particular 
 to be reprobated, because it seems daily to gain more 
 advocates, because it agrees with the exciting method 
 so much approved at present, and because the mischief 
 it occasions is not always sufficiently attended to by 
 
230 MEANS WHICH PROLONG LIFE. 
 
 physicians. People say, in common, flesh is strength- 
 ening; and that is precisely what a child requires. 
 But the grounds on which I found a contrary opinion 
 are as follows : There must always be a certain rela- 
 tion between the nourishment and the body to be nour- 
 ished, between the irritation and the irritability. The 
 greater the irritability, the stronger is the effect which 
 may be produced by a small irritation ; the smaller the 
 former, the effect of the latter will be so much weaker. 
 Now, this irritability in human life is always in an in- 
 verse ratio to the age. In the first period of life it is 
 strongest ; and it every year becomes weaker, till it is 
 entirely extinguished by old age. We may therefore 
 say that milk, in regard to its irritating and strengthen- 
 ing power, is as exactly proportioned to a child, as flesh 
 to an adult, or wine to an old man. But if one give 
 flesh nourishment to a child too soon, one gives it an 
 irritation like that occasioned by wine to grown-up per- 
 sons, which is much too strong, and not destined for it 
 by Nature. The consequences are, that a kind of arti- 
 ficial fever is produced and kept up in the child, that 
 the circulation of the blood is accelerated, its warmth 
 increased, and that a habit with a tendency to violent 
 inflammatory disorders is created. Such a child has a 
 full blooming look ; but the slightest cause may occasion 
 a violent commotion in the blood ; and when it arrives 
 at the period of teething, or if attacked by the small- 
 pox, or any other kind of fever, when the tendency of 
 the blood to the head is so strong, one may rest assured 
 that some inflammatory disorder, convulsions, or apo- 
 plexy will ensue. People in general believe that one 
 can die only through weakness ; but one may die also 
 
PRUDENT PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 231 
 
 through too much strength and irritation ; and this may 
 take place by the injudicious use of irritating things. 
 Besides, by giving such strong nourishment to children, 
 one accelerates, from the beginning, their vital opera- 
 tion and consumption ; the whole system and organs 
 are put into too great activity ; a foundation is origi- 
 nally laid for a more vigorous but a quicker life ; and, 
 under the idea of strengthening, one really establishes 
 the principal cause of a short life. One also ought not 
 to forget that, by this early use of flesh nourishment, 
 the expansive process of teething, and afterwards that 
 of manhood, are hastened too much, a great means of 
 shortening life ; and that it has a bad influence on the 
 whole character. All carnivorous men and animals 
 are violent, cruel, and passionate ; while, on the o*her 
 hand, the use of vegetable food inclines men more to 
 mildness and humanity. This I have often found con- 
 firmed by experience. Children who had used flesh too 
 early, and in too great quantity, became always strong 
 men, but passionate, violent, and brutal ; and I very 
 much doubt whether such a disposition be fortunate, 
 either for the individuals, or for mankind in general. 
 There are certainly cases in which the early use of 
 flesh nourishment may be useful, particularly for weak 
 children, educated without the mother's milk, and who 
 suffer from acidities ; but it is then to be considered 
 as a medicine, and must be regulated and the quantity 
 determined by a physician. What I have said respect- 
 ing flesh is applicable still more to wine, coffee, choco- 
 late, spiceries, and the like. It is, therefore, a very 
 important rule, in regard to the physical education of 
 children, that a child, during the first half-year, should 
 
232 MEANS WHICH PROLONG LIFE. 
 
 taste no flesh, no flesh soups, no beer, and no coffee ; 
 but be nourished merely by the milk of its mother. In 
 the second half-year, light soups may be admitted ; but 
 flesh itself ought never to be given till the teeth have 
 appeared, that is, till the end of the second year. 
 
 But as many insuperable circumstances may occur to 
 prevent a child from being educated in the natural 
 manner in which it ought ; such, for example, as the 
 nervous weakness of the mother, or her sickly asthmatic 
 state, by which the child would lose more than it could 
 gain in regard to its vital duration ; and if a sound 
 nurse cannot be procured, the melancholy necessity then 
 arises of educating the child artificially ; and though this 
 method is always injurious, in some measure, to the 
 health as well as duration of life, it may be rendered 
 less prejudicial by observing the following precepts: 
 Let the child, at least, where it is possible, derive its 
 nourishment from its mother for the first fortnight, or 
 month. One cannot imagine of how much benefit this is 
 in the first period. As the best substitute for the moth- 
 er's milk, sheep or ass's milk may then be given ; but 
 always immediately after it has been milked, and while 
 it yet retains its natural warmth. It would be still bet- 
 ter to let the child suck the animal. Should this be 
 impracticable, let the child have a mixture of cow's milk 
 and water, always lukewarm ; and fresh milk, at least 
 once every day. A remark of some importance here 
 is, that one must not warm the milk, (otherwise it as- 
 sumes a certain character of acidity,) but only the 
 water which is added to it. With this artificial nourish- 
 ment it is necessary to give, somewhat sooner, pap 
 made of biscuit, pounded very fine, barley, sago, or 
 
PRUDENT PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 233 
 
 saloop, boiled with half milk and water ; also light, but 
 not fat, bouillis and egg-water ; that is, the yolk of an 
 egg beat up in a pint of water and mixed with a little 
 sugar. Potatoes during the first two years are preju- 
 dicial. However little I consider them unhealthful in 
 general, they are certainly too hard of digestion for so 
 tender a stomach, as they are of a clammy viscid nature. 
 
 II. Let the child, after the third week, (earlier in 
 summer, but later in winter,) enjoy the free air every 
 day, and continue this practice without any interruption 
 on account of the weather. 
 
 A perfect similarity prevails here between children 
 and plants. Give the latter the richest nourishment 
 and warmth, but deprive them of air and light, they will 
 become pale, withered, and stunted, and at length die. 
 The use of pure free air, and of the vital component 
 parts which it contains, is a nourishment as indispensa- 
 bly necessary for the support of life as eating and 
 drinking. I have known people who remained weak 
 and pale-colored throughout their whole lives, because 
 they were nurtured during their first years like plants 
 in a hothouse ; whereas, on the other hand, the daily 
 use of light and free air is the only means to produce a 
 blooming complexion, and to communicate strength and 
 energy sufficient to last one's whole life. This advan- 
 tage also is of great importance, that a person is there- 
 by enabled afterwards to bear, without injury, varia- 
 tions of heat and cold. 
 
 It is most beneficial when the child enjoys the free 
 air in a place covered with grass and trees, at a little 
 distance from one's habitation. The enjoyment of air 
 in the streets of a city is far less wholesome. 
 
234 MEANS WHICH PROLONG LIFE. 
 
 III. Let the body of the child be washed daily with 
 fresh cold water: a rule indispensably necessary for 
 cleansing and invigorating the skin ; for strengthening 
 the whole nervous system ; and for laying the founda- 
 tion of a sound and long life. 
 
 This practice of washing ought to commence at the 
 birth ; but during the first week lukewarm water must 
 be used ; cold water ought to be employed afterwards, 
 and it is of great importance that it be fresh drawn from 
 a spring or running stream ; for water contains fixed 
 air which evaporates when it has stood any time, and 
 which communicates to it a very strengthening quality. 
 The child, however, must be washed speedily ; and its 
 body ought to be immediately rubbed and dried : for 
 slow bathing cools, but speedy friction warms. Lastly, 
 it should not be washed when it just comes from bed, 
 nor, in general, while it perspires. 
 
 IV. Every week it ought to be bathed once or twice 
 in tepid water, warmed to the temperature of new milk, 
 or from 86 to 91 of Fahrenheit's thermometer. 
 
 This excellent practice unites in it such an extraor- 
 dinary number of virtues, and is at the same time so 
 suited to the age of infancy, that I may call it a real 
 arcanum for bringing to perfection and forming the 
 future man. Cleansing and invigorating the skin, free 
 but not accelerated expansion of the powers and organs, 
 uniform circulation, harmonious acting in concert of the 
 whole (the foundation of health), strengthening the 
 nervous system, moderating the too great irritability of 
 the vessels and too rapid vital consumption, purifying 
 the juices, are all its effects ; and I can, with confidence, 
 assert that I am acquainted with no assistant means of 
 
PRUDENT PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 235 
 
 physical education which possess in so high a degree, 
 every requisite for laying the foundation of a long and 
 healthful life. The bath must not consist entirely of 
 boiled water, but of water fresh drawn from a well, to 
 which some hot water, sufficient to bring it to a luke- 
 warm temperature, has been added. In summer that 
 water is best which has been warmed by the rays of 
 the sun. The bathing should be continued, at this 
 period of age, a quarter of an hour each time, and after- 
 wards longer. It ought never to be used during the 
 first hour after eating. 
 
 V. Be careful not to keep a child too warm : that is, 
 avoid warm rooms, warm beds, and clothing. Keeping 
 too warm increases irritability in a great degree, and 
 gives occasion also to speedier vital consumption ; it 
 debilitates and relaxes the vessels, accelerates expan- 
 sion, weakens and deadens the skin, disposes the body 
 to continual perspiration, and thus renders it always 
 liable to injury from cold. I consider it of great im- 
 portance to accustom children to sleep from their in- 
 fancy on mattresses made of horsehair, chaff, or moss. 
 These never acquire too much heat ; have more elas- 
 ticity, and prevent too great tenderness. They oblige 
 the child also, as they do not yield to pressure, to lie 
 straight and extended ; by which means they guard 
 against overgrowth, and the premature excitement of 
 their organic system. 
 
 VI. Let the clothing be wide, in no manner confined ; 
 and made of some substance not too warm to check per- 
 spiration, such as fur, but of stuff that can be often 
 renewed or washed. Cotton is the best ; and during 
 the severity of winter, light woollen stuffs. Avoid all 
 
236 MEANS WHICH PROLONG LIFE. 
 
 . 
 
 close bandages, stiff stays, small shoes ; for these may 
 give occasion to diseases which will afterwards shorten 
 life. The head, from the fourth to the eighth week, 
 must be kept quite bare ; but this ought to be deter- 
 mined by the season of the year. 
 
 VII. Pay the utmost attention to cleanliness ; that is, 
 change the shirt daily ; the clothing every week : the 
 bed-clothes every month ; and remove every cause of 
 noxious evaporation ; in particular do not suffer too 
 many people to be in the nursery ; and allow no clothes 
 to be dried, or any foul linen to remain in it. Cleanli- 
 ness for children is one-half of their life : the cleaner 
 they are kept the more will they prosper and thrive. 
 By cleanliness alone, with very moderate nourishment, 
 they may in a short time be rendered strong, vigorous, 
 and lively ; whereas, without cleanliness, even with the 
 richest nourishment, they will continue sickly and weak. 
 Want of attention to this precept is the cause why so 
 many children pine away and are consumed without 
 any visible reason. Ignorant people imagine that they 
 must be bewitched, or under the influence of some evil 
 spirit ; but dirt alone is the demon by which they are 
 tormented, and which in the end will undoubtedly 
 destroy them. 
 
 The second period is from the end of the second to 
 the twelfth or fourteenth year ; and I here recommend 
 the following precepts ; 
 
 I. Let the rules respecting cleanliness, washing with 
 cold water, bathing, light clothing, and living in free air 
 be observed according to the foregoing directions. 
 
 II. The food must not be too delicate and artificial, 
 or too coarse. It will be best in this period to allow 
 
PRUDENT PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 237 
 
 children a sufficient mixture of flesh and vegetables ; 
 and to accustom them to every thing, but neither to eat 
 too much nor too often. People may rest assured that, 
 if they put in practice all the other rules respecting 
 physical education, bodily exercise, and cleanliness, 
 neither delicate nor coarse food will be requisite to 
 make a child healthy. For the truth of this observa- 
 tion we need only look at the children of rustics, who, 
 without being fed according to medical precepts, are 
 perfectly strong and sound. But one, indeed, ought 
 not here, as is too often the case, to give a child rustic 
 fare, and at the same time to indulge it with a soft 
 feather bed, to confine it to the house, and accustom it 
 to idleness ; nor to employ the cold bath, while a child, 
 in other respects, is enervated by most delicate treat- 
 ment. I cannot repeat too often what I have before 
 said, that a principal point of education is to preserve 
 an uniform tone, and not to unite two opposite methods 
 of management. It will be quite sufficient if a child, 
 during this period, is allowed four meals every day. 
 The only things which it ought not to touch are spi- 
 ceries, coffee, chocolate, seasoning, confections, fat heavy 
 puddings, and cheese.* For drink nothing is better 
 than water. In such places only where Nature has 
 denied pure spring water, I allow children to be accus- 
 tomed to beer. 
 
 III. As bodily exercise now becomes an important 
 
 * I cannot conceive ITufeland's reasons for objecting to cheese, 
 unless, perchance, it were less well made in the eighteenth than in 
 the nineteenth century. I regard it as a wholesome article of 
 diet for children, and a good compromise between meat and vege- 
 table diet. EDITOR. 
 
238 MEANS WHICH PROLONG LIFE. 
 
 part of physical education, let a child spend the greater 
 part of the day in gymnastic sports of every kind, and 
 in the open air, where they are always most service- 
 able. This strengthens in an incredible degree ; gives 
 peculiar activity to the body, uniform diffusion to the 
 powers and juices ; and guards, in the surest manner, 
 against faults in the growth and formation. 
 
 IV. The powers of the mind must not be exerted too 
 early. It is a great prejudice, that people imagine 
 they cannot make a child begin to learn too soon. But 
 it is certain that a child may begin too soon, when that 
 period is chosen during which Nature is still employed 
 in forming the bodily powers and organs, and has need 
 of all their strength for that purpose. This period 
 extends to the seventh year ; and if a child be obliged 
 at an earlier age to apply to learning, and be confined 
 in a sitting posture, its body will be deprived of the 
 noblest part of its powers, which must be now wasted 
 by the business of thinking ; and the consequences will 
 be, a checking of the growth, imperfect formation of the 
 limbs, muscular weakness, bad digestion, corrupt juices, 
 the scrofula, and a preponderance of the nervous system 
 in the whole machine, which will become burdensome 
 during life, by nervous affections, the hypochondriasis, 
 and evils of the like kind. Much, however, will here 
 depend on the difference of constitution, and the greater 
 or less vigor of mind ; but I earnestly request that 
 parents and others will in this respect pursue a method 
 directly contrary to that usually followed. If a child 
 show an early disposition for thinking and learning, one 
 ought, instead of straining its powers the more, as is 
 commonly the case, to prevent it from application till a 
 
PRUDENT PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 239 
 
 later period ; for such premature ripeness is generally 
 a disease, at any rate an unnatural state, which ought 
 rather to be checked than promoted, unless one wishes 
 to breed up a monster of erudition rather than a sound 
 healthful man. 
 
 I must here remark, that a great many of the evils 
 which attend too early study, may not arise so much 
 from exerting the powers of the mind, as from confine- 
 ment and sitting, and from the corrupted air of schools 
 in which children are taught. At any rate, the weaken- 
 ing is thus doubled. I am fully persuaded that it would 
 be much less injurious if children were made to perform 
 their school business in the open air during the fine 
 seasons ; and here, at the same time, would they have 
 before them the book of Nature, which, supposing that 
 the pupils are capable of reading and understanding it, 
 is much more fit and proper for their first instruction 
 than all the books that ever were written or printed. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 Active and laborious youth. 
 
 IT appears that all those who attained to a great age 
 were men who, in their youth, had been much ac- 
 customed to labor and fatigue ; such as soldiers, 
 sailors, and day laborers. I shall here mention only 
 Mittelstadt, that veteran of 112, who in his fifteenth 
 year was a servant, and in his eighteenth a soldier ; 
 and who was present in all the Prussian wars, from the 
 commencement of the monarchy. 
 
 A youth spent in that manner, becomes the founda- 
 tion of a long and a strong life, two ways : partly by 
 giving the body that degree of strength and solidity 
 which is necessary for its duration ; and partly by mak- 
 ing that possible which principally contributes to pro- 
 mote happiness and longevity, advancement to a better 
 and more agreeable situation. He who in his youth 
 has every convenience and enjoyment in abundance 
 hath nothing more to expect ; he is deprived of ttye best 
 means of exciting and preserving the vital power, hope, 
 and the prospect of a better condition. If he be con- 
 demned then with increasing years to poverty and diffi- 
 culties, he finds himself doubly oppressed ; and the du- 
 ration of his life must be necessarily shortened. But 
 in the transition from a state of misery to one more 
 fortunate, lies a continual source of new joy, new vigor, 
 
ACTIVE AND LABORIOUS YOUTH. 241 
 
 and new life. In the like manner, the passage, with 
 increasing years, from a raw cold climate, to one more 
 mild, contributes much to prolong life ; as also the 
 change from a state of labor to one more convenient 
 and agreeable. 
 
 16 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Abstinence from physical love in youth, and a too early assumption 
 of the married state. 
 
 He who in Pleasure's downy arms 
 Ne'er lost his health or yonthfal charms, 
 
 A hero lives ; and justly can 
 
 Exclaim, " In me behold a man! " 
 
 He prospers like the slender reed 
 
 Whose top waves gently o'er the mead ; 
 
 And moves, such blessings virtue follow, 
 In health and beauty an Apollo. 
 
 That power divine, which him inspires, 
 His breast with noblest passions fires ; 
 
 These heavenwards soar with eagle-flight, 
 And $purn the cold, dark realms of night. 
 
 So full of majesty, a god, 
 
 Shall earth alone be his abode ? 
 With dignity he steps, he stands, 
 
 And nothing fears ; for he commands. 
 
 Like drops drawn from the crystal stream, 
 His eyes with pearly brilliance beam ; 
 
 With blushing signs of health o'erspread, 
 His cheeks surpass the morning's red. 
 
 The fairest of the female train 
 
 For him shall bloom, nor bloom in vain : 
 O happy she whose lips he presses ! 
 
 happy she whom he caresses ! BUEGEB. 
 
ABSTINENCE FROM PHYSICAL LOVE. 243 
 
 THERE was a time when the German youth never 
 thought of intimacy with the other sex till their twenty- 
 fourth or twenty-fifth year ; and yet nothing was then 
 known of the pernicious consequences of this chastity, 
 nor of many other imaginary evils of which people now 
 dream : but these youths, increasing in strength as well 
 as growth, became men who, by their size, excited the 
 astonishment even of the Romans. 
 
 People now leave off at the period when these began. 
 They imagine they can never soon enough throw off 
 their chastity ; and young persons, long before their 
 bodies are completely finished, begin to waste those 
 powers which are destined for a higher use. The con- 
 sequences are evident. These men become incomplete, 
 half-formed beings ; and at the period when our ances- 
 tors began to employ those powers, they, in them, are 
 generally exhausted: they feel nothing but dejection 
 and misery in their weakness; and a stimulus of the 
 utmost importance for seasoning life is to them for ever 
 lost. 
 
 It is incredible how far prejudice in this respect may 
 be carried, especially when it flatters our inclination. I 
 once knew a man who seriously believed that there was 
 no poison more prejudicial to the human body than 
 continence, and the consequence was, that he was an 
 old man in his twentieth year, and in his twenty-fifth 
 died of old age. 
 
 The present age has fallen so much into the taste of 
 the times of chivalry, that all romances must now as- 
 sume that form in order to please; and one, indeed, 
 cannot help admiring the great, noble, and resolute 
 manner of thinking and acting of these old Germans. 
 
244 MEANS WHICH PROLONG LIFE. 
 
 It appears that the more sensible we are how far we 
 have degenerated from them, the more we are excited 
 by their example, and the more we are inflamed with a 
 desire to imitate their conduct. But what a happiness 
 would it be if we did not think merely of the object, 
 but of the means to obtain it. That by which these 
 people acquired so much courage, so great powers both 
 of body and mind, their bold, firm, and resolute char- 
 acter, which made them real men in the utmost sense of 
 the word, was, in particular, their strict continence. 
 The youth of these men was destined to great exploits 
 and undertakings, not to voluptuousness and dissipa- 
 tion ; the physical propensity to love did not among 
 them sink into mere animal enjoyment, but was exalted 
 to a moral incitement to noble and heroic actions. Each 
 bore in his heart the image of his beloved object, 
 whether real or imaginary ; and this romantic love, this 
 indissoluble attachment, was the shield of his continence 
 and virtue, strengthened the powers of his body, and 
 communicated to his mind courage and unalterable 
 resolution, by continually directing its attention to his 
 fair one smiling to him at a distance, and whose favor 
 could be gained only by glorious achievements. How- 
 ever romantic these notions may be, I find, on closer 
 examination, great wisdom in this use of physical love, 
 one of the strongest motives by which human nature is 
 actuated. How widely different has the case become 
 among us ! This propensity, which by prudent man- 
 agement may be made the germ of the most exalted 
 virtue, of the greatest heroism, has degenerated into 
 whining sensibility, or mere sensual gratification, which 
 people enjoy prematurely, and even to satiety; the 
 
ABSTINENCE FROM PHYSICAL LOVE. 245 
 
 passion of love, which in those periods was a security 
 against dissipation, is at present the source of the great- 
 est; the virtue of chastity, the principal foundation 
 without doubt of moral firmness and manliness of char- 
 acter, has become a subject of ridicule, and is decried 
 as old-fashioned pedantry ; and what ought to be the 
 last and sweetest reward of toil, labor, and danger, has 
 become a flower which every stripling crops by the 
 way. Why does Nature excite in our bosom this sigh- 
 ing after union, this all-powerful, irresistible propensity 
 to love ? Not, truly, to afford subjects for romance, or 
 to make a figure in the ecstatic raptures of poetry ; but 
 that it may serve as an indissoluble band to unite two 
 hearts : to lay the grounds for a ha*ppy generation ; 
 and that, by this magic tie, our existence may be con- 
 nected with the first and the most sacred of all duties. 
 How fortunate would it be were we here to imitate the 
 ancient method, and never to pull the fruit till we had 
 planted ! 
 
 At present, we hear a great deal of strength and 
 strong men : but I will believe nothing of it as long as 
 I see that they have not strength enough to subdue 
 their passions ; for, that is the only cause of triumph, 
 as well as the only sign of mental strength : and chas- 
 tity is the school in which youth ought to be exercised, 
 and to form themselves for becoming strong men. 
 
 We in general find, in the old world, that all those 
 from whom any thing great or glorious was expected, 
 were obliged to restrain physical love. So much were 
 people then convinced that Venus absorbs the whole 
 powers of man, and that those given up to dissipation 
 could never attain an exalted position. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 Happy married state. 
 
 IT is one of the falsest and most pernicious of preju- 
 dices, that marriage is an invention merely political and 
 conventional. It is much rather one of the most essen- 
 tial parts of the destination of man, both for the individ- 
 ual and the whole ; and an establishment absolutely 
 necessary for the* education of mankind. By marriage 
 I understand, a firm, sacred union of two persons, for 
 the purpose of mutual support, and for giving origin to 
 and educating children. And, in this intimate union, 
 founded on so important an object, lies, in my opinion, 
 the principal grounds of domestic as well as public 
 felicity; since, in the first place, it is indispensably 
 requisite for the moral perfection of mankind. By this 
 close connection of two beings, this association of one's 
 interest with that of another, is selfishness, the most 
 dangerous enemy of all virtue, best subdued ; and man 
 always more inclined to humanity and compassion for 
 his fellow-creatures, and still brought nearer to his true 
 state of moral exaltation. His wife and his children 
 form an indissoluble bond, which unites him to the rest 
 of mankind, and to the good of the whole : his heart is 
 always warmed by the sweet sensation of matrimonial 
 and parental tenderness, and defended from that dead- 
 ening coldness which so easily overcomes the man who 
 
HAPPY MARRIED STATE. 247 
 
 leads a solitary life ; and the endearing cares of a father 
 impose on him duties which accustom him to order, 
 industry, and habits of prudence. His passion for the 
 sex is thereby ennobled, and, from a mere animal in- 
 stinct, converted into one of the highest moral motives 
 of action, and violent passions, ill-humor, and bad cus- 
 toms, are thus best eradicated. Hence arises a very 
 fortunate influence over the whole and the general good ; 
 so that I can, with perfect confidence, affirm, that happy 
 marriages are the most important supports of a State, 
 and of public peace and felicity. A bachelor always 
 remains a mere egotist ; restless and unsteady, a prey 
 to selfish humors and passions ; less interested for 
 mankind, for his country, and the State, than for himself. 
 He is overcome by a false sentiment of liberty, which 
 prevents him from entering into wedlock ; and this 
 sentiment is still nourished and strengthened by the 
 condition in which he lives. What can tend more to 
 produce a fondness for change, sedition, and revolutions, 
 than an increase of unmarried citizens ? How different 
 is the case with the married ! That dependence on the 
 other half, necessary in marriage, accustoms one con- 
 tinually to a dependence on the laws ; regard for one's 
 wife and children obliges one to be regular and indus- 
 trious : by his children, a man is attached closely to the 
 State ; its interest and prosperity by these means be- 
 come his own; or, as Bacon expresses it, he who is 
 married and has children, has given pledges to the State : 
 he is a bondsman, a true citizen, and a real patriot. 
 But, what is still more, a foundation is here laid, not 
 only for the happiness of the present generation, but 
 for that of the future also ; as it is the matrimonial 
 
248 MEANS WHICH PROLONG LIFE. 
 
 union only that produces to the State good moral citi- 
 zens, accustomed from their youth to regularity and an 
 observance of their duty. One must not imagine that 
 the State itself can supply this formation of the manners, 
 this education which all- wise Nature hath connected with 
 the hearts of a father and a mother. 
 
 I shall now return to my principal object, to point 
 out the beneficial influence which marriage has on the 
 physical good of mankind. With the utmost propriety 
 may it be classed among those means which tend to 
 prolong life ; and my reasons are as follow : 
 
 1st. Marriage is the only means to regulate love, and 
 to direct it to its proper object. It equally prevents 
 dissipation, and cold and unnatural indifference. How- 
 ever much I have recommended continence in youth, 
 convinced that it is indispensably necessary to promote 
 long life, I am convinced also that there are certain years 
 of manhood when it is as prejudicial to suppress by vio- 
 lence the propensities of nature, as it is to yield to them 
 before the proper period. It is required by the general 
 law of harmony. No power in us must remain totally 
 unexpanded ; each must be exercised in moderation. 
 
 2nd. We are told by experience, that all those who 
 attained to a very remarkable age were married. 
 
 3rd. The married state promotes domestic joy, which 
 is the purest, the most uniform, and the least wasting of 
 all. It is undoubtedly that which is best suited to 
 physical as well as moral health, and which can, with 
 the greatest certainty, preserve the mind in that happy 
 mean state most favorable to longevity. It tends to 
 moderate overstrained hope and enthusiastic speculation, 
 as well as excessive care. Every thing, by the par- 
 
HAPPY MARRIED STATE. 249 
 
 ticipation of another being, by the intimate connection 
 of our existence with that of another, is rendered milder 
 and more supportable. To this may be added, that 
 tender charge, that heaven on earth, secured by nothing 
 so much as wedded love, which lies in the possession of 
 healthful and well-educated children ; that actual reno- 
 vation, reserved for us by their company, of which 
 Cornaro, at the age of eighty, has given so affecting a 
 picture. 
 
 We go out of the world by the same changes almost 
 as those by which we enter it. We begin as children ; 
 as children we leave off. We return, at last, to the 
 same weak and helpless condition as our first. We 
 must have people to lift us, to carry us, to provide us 
 nourishment, and even to feed us. We again have need 
 of parents. And how wise the establishment ! We 
 find them again in our children, who now take delight 
 in repaying a part of that kindness which we showed to 
 them. Children now step, as it were, into the place of 
 parents, while our weakness transposes us into the 
 place of children. The venerable oak, on the other 
 hand, does not enjoy the benefit of such a wise regula- 
 tion. The old decayed trunk stands alone and for- 
 gotten, and in vain endeavors to procure from foreign 
 aid that support and assistance which can be the work 
 only of natural affection and the bonds of nature. 
 
 Do what thou canst, exert thy utmost power ; 
 Yet still alone thou'lt stand till thy last hour, 
 When Nature's hand, almighty and divine, 
 To the grand whole thy lifeless mass shall join. 
 
 SCIIILLBK. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Sleep. 
 
 I HAVE already shown that sleep is one of the wisest 
 regulations of Nature, to check and moderate, at fixed 
 periods, the incessant and impetuous stream of vital 
 consumption. It forms, as it were, stations for our 
 physical and moral existence ; and we thereby obtain 
 the happiness of being daily reborn, and of passing 
 every morning, through a state of annihilation, into a 
 new and refreshed life. Without this continual change, 
 this incessant renovation, how wretched and insipid 
 would not life be; and how depressed our mental as 
 well as physical sensation ! The greatest philosopher 
 of the present age says, therefore, with justice : Take 
 from man hope and sleep and he will be the most 
 wretched being on earth. 
 
 How unwisely then do those act who imagine that by 
 taking as little sleep as possible they prolong their ex- 
 istence. They obtain their end neither in intensive nor 
 extensive life. They will, indeed, spend more hours 
 with their eyes open ; but they will never enjoy life in 
 the proper sense of the word, nor that freshness and 
 energy of mind which are the certain consequences of 
 sound and sufficient sleep, and which stamp a like char- 
 acter on all our undertakings and actions. 
 
 But sufficient sleep is necessary, not only for inten- 
 
RESTORATIVE POWER OF SLEEP. 251 
 
 sive life, but also for extensive, in regard to its support 
 and duration. Nothing accelerates consumption so 
 much, nothing wastes us so much before the time, and 
 renders us old, as a want of it. The physical effects of 
 sleep are, that it retards all the vital movements, col- 
 lects the vital power, and restores what has been lost 
 in the course of the day ; and that it separates from us 
 what is useless and pernicious. It is, as it were, a 
 daily crisis, during which all secretions are performed 
 in the greatest tranquillity, and with the utmost per- 
 fection. 
 
 Continued watching unites all the properties destruc- 
 tive of life ; incessant wasting of the vital power and of 
 the organs, acceleration of consumption, and prevention 
 of restoration. 
 
 We must not, however, on this account, believe that 
 too long continued sleep is one of the best means for 
 preserving life. Long sleep accumulates too great an 
 abundance of pernicious juices, makes the organs too 
 flaccid and unfit for use, and in this manner can shorten 
 life also. 
 
 In a word, no one should sleep less than six, nor 
 more than eight hours. This may be established as a 
 general rule. 
 
 To those who wish to enjoy sound and peaceful re- 
 pose, and to obtain the whole end of sleep, I recom- 
 mend the following observations : 
 
 1st. The place where one sleeps must be quiet and 
 obscure. The less our senses are acted upon by exter- 
 nal impressions, the more perfectly can the soul rest. 
 One may from this see how improper the custom is of 
 
252 MEANS WHICH PROLONG LIFE. 
 
 having a candle burning in one's bed-chamber during 
 the night. 
 
 2nd. People ought always to Deflect, that their bed- 
 chamber is a place in which they pass a great part of 
 their lives ; at least they do not remain in any place so 
 long in the same situation. It is of the utmost impor- 
 tance, therefore, that this place should contain pure 
 sound air. A sleeping apartment must, consequently, 
 be roomy and high ; neither inhabited nor heated dur- 
 ing the day ; and the windows ought always to be kept 
 open, except in the night time. 
 
 3d. One should eat little, and only cold food for sup- 
 per, and always some hours before going to bed. 
 
 4th. When abed, one should lie not in a forced or 
 constrained posture, but almost horizontal; the head 
 excepted, which ought to be a little raised. Nothing is 
 more prejudicial than to lie in bed half-sitting. The 
 body then forms an angle ; circulation in the stomach 
 is checked, and the spine is always very much com- 
 pressed. By this custom one of the principal ends 
 of sleep, a free and uninterrupted circulation of the 
 blood, is defeated ; and, in infancy and youth, deform- 
 ity and crookedness are often its consequences. 
 
 5th. All the cares and burden of the day must be 
 laid aside with one's clothes ; none of them must be car- 
 ried to bed with us ; and, in this respect, one by custom 
 may obtain very great power over the thoughts. I am 
 acquainted with no practice more destructive than that 
 of studying in bed, and of reading till one falls asleep. 
 By these means the soul is put into too great activity, 
 at a period when every thing conspires to allow it per- 
 
RESTORATIVE POWER OF SLEEP. 253 
 
 feet rest ; and it is natural that the ideas, thus excited, 
 should wander and float through the brain during the 
 whole night. It is not enough to sleep physically; 
 man must sleep also spiritually. Such a disturbed 
 sleep is as insufficient as its opposite, that is, when 
 our spiritual part sleeps, but not our corporeal : such, 
 for example, as sleep in a jolting carriage on a journey. 
 6th. One circumstance, in particular, I must not here 
 omit to mention. Many believe that it is entirely the 
 same if one sleeps these seven hours either in the day 
 or the night time. People give themselves up, there- 
 fore, at night, as long as they think proper, either to 
 study or pleasure ; and imagine that they make every 
 thing even when they sleep in the forenoon those hours 
 which they sat up after midnight. But I must reqaest 
 every one, who regards his health, to beware of so se- 
 ducing an error. It is certainly not the same, whether 
 one sleeps seven hours by day or by night ; and two 
 hours sound sleep before midnight are of more benefit 
 to the body than four hours in the day. My reasons 
 are as follow : 
 
 KThat period of twenty-four hours, formed by the 
 regular revolution of our earth, in which all its inhabi- 
 tants partake, is particularly distinguished in the physi- 
 cal economy of man. This regular period is apparent 
 in all diseases ; and all the other small periods, so won- 
 derful in our physical history, are by it in reality deter- 
 mined. It is as it were, the unity of our natural 
 chronologyj Now, it is observed, that the more the 
 end of these periods coincides with the conclusion of 
 the day, the more is the pulsation accelerated : and a 
 feverish state is produced, or the so called evening 
 
254 MEANS WHICH PROLONG LIFE. 
 
 fever, to which every man is subject. The accession 
 of new chyle to the blood, may, in all probability, con- 
 tribute something towards this fever, though it is not 
 the only cause ; for we find it in sick people who have 
 neither eat nor drunk. It is more owing, without 
 doubt, to the absence of the sun, and to that revolution 
 in the atmosphere which is connected with it. This 
 evening fever is the reason why nervous people find 
 themselves more fit for labour at night than during the 
 day. To become active, they must first have an arti- 
 ficial stimulus ; and the evening fever supplies the place 
 of wine. But one may easily perceive that this is an 
 unnatural state ; and the consequences are the same as 
 those of every simple fever: lassitude, sleep, and a 
 crisis, by the perspiration which takes place during that 
 sleep. It may with propriety therefore be said, that all 
 men every night have a critical perspiration, more per- 
 ceptible in some, and less so in others, by which what- 
 ever useless or pernicious particles have been imbibed 
 by our bodies, or created in them, during the day, are 
 secreted and removed. This daily crisis, necessary to 
 every man, is particularly requisite for his support; 
 and the proper period of it is when the fever has at- 
 tained to its highest degree, that is, the period when 
 the sun is in the nadir, consequently midnight. What 
 do those, then, who disobey this voice of Nature which 
 calls for rest at the above period, and who employ this 
 fever, which should be the means of secreting and puri- 
 fying our juices to enable them to increase their 
 activity and exertion? By neglecting the critical 
 period, they destroy the whole crisis of so much im- 
 portance ; and, though they go to bed towards morning, 
 
PROPER PERIOD OF SLEEP. 255 
 
 cannot certainly obtain, on that account, the full benefit 
 of sleep, as the critical period is past. They will never 
 have a perfect, but an imperfect crisis ; and what that 
 means is well known to physicans. Their bodies also 
 will never be completely purified. How clearly is this 
 proved by the infirmities, rheumatic pains, and swollen 
 feet, the unavoidable consequences of such lucubration. 
 
 Besides, the eyes suffer more by this custom; for 
 one labors then the whole summer through with candle- 
 light, which is not necessary for those who employ 
 the morning. 
 
 And, lastly, those who spend the night in labor, and 
 the morning in sleep, lose that time which is the most 
 beautiful and the best fitted for labor. After every 
 sleep we are renovated in the properest sense of the 
 word ; we are, in the morning, always taller than at 
 night ; we have then more pliability, powers, and 
 juices ; in a word, more of the characteristics of youth ; 
 while, at night, our bodies are drier and more ex- 
 hausted, and the properties of old age then prevail. 
 One, therefore, may consider each day as a sketch, 
 in miniature, of human We, in which the morning 
 represents youth ; noon, manhood ; and evening, old 
 age. Who would not then employ the youthful part 
 of each day for labor, rather than begin his work in 
 the evening, the period of old age and debility ? In 
 the morning, all nature appears freshest and most en- 
 gaging ; the mind at that period is also clearest, and 
 possesses most strength and energy. It is not, as at 
 night, worn out, and rendered unequal, by the multi- 
 farious impressions of the day, by business and fatigue : 
 it is then more original, and possesses its natural 
 
256 MEANS WHICH PROLONG LIFE. 
 
 powers. This is the period of new mental creation, 
 of clear conceptions and exalted ideas. Never does 
 man enjoy the sensation of his own existence so purely 
 and in so great perfection as in a beautiful morning. 
 He who neglects this period, neglects the youth of his 
 life. 
 
 All those who attained to a great age were fond of 
 early rising ; and John Wesley, the founder of the 
 Methodists, an original and singular man, was so 
 convinced of the necessity of this custom, that he 
 made it a point of religion to get up early, and by 
 these means lived to the age of eighty-eight. His 
 motto, which as a true maxim of life I shall here re- 
 commend, was : 
 
 To go early to bed, and early to rise, 
 
 Will make a maa healthy, wealthy, and wise. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Bodily exercise. 
 
 " WHEN I consider the physical structure of man," 
 said the great Frederick, " it appears to me as if Nature 
 had formed us rather to be postillions than sedentary 
 men of letters." And, without doubt, though this ex- 
 pression be strong, it contains a great deal of truth. 
 Man is, and always remains, a middle being, that 
 incessantly fluctuates between the brute and the angel ; 
 and as much as he would deviate from his higher des- 
 tination, did he continue the mere animal, as much 
 does he offend against his present destination when he 
 wishes to be merely spirit to think only and to per- 
 ceive. He must exercise his animal and spiritual 
 powers in the like degree, if he be desirous to accom- 
 plish perfectly the object for which he was created ; 
 and this, in regard to the duration of life, is of the 
 utmost importance. Harmony in the movements is 
 the grand foundation on which health, uniformity of 
 restoration, and the duration of the body, depend ; and 
 these certainly cannot take place if we merely sit and 
 think. The propensity to bodily movement is, in man, 
 as great as the propensity to eating and drinking. Let 
 us only look at a child. Sitting still is to it the great- 
 est punishment. And the faculty of sitting the whole 
 day, and not feeling the least desire for moving, is cer- 
 17 
 
258 MEANS WHICH PROLONG LIFE. 
 
 tainly an unnatural and diseased state. We are taught 
 by experience, that those men attained to the greatest 
 age, who accustomed themselves to strong and inces- 
 sant exercise in the open air. 
 
 I consider it, therefore, as an indispensable law of 
 longevity, that one should exercise, at least, an hour 
 every day, in the open air. The most healthful time 
 is before meals, or from three to four hours after. 
 
 In this respect, besides small journeys, and excur- 
 sions on horseback, moderate dancing, and other gym- 
 nastic exercises are of great service : and it is much to 
 be wished that we here paid more attention to imitate 
 the ancients, who managed scientifically this promoter 
 of health, and suffered no external circumstances to 
 prevent them from using it. It is of most benefit when 
 not merely the body, but the soul also, is exercised and 
 kept awake at the same time. A walk, therefore, to 
 answer fully its object, must be directed to a quarter 
 where the prospects are always agreeable, and to a 
 certain term or spot. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 The enjoyment of free air. Moderate temperature of warmth. 
 
 THE enjoyment of free air may be considered as a 
 nourishment equally necessary for our existence as 
 eating and drinking. Pure air is certainly the great- 
 est means of strengthening and supporting life ; while 
 confined and corrupted air is its most subtle and deadly 
 poison. 
 
 From this may be deduced the following practical 
 rules : 
 
 1st. Suffer no day to pass without enjoying the pure 
 open air beyond the boundaries of a town or city 
 Consider your walk not merely as the means of ex- 
 ercise, but, in a particular manner, as the enjoyment 
 of the purest vital nourishment, which is indispensably 
 necessary above all to those who are much confined 
 to their apartments. Besides this advantage, one ob- 
 tains that also of making one's self, by such daily en- 
 joyment of air, acquainted and familiar with a free 
 atmosphere ; and people are thus secured against one 
 of the greatest evils that usually afflict mankind, I 
 mean too much sensibility in regard to all impressions 
 and variations of the weather. This is one of the 
 most abundant sources of disease ; and there is no 
 other method of counteracting it, but to harden one's 
 self by daily exposure to the open air. 
 
260 MEANS WHICH PROLONG- LIFE. 
 
 Lastly. By this custom one will obtain infinite ad- 
 vantage in regard to the eyes ; for it is certain that a 
 great cause of weak eyes and short-sightedness are 
 the four walls within which we are accustomed to live 
 from our infancy, and by which the eyes at length 
 lose their whole power of seeing remote objects dis- 
 tinctly. The best proof of this is, that such weakness 
 of the eyes is to be found only in cities, and not in the 
 country. 
 
 2nd. One should endeavor, wherever it is possible, 
 to live high. Those who have a regard for their health, 
 at least in cities, ought not to inhabit the ground-floor. 
 Let the windows be opened daily. Ventilators, or 
 chimneys, are the best means for purifying the foul 
 atmosphere of confined apartments. People ought 
 not to sleep in rooms which have been inhabited the 
 whole day ; and the windows of bed-chambers should 
 be always kept open in the daytime. 
 
 I must here add one remark of the utmost impor- 
 tance for the prolongation of life. The air in which 
 one lives should be kept in a moderate degree of tem- 
 perature. It is much better to live in air too cool 
 than too hot ; for heat accelerates, in an extraordinary 
 degree, the stream of vital consumption, as is proved 
 by the shorter lives of those who inhabit warm coun- 
 tries ; and many people create artificially such a cli- 
 mate by means of their hot apartments. The tempe- 
 rature of the air in an apartment should never exceed 
 66 of Fahrenheit's thermometer. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Rural and country life. 
 
 FORTUNATE are they to whose lot it has fallen to 
 remain near and true to their parent Earth ; and to 
 find their happiness, labor, and destination in immedi- 
 ate intercourse with Nature. They reside at the real 
 source of eternal youth, health, and felicit ; both body 
 and soul enjoy there the utmost harmony and well- 
 being. Simplicity, cheerfulness, innocence, and con- 
 tentment, accompany them through life; and they 
 attain to the utmost term which it is capable of reach- 
 ing with its present organization. I cannot refrain, 
 therefore, from inserting here what Herder has said on 
 this subject : 
 
 The resolution of my friend to change 
 His walled prison for a rural seat 
 I much applaud why should we foolishly 
 Pile up in lofty towers the hard hewn rock ? 
 To fright us with their sudden fall, or hide 
 From our dark eyes e cheering face of heaven ! 
 Not so in former days lived the young world, 
 In innocence and peace ; free from such folly, 
 'Midst rural scenes there harmless mirth prevails, 
 And fills the breast with never-ceasing joy : 
 There we behold the wide-expanded heaven ; 
 No neighbor robs us of the light of day ; 
 
262 MEANS WHICH PROLONG LIFE. 
 
 And from the clear fresh spring Apollo bids ua 
 
 Assuage our thirst with his own liquor. 
 
 O did but men know what is happiness ! 
 
 Our mother Nature ne'er within dark cities, 
 
 Or gloomy walls and castles, it confined. 
 
 It on the plain blooms equally for all. 
 
 Those find it oft who seek it not ; and he 
 
 Who spurns base ore will it enjoy his treasure 
 
 Is what the earth presents in the bright stream 
 
 He sees his silver ; and his gold shoots up 
 
 In yellow corn, or smiles from fruitful trees. 
 
 He hears his concert in the shady grove ; 
 
 And there his chorus, free at will to range, 
 
 Joins in the mirthful or the pensive strain. 
 
 Far otherwise within the town confined : 
 
 The captive songster in its cage complains ! 
 
 The slave who feeds it thinks it sings alone 
 
 To please its master ; but with every note 
 
 It bids its tyrant give it liberty 
 
 Nature delights in rural scenes : and Art, 
 
 Her imitator, there must follow her 
 
 With timid steps. Of foliage ever green 
 
 Behold yon palace, arched with thick woven boughs ! 
 
 Where thou mayst sit, like Persia's boasted lord 
 
 In halls of cedar and 'midst peace enjoy, 
 
 What he ne'er knows, sound, sweet, refreshing sleep. 
 
 Great cities are great plagues ! There native joy 
 
 Flies from man's breast, and makes him pleasure seek 
 
 In Art alone there every thing by paint 
 
 Is seen disguised the countenance and walls 
 
 Each action, word, and even the very heart 
 
 All there consists of costly wood or stone ; 
 
 And even the owners seem as hard as these. 
 
 O rural life, 'midst poverty how rich ! 
 
 When hunger bids, there thou mayst nobly feast 
 
 On what each season for thy use brings forth, 
 
 In rich variety. The plough thy table ; 
 
 And a green leaf, by way of dish, supports 
 
RURAL AND COUNTRY LIFE. 263 
 
 Thy meal of fruit. A homely wooden jug 
 Draws up refreshing drink from the pure stream, 
 Which, free from poison, pours out health alone, 
 And with soft murmur thee to sleep invites : 
 "While, in the air, the lark high-soaring sings 
 Now mounting up, again descending low 
 Until, at length, it drops into its nest, 
 Just at thy foot, between two furrows placed. 
 
 If one, indeed, be desirous of sketching out, accord- 
 ing to theoretical principles, the idea of a life condu- 
 cive to health and longevity, one must recur to that 
 presented to us by a country life. Nowhere are all the 
 requisites for that purpose so perfectly united as here ; 
 and nowhere does every thing in and around mankind 
 labor so powerfully to promote health and longe/ity. 
 The enjoyment of pure, sound air ; simple and frugal 
 food ; daily and strong exercise without doors ; estab- 
 lished regularity in all the vital operations ; the beauti- 
 ful prospect of simple Nature ; and a frame of internal 
 peace, cheerfulness, and serenity, which by these means 
 are diffused throughout the mind what sources of 
 vital restoration ! Besides, a country life is, in a par- 
 ticular manner, capable of giving that disposition which 
 is contrary to the passionate, overstrained, and eccen- 
 tric ; and the more so as it removes us from the dissipa- 
 tion, corruption, and worthlessness of the town, which 
 tend always to nourish the passions. It consequently 
 preserves, both internally and externally, peace of 
 mind and equanimity, which are such great supports to 
 life. It inspires us with cheerfulness and hope, and 
 increases our enjoyments in general, but without vio- 
 lence or passion, and moderated by the softest tone of 
 
264 MEANS WHICH PROLONG LIFE. 
 
 Nature. It needs excite no wonder, then, that, accord- 
 ing to experience, instances of the greatest age are to 
 be found in rural life only. 
 
 It is a melancholy reflection, that this kind of life, 
 the earliest and most natural state of man, should at 
 present be so little esteemed that the fortunate farmer 
 even quits it till his son becomes a studious rake ; and 
 the proportion between countrymen and citizens seems 
 daily to be diminished. It certainly would be much 
 better for the happiness of individuals, as well as of the 
 whole, if the greater part of the penknives and scissors 
 now in use were converted into ploughshares, and that 
 those hands occupied in scribbling were employed with 
 the plough and the spade. The former, to many, is 
 indeed only labor of the hands ; but the latter is the 
 most useful, and, if I am not much mistaken, we shall 
 be at length obliged, from political considerations, to 
 recur to it once more. Man must again approach 
 nearer to his parent Earth, from which he has so far 
 removed in every point of view. 
 
 All, indeed, cannot be farmers by profession ; but 
 how beneficial would it be, if men of letters, people of 
 business, and those who labor with their heads, would 
 divide their time between both kinds of employment; 
 and imitate the ancients, who, notwithstanding their 
 philosophical or political engagements, did not think it 
 beneath their dignity to devote their spare hours to 
 agriculture, and to rusticate in the proper sense of the 
 word ! All the melancholy consequences of a seden- 
 tary life, and overstraining the mental faculties, would 
 disappear, if people, some hours every day, or a few 
 mouths in the year, would take hold of a spade or a 
 
RUR\L AND COUNTRY LIFE. 265 
 
 mattock and cultivate their field or their garden ; for 
 the usual method of living in the country, (which in 
 general means nothing else than to carry along with 
 one care and books, and to read, think, or write in the 
 open air, instead of a chamber,) cannot accomplish that 
 object. Such rustication will again restore the equi- 
 librium between the mind and the body, which the 
 writing-desk so often destroys. By an union of these 
 three grand panaceas, exercise, free air, and exhilarat- 
 ing the spirits, a renovation and restoration may be 
 annually effected, which will be of incredible service to 
 vital duration and happiness. Nay I do not think I say 
 too much when I promise, from this practice, besides 
 physical advantages, many of a spiritual and moral 
 nature also. Cobwebs of the brain and hypotheses of 
 the closet will certainly be less abundant ; people will 
 not so often imagine the whole world to be contained 
 in their persons, or within the four walls of their studies, 
 and treat it in that point of view ; and the mind will 
 acquire a greater propensity to truth, more soundness, 
 more warmth, and a more natural manner of thinking, 
 properties which distinguish the Greek and Roman 
 philosophers so much, and for which, in my opinion, 
 they were indebted principally to their continual inter- 
 course with Nature. One ought therefore to be exceed- 
 ingly careful never to suffer a taste for Nature to be 
 extinguished in the mind. This taste may be easily 
 destroyed, by always living recluse, by incessant appli- 
 cation to business, and by abstract speculations in the 
 closet ; and when it is once lost, the most beautiful 
 rural scenes will have no effect upon us ; and one, in 
 the most delightful districts, and under the serenest 
 
266 MEANS WHICH PROLONG LIFE. 
 
 sky, may remain in a state of living death. This may 
 be best guarded against by not removing too long or 
 too far from Nature ; by quitting, as often as one can, 
 the artificial and abstract world ; by opening all the 
 senses to the beneficent influences of Nature ; and if 
 one from the earliest youth endeavors to acquire a 
 taste for the study of Natural History (a point which 
 ought to be attended to in education), and to warm the 
 imagination for it by the beautiful imitations of paint- 
 ing, and the heart-exalting descriptions of the poets of 
 Nature, such as a Zachariii, Thomson, Gesner, Mat- 
 thison, etc. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 Travelling. 
 
 I CANNOT possibly omit to devote here a particular 
 place to this enjoyment, and to recommend it as a 
 means of prolonging life. The continual motion, vari- 
 ety of scene, exhilaration of the mind, and the use of 
 free and changed air, have a magical effect upon man- 
 kind, and contribute in an incredible degree to renovate 
 and revive the whole frame. Vital consumption may 
 indeed be thereby somewhat increased; but this is 
 amply counterbalanced by the increased restoration 
 which is effected, partly in regard to the body, by 
 digestion being strengthened and invigorated, and 
 partly in regard to the mind, by a succession of agree- 
 able impressions, and the forgetfulness of one's self. 
 This help, therefore, I recommend to those whose 
 employment condemns them to a sedentary life, who 
 are continually engaged in abstract studies or oppres- 
 sive labor, whose minds have sunk into a state of insen- 
 sibility, melancholy or hypochondriasis, or, what is 
 worst of all, are strangers to domestic felicity. 
 
 But as many employ it in such a manner that it pro- 
 duces no effect, it perhaps may be of some service to 
 communicate here a few of the most important rules 
 how people must travel in order to benefit their health 
 and their life. 
 
268 MEANS WHICH PROLONG LIFE. 
 
 1st. Travelling on foot, or rather on horseback, is 
 the most healthful, and best calculated to answer the 
 end proposed ; but when one is weakly, or undertakes 
 long excursions, it is more advisable to travel in a car- 
 riage. 
 
 2nd. When one travels in a carriage, it is very bene- 
 ficial always to change the posture ; that is, to sit some- 
 times, and sometimes to recline. By these means one 
 can best prevent the evils attending continued riding in 
 this manner, which are occasioned principally by the 
 jolting being in one direction. 
 
 3rd. Nature will not suffer any sudden transitions. 
 It is therefore improper for people accustomed to a 
 sedentary life to undertake suddenly a journey during 
 which they will be exposed to violent jolting. The 
 case here is the same as if one accustomed to drink 
 water should all at once begin to drink wine. Let the 
 transition be slow, and begin with moderate motion. 
 
 4th. Excursions, the object of which is health and 
 the prolongation of life, must not be fatiguing ; but this 
 can be determined only by difference of temperament 
 and constitution. Ten or twelve miles daily, with a 
 rest every three or four days, may perhaps be the best 
 standard. One ought, above all things, to avoid travel- 
 ling in the night time; which, by interrupting the 
 necessary refreshment, checking perspiration, and ex- 
 posing the body to unhealthful air, is always preju- 
 dicial. By respecting nocturnal rest, one may accom- 
 plish twice as much in the day. 
 
 5th. People must not imagine that they may indulge 
 a little more in intemperance when on a journey. One, 
 however, needs not to be too nice in the choice of food 
 
USES OF TRAVELLING. 269 
 
 and drink ; and it is always best to use the common 
 fare of each country. But at any rate the stomach 
 ought not to be overloaded. By the motion of travel- 
 ling, the power of the body is too much divided for the 
 stomach to admit of a large quantity of food ; and the 
 motion itself, by these means, will become more fatigu- 
 ing. People, in particular, should not indulge too 
 much in heating food and liquors, as is often the case 
 on journeys; for travelling alone acts as a stimulus, 
 and less stimulating nourishment is then required than 
 in a state of rest. A want of attention to this rule may 
 occasion too violent irritation, inflammation, accumula- 
 tions of the blood, etc. It is most proper, on journeys, 
 too eat rather little at a time, but often ; to drink more 
 than one eats ; and to choose food easy of digesiion, 
 yet strongly nutritive, not of a heating nature, and such 
 as cannot be readily adulterated. It is safest, therefore, 
 in the country, and in small inns, to use milk, eggs, 
 well-baked bread, boiled or roasted meat, and fruit. I 
 advise travellers, above all, to be on their guard against 
 the wine kept in such houses. It will be much better 
 to drink water with the addition of a little lemon-juice, 
 or of some good liquor which they may carry along 
 with them. If the water be impure, it may be ren- 
 dered sweet by charcoal powder.* 
 
 * This is one of the greatest and beneficial discoveries of 
 modern times, for which we are indebted to Mr. Lowiz of Peters- 
 burg. Water which has a disagreeable odor, or has become 
 putrid, may almost immediately be freed from its nauseous taste, 
 as well as its bad smell, and be converted into good drinkable 
 liquor, by the following process : Take some burnt charcoal, 
 and reduce it to a fine powder. Mix about a tablespoonful of 
 
270 MEANS WHICH PROLONG LIFE. 
 
 6th. Avoid immoderate exertion and wasting of the 
 powers. It is, however, as difficult in general to lay 
 down a proper standard of motion, as of eating and 
 drinking. But Nature, in this, has given us a very ex- 
 cellent guide, a sense of lassitude, which is here of as 
 much importance as the sense of satiety in eating or 
 drinking. Weariness is nothing else than the voice of 
 Nature, which tells us that our stock of powers is ex- 
 hausted, and that he who is tired should enjoy repose. 
 But Nature may, indeed, become lost in habit ; and we 
 may be as insensible of lassitude as the continual glut- 
 ton is of fulness, especially when the nerves are over- 
 strained by stimulating and heating food and drink. 
 There are then, however, other signs to tell us that we 
 have exceeded the proper measure ; and I request that 
 to these the strictest attention may be paid. When one 
 begins to be low-spirited or dejected ; to yawn often, 
 and be drowsy, yet at the same time to be incapable of 
 sleeping though one enjoys rest ; when the appetite is 
 lost ; when the smallest movement occasions a fluttering 
 of the pulse, heat, and even trembling ; when the mouth 
 becomes dry, and is sensible of a bitter taste, it is high 
 time to seek refreshment and repose, if one wishes to 
 prevent illness already beginning to take place. 
 
 7th. While one is travelling, insensible perspiration 
 may easily be checked ; and cold is the principal 
 
 this powder in a pint of water, stir it well round, and suffer it to 
 stand for a few minutes. Let it then run slowly through filter- 
 ing paper into a glass, and it will be found quite transparent, 
 without any bad taste or smell, and perfectly pure for drinking. 
 People may preserve the charcoal powder a long time in a small 
 bottle well corked, and carry it with them when they travel. 
 
USES OF TRAVELLING. 271 
 
 source of those diseases which thence arise. It is 
 advisable, therefore, to guard against all sudden transi- 
 tions from heat to cold, or the contrary ; and those who 
 have great sensibility in the skin, will do well, when 
 they go on a journey, to carry a thin flannel shirt along 
 with them. 
 
 8th. Cleanliness, when one travels, is doubly neces- 
 sary ; and, therefore, to wash the body frequently with 
 cold water is much to be recommended.^ This will con- 
 tribute also, in a great degree, to remove lassitude. 
 
 9th. During winter, or in a cold climate, one may 
 'always submit to greater exercise than during summer, 
 or in warm climates, where perspiration exhausts one 
 half of the strength. One, also, can undergo more 
 fatigue early in the morning than in the afternoon. 
 
 10th. Full-blooded persons, or those who are subject 
 to a spitting of blood, or other serious disease, must 
 consult their physician before they undertake a journey. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Cleanliness, and care of the skin. 
 
 BOTH these I consider as important means for the 
 prolongation of life. Cleanliness removes every thing 
 that Nature has secreted from us, as useless or cor- 
 rupted ; as well as every thing prejudicial, that might 
 be conveyed to us, from without, through the super- 
 ficies of our bodies. 
 
 Care of the skin is an essential part of cleanliness, 
 and consists in paying such attention to it from infancy, 
 that it may be kept in a lively, active, and useful con- 
 dition. 
 
 The skin, indeed, must not be considered merely as 
 a common covering to defend us from the sun and the 
 rain, but as one of the most important organs of our 
 body, without the incessant activity and agency of 
 which there can be neither health nor long life ; and 
 in the neglect of which, in modern times, lies the secret 
 source of numberless diseases and evils that tend to 
 shorten our existence. May the following observa- 
 tions, therefore, make more impression on my readers, 
 and excite more attention to this organ and the man- 
 agement of it ! 
 
 The skin is the greatest medium for purifying our 
 bodies; and every moment a multitude of useless, 
 corrupted, and worn-out particles evaporate through 
 
CARE OF THE SKIN. 273 
 
 its numberless small vessels, in an insensible manner. 
 This secretion is inseparably connected with life, and 
 the circulation of our blood ; and by it the greater 
 part of all the impurity of our bodies is removed. If 
 the skin, therefore, be flabby or inactive, and if its 
 pores be stopped up, an acridity and corruption of 
 our juices will be the unavoidable consequence, and 
 the most dangerous diseases may ensue. 
 
 Besides, the skin is the seat of feeling, the most 
 general of all our senses, or that which in an essential 
 manner connects us with surrounding Nature, and in 
 particular with the atmosphere ; and by the state of 
 which, in a great measure, the sensation of our own 
 existence, and the relation which we bear to every 
 thing around us, is determined. Hence a greater or 
 less sensibility, in regard to disease, depends very 
 much on the skin ; and those whose skin is weak or 
 relaxed have generally a sensation too delicate and 
 unnatural, by which means it happens that they are 
 internally affected in a manner highly disagreeable, 
 by every small variation in the weather, every change 
 of the atmosphere, and at length become real baro- 
 meters. Such a constitution is called the rheumatic, 
 and arises chiefly from a want of strength in the skin. 
 It occasions a tendency to perspiration, which is also 
 an unnatural state, and which exposes us continually 
 to colds and other disorders. 
 
 It is, likewise, a grand means for preserving an equi- 
 librium in the powers and motion of our bodies. The 
 more active and open the skin is, the more secure will 
 people be against obstructions, and diseases of the 
 lungs, intestines, and lower stomach ; and the less ten- 
 18 
 
274 MEANS WHICH PROLONG LIFE. 
 
 dency will they have to gastric (bilious) fevers, hypo- 
 chondriasis, gout, asthma, catarrh, and varicose veins. 
 One great cause of these disorders being at present so 
 common amongst us, is, that we no longer endeavor 
 to cleanse and strengthen the skin by bathing and other 
 means. 
 
 . The skin, moreover, is one of the most important 
 means of restoration of our bodies, by which a multi- 
 tude of fine spiritual component parts are conveyed to 
 us from the atmosphere. Without a sound skin there 
 can be no complete restoration, which is one of the 
 chief principles of long life. 
 
 It ought also not to be forgotten, that the skin is the 
 grand organ of crises, that is to say, the assistant of 
 Nature in disease ; and that a man with open pores, 
 and a skin sufficiently vigorous, may depend on being 
 cured much more easily and with more certainty, and 
 often even without the use of medicine. 
 
 That such an organ must be a great support of 
 health and life, no one will deny ; and it is therefore 
 incomprehensible how people in modern times, since 
 mankind have become more enlightened, should neg- 
 lect it so much. Nay, we in general find, that, instead 
 of paying the least attention to it, they from their in- 
 fancy do every thing in their power, as it were, to re- 
 lax and to weaken it, and to stop up its pores. The 
 most of mankind, except at baptism, never experience 
 the benefit of bathing during their whole lives ; the skin 
 by dirt and daily perspiration is more and more stopped 
 up ; weakened and relaxed by warm clothing, furs, 
 feather-beds, etc. ; rendered inactive by confined air, 
 and a sedentary life j and I think I may, without ex- 
 
CARE OF THE SKIN. 275 
 
 aggeration, assert, that, among the greater part of 
 men, the pores of the skin are half-closed and unfit 
 for use. 
 
 Let me here be permitted to call the attention of my 
 readers to an incongruity, which is not the only one of 
 the kind in human life. The most ignorant person is 
 convinced that proper care of the skin is indispensably 
 necessary for the existence and well-being of horses 
 and various animals. The groom often denies himself 
 sleep, and other gratifications, that he may curry and 
 dress his horses sufficiently. If they become meagre 
 and weak, the first reflection is, whether there may not 
 have been some neglect or want of care in regard to 
 combing them. Such a simple idea, however, never 
 occurs to him in respect to his child. If it grow feeble 
 and sickly ; if it pine away and is afflicted with disease, 
 the consequence of dirt, he thinks rather of witchcraft 
 and other absurdities than of the real cause, neglecting 
 to keep the skin pure and clean. Since we show so 
 much prudence and intelligence in regard to animals, 
 why not in regard to men ? 
 
 The rules which I have to propose for preserving 
 cleanliness and a sound state of the skin, are remark- 
 ably easy and simple ; and, if observed from youth, 
 may be considered as very powerful means for the 
 prolongation of life. 
 
 1st. Remove carefully every thing that the body 
 has secreted as corrupted or prejudicial. This may 
 be done by changing the linen often, daily if it be 
 possible, and also the bed-clothes, or at least the sheets ; 
 by using, instead of a feather-bed, a mattress, which 
 
276 MEANS WHICH PROLONG LIFE. 
 
 attracts less dirt ; and by continually renewing the air 
 in apartments, and particularly in one's bed-chamber. 
 
 2nd. Let the whole body be washed daily with cold 
 water, and rub the skin strongly at the same time, 
 by which means it will acquire a great deal of life and 
 vigor. 
 
 3rd. One ought to bathe once a week, the whole 
 year through, in tepid water; and it will be of con- 
 siderable service to add to it three or four ounces of 
 soap. It is much to be wished that public baths were 
 again erected, that poor people might enjoy this benefit, 
 and thereby be rendered strong and sound, as was the 
 case some centuries ago.* 
 
 I cannot quit this subject without mentioning sea- 
 
 * Traces of this laudable practice may still everywhere be 
 seen in the remains of baths and bathing-houses ; but the use of 
 it has been abandoned through the inconceivable indolence of 
 mankind. Every Sunday evening, people formerly went in pro- 
 cession through the streets, beating on basins, to remind the 
 lower classes of bathing; and the tradesman, who labored at 
 dirty work, washed off, in the bath, that dirt which now adheres 
 to him perhaps during his whole life. In every place of any 
 consequence there should be a bathing-house, or a floating bath 
 on some river for the summer, and another for the winter. In 
 bathing it ought to be a rule never to enter the water with a full 
 stomach, but either fasting or four hours after eating ; never to 
 bathe when the body is hot ; to remain in cold water not more 
 than a quarter of an hour, and in warm water never more than 
 three quarters ; to be cautious of catching cold when one comes 
 out, which may be best done by putting on a flannel gown ; and 
 during dry warm weather, to take moderate exercise afterwards ; 
 but in cold, inoist weather, to remain for an hour in a warm 
 apartment. 
 
CAKE OF THE SKIN. 277 
 
 bathing, which, on account of its stimulative and pene- 
 trating power, may be placed at the head of those 
 means that regard the care of the skin ; and which 
 certainly supplies one of the first wants of the present 
 generation, by opening the pores, and thereby reinvig- 
 orating the whole nervous system. This bathing is 
 attended with two important advantages. The first 
 is, that besides its great healing power, in cases of 
 disease, it may be employed by those who are perfectly 
 well, as the means most agreeable to Nature for strength- 
 ening and preserving health ; which is not the case 
 with a great many other kinds of bathing, that are in- 
 jurious to a healthy person. In this respect it may 
 be compared to bodily exercise, which can remove dis- 
 eases otherwise incurable, and which may be used 
 also by those who are sound, in order to preserve them- 
 selves in that state. The other advantage is the noble, 
 grand, and indescribable prospect of the sea connected 
 with it ; and which, on those not acquainted with it, 
 has an effect capable of bracing up the nervous system, 
 and producing a beneficial exaltation of the whole 
 frame. I am fully convinced that the physical effects 
 of sea-bathing must be greatly increased by this impres- 
 sion on the mind ; and that a hypochondriac or nervous 
 person may be half cured by residing on the sea-coast, 
 and enjoying a view of the grand scenes ,of Nature 
 which will there present themselves : such as the rising 
 and setting of the sun over the blue expanse of the 
 waters, the awful majesty of the waves during a storm, 
 etc. For the like purpose, therefore, I would advise 
 an inhabitant of the inland parts to take a journey to 
 
278 MEANS WHICH PROLONG LIFE. 
 
 the sea ; and an inhabitant of the coast to make an ex- 
 cursion to the Alps ; for both, in my opinion, are the 
 sublimest productions of Nature. The thanks of the 
 public are undoubtedly due to that exalted prince, so 
 much a friend to mankind, who erected the first sea- 
 bath in Germany, at Dobrahn, near Rostock ; and to 
 that worthy physician Vogel, who formed the plan of 
 it in a manner so excellent and so likely to make it 
 answer the intended purpose, and who assists its salu- 
 tary effects by his presence and advice. 
 
 4th. People should wear warm clothing that does 
 not tend to weaken the skin, and which may readily 
 suffer the perspiring matter to pass through it. In 
 this respect, I know nothing more prejudicial than to 
 wear fur, which, by its great warmth, weakens the 
 skin very much; does not promote evaporation, but 
 sweat ; and, on account of the thickness of the leather, 
 does not suffer the perspiring particles to fly off. The 
 consequence is, that a continual vapor-bath is formed 
 between the fur and the skin, and that a great part of 
 the impure matter is again thrown back on the body, 
 and imbibed by it Far better is flannel, which has 
 the advantage of fur, without the disadvantage of at- 
 tracting dirt and occasioning too much heat. But all 
 these warm coverings on the bare skin are to be recom- 
 mended only during intense cold or for weakly people 
 subject to rheumatism. In infancy and youth, and 
 for those whose bodies are sound, it is far preferable 
 to wear next the skin either linen or cotton, with" a 
 vest of the same in summer, and in winter one of wool- 
 len. 
 
CARE OF THE SKIN. 279 
 
 , 
 
 5th. One should use much bodily exercise ; for this 
 is a great promoter of insensible perspiration. 
 
 6th. Avoid all food unfavorable to perspiration. 
 Of this nature is fat of every kind, pork, goose, 
 cheese, etc. 
 
CfiAPTEB, XII. 
 
 Proper food. Moderation in eating and drinking. Preservation of 
 the teeth. 
 
 THE idea of proper regimen is somewhat relative. 
 In general, we find that those men who were not too 
 nice or particular in regard to their food, but who lived 
 sparingly, attained to the greatest age ; and it is an 
 advantage peculiar to man, that he can digest and 
 assimilate the most heterogeneous kinds of nourish- 
 ment, and is not, like other animals, confined to one 
 certain class. It is proved that people in a natural 
 state, who are much exposed to the free open air and 
 to exercise, require few rules respecting their diet. It 
 was our artificial manner of living that first rendered 
 regimen necessary. 
 
 It is at any rate certain, that the prolongation of life 
 does not so much depend on the quality, as on the 
 quantity, of our nourishment ; and the instance of 
 Cornaro affords an astonishing proof how far a man of 
 weakly constitution may thereby prolong his existence. 
 
 It may with truth be asserted, that the greater part 
 of mankind eat more than is necessary ; and by being 
 crammed and over-fed in infancy, we are deprived of 
 that natural sensation which ought to tell us when we 
 have enough. 
 
CAKE OF THE TEETH. 281 
 
 I shall here only give such common rules in regard 
 to eating and drinking as will suit the generality of man- 
 kind ; and which, I am convinced, will have an essen- 
 tial influence in prolonging life. 
 
 1st. It is not what we eat, but what we digest, that 
 does us good, and serves to nourish our bodies. He 
 who wishes to live long ought, therefore, to eat slowly; 
 as our food must obtain in the mouth the first degree of 
 preparation and assimilation. This is effected by its 
 being sufficiently chewed and mixed with saliva ; botli 
 which I consider as a principal part of the business of 
 restoration, and consequently set great value upon them 
 in regard to the prolongation of life, especially as it ap- 
 pears by my researches that all those who were accus- 
 tomed to eat slowly attained to a great age. 
 
 2nd. A great deal depends on good teeth ; and, there- 
 fore, I can with propriety reckon preservation of the 
 teeth among those means that tend to prolong life. By 
 the following rules, if observed from infancy, the teeth 
 may be preserved fast and sound to the greatest age. 
 
 One must always join with the flesh used for food a 
 sufficient quantity of vegetables and bread; for flesh 
 adheres more readily between the teeth, and tends to 
 injure them. It will be found, therefore, that those 
 who use little or no flesh, boors and country people, 
 have always the best teeth, though they never clean 
 them. But no tooth-powder can be more efficacious 
 than a piece of dry burnt bread ; and it is a custom 
 very salutary for the teeth, to chew slowly a crust of 
 bread after every meal. 
 
 Avoid exposing the teeth to a sudden transition from 
 heat to cold, or the contrary ; for the teeth are covered 
 
282 MEANS WHICH PROLONG LIFE. 
 
 with a glassy kind of enamel, which may be easily 
 cracked by such sudden changes ; so that corrupted par- 
 ticles can insinuate themselves into the rents, and lay the 
 first foundation of decay within them. It will be best, 
 therefore, never to take too hot or too cold things into 
 the mouth ; and be careful, above all, not to drink cold 
 liquor while you are eating warm food, such as hot 
 soup, etc. 
 
 Never eat sugar, and avoid confections, which are 
 mixed with a great deal of tough calcareous particles. 
 
 As soon as you observe that a tooth is decayed, have 
 it immediately pulled out, otherwise it will infect the 
 rest.* 
 
 Wash your teeth with water every morning, and in 
 particular after each meal. This will remove any re- 
 mains of food adhering to them, which commonly fix 
 themselves between the teeth, and lay the first ground 
 for decay. 
 
 Those who observe these rules will seldom have oc- 
 
 * It is an error to suppose that a decayed tooth has the power 
 of infecting its neighbor, and it is bad advice to suggest its ex- 
 traction. One of the chief agents of destruction of the teeth is 
 pressure, therefore a tooth usually decays on the side which is 
 contiguous to another, and as in all probability both teeth are 
 sufferers from the pressure, both are liable to decay : because one 
 precedes the other in this action, it has been inferred that the de- 
 cayed tooth has contaminated its fellow, but this is not the fact. 
 Then as to the advice. When a tooth has decayed, the patient 
 should seek the dentist, who will probably clear out the dead 
 part, and stop the cavity with gold. When this operation is well 
 and judiciously performed^ the tooth will last as long as if it 
 were perfectly sound. Hence, the chief art of the dentist of the 
 present day is to save the teeth and not waste them, as was the 
 case when our author nourished. EDITOR. 
 
CARE OF THE TEETH. 283 
 
 casion for tooth-powder. But if th^ teeth have a ten- 
 dency, as is the case naturally in some men, to become 
 foul, or to acquire what is called tartar, I recommend 
 the following harmless prescription : Take half an 
 ounce of red sandal-wood, with a quarter of an ounce of 
 China-root (similax aspera Ghinensis) ; reduce them to 
 a fine powder, and sift it through a hair-sieve.* Then 
 add to it six drops of the oil of cloves, and the same 
 quantity of bergamot oil ; and rub the teeth with it in 
 the morning. 
 
 3rd. Beware of studying, reading, or straining the 
 head while at table. That period must certainly be 
 consecrated to the stomach. It is the time of its gov- 
 ernment ; and the mind must no further interfere with 
 it than may be. necessary to assist its operations. 
 Laughter is one of the greatest helps to digestion with 
 which I am acquainted ; and the custom, prevalent 
 among our forefathers, of exciting it at table by jesters 
 and buffoons, was founded on true medical principles. 
 In a word, endeavor to have cheerful and merry com- 
 panions at your meals. What nourishment one re- 
 ceives amidst mirth and jollity, will certainly produce 
 good and light blood. 
 
 4th. Do not expose yourself to violent motion after 
 meals; for this will disturb, in an astonishing degree, 
 
 * This tooth-powder, composed of materials no longer in use,, 
 is very inferior to the tooth-powders of the present day ; the best 
 of which are those made either of simple precipitated chalk : of 
 precipitated chalk with one eighth part of orris-root; or of pre- 
 cipitated chalk with one eighth part of camphor. Camphor has 
 of late been accused of doing injury to the teeth, by rendering 
 them brittle ; whether such be really the case I am unable to de- 
 cide. EDITOR. 
 
284 MEANS WHICH PROLONG LIFE. 
 
 the digestion and assimilation of your nourishment. It 
 will be best to stand, or to walk about slowly. The 
 properest time for exercise is before meals, or three 
 hours after. 
 
 5th. Never eat so much that you feel you have a 
 stomach. It will be best to give over before you are 
 completely sated. The quantity of food must be always 
 proportioned to one's bodily labor : the less the labor, 
 the less ought to be the nourishment. 
 
 6th. In the choice of food one should incline more to 
 vegetables. Flesh has always a greater tendency to 
 putrefaction ; and vegetables, on the other hand, to aci- 
 dity, which corrects putrefaction, our continual and great- 
 est enemy. Besides, animal food is always of a more 
 heating and stimulating nature ; whereas vegetables pro- 
 duce cool, mild blood ; lessen the internal motion, men- 
 tal as well as bodily irritability ; and powerfully retard 
 vital consumption. Lastly, animal food yields more 
 blood and nourishment ; and requires, in order to be 
 beneficial to us, much more labor and bodily motion ; 
 and, by the use of it, one also is liable to become ple- 
 thoric. On this account it is not proper for men of let- 
 ters, and those who sit a great deal ; as such people do 
 not require so strong restoration, or so much addition 
 of substance, but only of those fine nourishing juices 
 that are necessary for the spiritual functions. One, 
 above all, ought to avoid flesh in summer, and when 
 putrid fevers are prevalent. We find that it is not 
 those who lived on flesh, but on vegetables, pulse, fruit, 
 and milk, who attained to the greatest age ; Lord 
 Bacon mentions a man of 120, who, during his whole 
 life, never used any other food than milk. The Brah- 
 
MODERATION IN FOOD. 285 
 
 mins, by their religion, are confined merely to vegeta- 
 bles, and, for the most part, live to the age of 100. 
 John Wesley, in the middle of his life, gave over the 
 use of flesh ; lived upon vegetables alone, and attained 
 the age of 88. 
 
 7th. At night, one ought to eat sparingly, and use 
 little or no flesh, if cold it will be best ; and to sup a 
 few hours before bed-time. 
 
 8th. Never neglect to use a sufficient quantity of 
 drink. It too often happens that people, by inatten- 
 tion to the calls of Nature, forget drinking altogether, 
 and are no longer reminded of it ; which is the grand 
 cause of aridity, obstructions in the lower stomach, and 
 a multitude of diseases to be found so frequently among 
 men of letters, and females, who lead a sedentary life. 
 But it is to be observed, that the best time for drinking 
 is not while one is eating, as the gastric juices are there- 
 by rendered too thin, and the stomach weakened, but 
 about an hour after meals. 
 
 The best drink is water, a liquor commonly despised, 
 and even considered as prejudicial. I will not hesitate, 
 however, to declare it to be one of the greatest means 
 for prolonging life. Read what is said of it by 
 that respectable veteran, Theden, surgeon-general, who 
 ascribes his long life of more than 80 years chiefly to 
 the daily use of seven or eight quarts (from twenty to 
 twenty-four pounds) of fresh water, which he drank for 
 upwards of forty years. Between his thirtieth and for- 
 tieth year he was a most miserable hypochondriac, op- 
 pressed with the deepest melancholy ; tormented with 
 a palpitation of the heart, indigestion, etc. ; and im- 
 agined that he could not live six months. But from the 
 
286 MEANS WHICH PROLONG LIFE. 
 
 time that he began this water regimen, all these symp- 
 toms disappeared ; and in the latter half of his life, he 
 enjoyed better health than before, and was perfectly 
 free from the hypochondriac affection. One great 
 point, however, is, that the water must be fresh, that is, 
 recently drawn from a spring or running stream, and 
 be put into a vessel well stopped ; for all spring water, 
 like the mineral, contains fixed air, which renders it 
 .strengthening and favorable to digestion. Pure, fresh 
 water has the following advantages, which certainly 
 must inspire us with respect for it. 
 
 The element of water is the greatest and only pro- 
 moter of digestion, by its coldness and fixed air it is 
 an excellent strengthener and reviver of the stomach 
 and nerves. On account of its abundance of fixed air, 
 and the saline particles it contains, it is a powerful pre- 
 ventative of bile and putrefaction. It assists all the 
 secretions of the body. Without water there could be 
 no excretion ; as, according to the latest experiments, 
 oxygen is a component part of it, by drinking water we 
 actually imbibe a new stimulus of life. 
 
 I cannot here omit to say something in favor of 
 soups, (liquid nourishment,) since it has been lately 
 fashionable to decry them as prejudicial. 
 
 The moderate use of soups is certainly not hurtful ; 
 and it is singular that people should imagine that it 
 tends too much to relax the stomach. Does not all our 
 drink, even though cold, become in a few minutes a 
 kind of warm soup in the stomach ; and does not the 
 stomach retain the same temperature during the whole 
 day ? Be careful only not to use it hot, in too great 
 quantity at one time, or too watery. It is attended 
 
MODERATION IN FOOD. 287 
 
 even with great advantages. It supplies the place of 
 drink, particularly to men of letters, women, and all 
 those who do not drink, or drink very little except at 
 table, and who, when they give over soup, receive into 
 their blood too little moisture. And it is here to be 
 remarked, that fluids used in % the form of soup unite 
 much better and sooner with our juices than when 
 drunk cold and raw. On this account soup is a great 
 preventative of dryness and rigidity in the body, and 
 therefore the best nourishment for old people, and those 
 who are of an arid temperament. It even supplies 
 the place of medicine. After catching cold, in ner- 
 vous headaches, colics, and different kinds of cramp 
 in the stomach, warm soup is of excellent service. It 
 may serve as a proof of the utility, or at least ham- 
 lessness, of soup, when I remark that our forefathers, 
 who certainly had more strength than we have, used 
 soup ; that it is used by rustics, who are stronger than 
 those in refined life ; and that all the old people with 
 whom I ever was acquainted were great friends to it. 
 Wine rejoices the heart of man, but it is by no means 
 necessary for long life, since those who never drank 
 it seem to have become oldest. Nay, as a stimulant, 
 which accelerates vital consumption, it may tend very 
 much to shorten life, when used too frequently, or in 
 too great abundance. To render it friendly and not 
 prejudicial to life, it must be drunk daily, but always 
 in moderation : the younger a man is in less, and the 
 older in the greater quantity. It is best when one 
 considers and uses wine as the seasoning of life, and 
 reserves it for days of mirth and recreation to enliven 
 the friendly circle. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Mental tranquillity. Contentment. Dispositions of mind, and 
 employments which tend to prolong life. 
 
 PEACE of mind, cheerfulness, and contentment, are 
 the foundation of all happiness, all health, and long 
 life. Some may here say, these are means which we 
 have not in our power ; they depend upon external 
 circumstances. But to me it appears that the case is 
 not so : for, otherwise, the great and rich would be the 
 most contented and happy, and the poor the most 
 miserable. Experience, however, shows the contrary ; 
 and more contentment, without doubt, is to be found 
 amidst poverty, than among the class of the rich and 
 wealthy. 
 
 There are sources then of contentment and happiness 
 which lie in ourselves, and which we ought carefully to 
 search out and to use. Let me here be permitted to 
 mention a few of these helps, recommended by the 
 simplest philosophy, and which I offer merely as rules 
 of regimen, the good advice of a physician how to pro- 
 long life. 
 
 1st. Endeavor above all things to subdue your pas- 
 sions. A man who is continually subject to the im- 
 pulse of his passions, is always in an extreme and ex- 
 alted state, and can never attain that peaceful frame so 
 necessary for the support of life. His internal vital 
 
MENTAL TRANQUILLITY. 289 
 
 consumption is thereby dreadfully increased, and he 
 must soon be destroyed. 
 
 2nd. People should accustom themselves to consider 
 life not as an object, but the means of attaining to 
 higher perfection : and our existence and fate as always 
 directed to a higher aim, and subjected to a more ex- 
 alted power. They should never lose sight of that 
 point of view which the ancients named trust in provi- 
 dence. They will thus have the best clue to direct 
 their way through the labyrinth of life, and the great- 
 est security against all attacks by which their peace of 
 mind might be disturbed. 
 
 3rd. Live always, but in the proper sense, for the 
 day ; that is, employ every day as if it were your last, 
 without taking any thought for to-morrow. Unhappy 
 men who still think of what is to come, and, amidst 
 your plans and projects for the future, lose the enjoy- 
 ment of the present ! The present is the parent of the 
 future ; and he who fully employs each day and each 
 hour according to its destination, can in the evening lie 
 down to repose with the agreeable satisfaction of hav- 
 ing not only lived that day and fulfilled its object, but 
 of having also laid the best foundation for the enjoy- 
 ment of the future. 
 
 4th. Endeavor to form as just conceptions as possible 
 of every event, and you will find that the greater part 
 of the evils in the world arise from mistakes, false in- 
 terest, or precipitation; and that the principal point 
 is not so much what is done to us, as how we take it. 
 He who possesses this happy talent is independent of 
 external circumstances. As Weishaupt has said, " It is 
 certain that wisdom alone is the source of pleasure, 
 19 
 
290 MEANS WHICH PROLONG LIFE. 
 
 and that folly is the source of misery. Without a total 
 resignation in the will of providence, a conviction that 
 all events are ordered for x>ur good, and that content- 
 ment with the world which thence arises, every thing 
 is folly, and will lead to dissatisfaction." 
 
 5th. One should always strengthen and confirm more 
 and more one's trust and confidence in mankind, and in 
 all the noble virtues, benevolence, friendship, affection, 
 and humanity which thence arise. Consider every 
 man as good, till you are convinced of the contrary 
 by incontestable proofs ; and even then man ought to 
 be looked upon as a being misled by error, who de- 
 serves our compassion much rather than our hatred. 
 Man indeed would be good, were he not seduced by 
 ignorance, misconception, and false interest. "Woe to 
 those whose philosophy consists in trusting no one ! 
 Their life is a continual state of defensive and offensive 
 war ; and they must bid farewell to cheerfulness and 
 contentment. The more a man entertains good wishes 
 to all around him, the more will he render others 
 happy, and the more happiness will he himself enjoy. 
 
 6th. To promote contentment and peace of mind, 
 Hope is indispensably necessary. He who can hope 
 prolongs his existence, not merely in idea, but physi- 
 cally, by the peace and equanimity which he thus 
 secures. I do not allude here to hope within the 
 narrow boundaries of our present existence, but to 
 hope beyond the grave ! In my opinion, hope in im- 
 mortality is the only hope that can make life of any 
 value, and render the burdens of it easy and support- 
 able. Hope and Faith, ye great and divine virtues ! 
 who, without you, is able to wander through a life so 
 
CONTENTMENT AND JOY. 291 
 
 full of error and deceit, whose beginning, as well as 
 end, is involved in thick darkness ; the duration of 
 which is a moment, and in which we scarcely begin to 
 look forwards to futurity when we are swallowed up 
 by destruction. Ye are the only supports of the waver- 
 ing ; the greatest revivers of the weary traveller. 
 Those who do not honor you as exalted virtues, must em- 
 brace you as indispensable assistants in this terrestrial 
 life, and endeavor to be strong in you through a love 
 for themselves, if not through a love for the things that 
 are invisible. In this respect one can say that re- 
 ligion itself may be a means for prolonging life. The 
 more it subdues the passions, promotes self-denial, pro- 
 duces internal tranquillity, and enlivens the above con- 
 soling truths, the more will it serve to extend the 
 period of mortal existence. 
 
 Joy, also, is one of the greatest panaceas of life. 
 One must not, however, believe that it is always ne- 
 cessary to excite it by sought-for events and fortunate 
 incidents. By that frame of mind which I have al- 
 ready delineated, people may be rendered susceptible 
 of it ; and those who have attained to that happy dis- 
 position will never want opportunities of rejoicing. 
 But one should never neglect to seek and employ 
 every occasion of indulging in joy that is pure aifd not 
 too violent. No joy is more healthful, or better calcu- 
 lated to prolong life, than that which is to be found in 
 domestic happiness, in the company of cheerful and 
 good men, and in contemplating with delight the beau- 
 ties of Nature. A day spent in the country, under 
 a serene sky, amidst a circle of agreeable friends, is 
 certainly a more positive means of prolonging life than 
 
292 MEANS WHICH PROLONG LIFE. 
 
 all the vital elixirs in the world. Laughter, that ex- 
 ternal expression of joy, must not here be omitted, 
 It is the most salutary of all the bodily movements ; 
 for it agitates both the body and the soul at the same 
 time ; promotes digestion, circulation, and respiration ; 
 and enlivens the vital power in every organ. 
 
 The higher pursuits and employment of the mind 
 deserve here a place also ; but I must remark, that it \ 
 will be necessary to observe those prudential rules, 
 which I have already laid down, to prevent an abuse 
 of them. These higher enjoyments and pleasures are 
 entirely peculiar to man, and an important source of 
 vital restoration. Among these I reckon, above all, 
 the reading of agreeable and instructive books; the 
 study of interesting sciences ; contemplating Nature, 
 and examining her secrets ; the discovering of new 
 truths, by the combination of ideas, improving con- 
 versation, etc. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Reality of character. 
 
 IT is well known how extremely prejudicial to life is 
 that occupation which renders it necessary for a man to 
 exist some hours daily in an assumed state, not natural 
 to him, I mean the employment of a player. 
 
 What then must the case be with those people who 
 always carry on a like occupation, who are continually 
 acting this or the other feigned part on the grand thea- 
 tre of the world, and who never really are what they 
 appear to be? Those indeed who are deceitful, live 
 always under disguise, restraint, and a false character. 
 They may be found, above all, among the over refined 
 and too highly cultivated classes of mankind : but I am 
 acquainted with no condition more unnatural. 
 
 It is bad enough to be obliged to wear clothes not 
 made for us, which everywhere pinch and confine us, 
 and which render every movement painful. But what 
 is this to wearing a false character; to a moral 
 restraint, where our words, conduct, gestures, and ac- 
 tions, are in continual opposition to our internal feel- 
 ings and wishes ; where we violently suppress our 
 strongest natural propensities, and assume foreign ones ; 
 and where we are obliged to keep continually strained, 
 every nerve and every vessel, in order to carry on that 
 deception which is our whole existence ? Such a false 
 
294 MEANS WHICH PROLONG LIFE. 
 
 state is nothing else than a continual cramp ; and this 
 is proved by the consequences. An incessant restless- 
 ness and anxiety, deranged circulation and digestion, 
 continued contradiction both physical and moral, are 
 its unavoidable effects. In the end, it becomes impossi- 
 ble for these unfortunate men to lay aside this assumed 
 character ; so that it becomes a second nature. They 
 are at length lost, and cannot again find themselves. 
 In a word, this false state keeps up continually a secret 
 nervous fever. Internal irritation, and external cramp, 
 are, both, parts of it ; and it must lead to destruction 
 and the grave, the only place where such wretched be- 
 ings can hope ever to lay aside the mask. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Agreeable stimulants of the senses and of sensation 
 moderately used. 
 
 THESE have a double effect in the prolongation of 
 life. In the first place, by their immediate influence 
 on the vital power, they enliven, strengthen, and exalt 
 it ; and, secondly, by increasing the activity of the 
 whole machine, they put into much greater activity the 
 organs of digestion, circulation, and secretion, which 
 perform the most important functions of restoration. 
 A certain cultivation and refinement of our sensibility 
 is therefore healthful and necessary ; because it renders 
 us more susceptible of these enjoyments ; only it must 
 not be carried too far, else it may become a disease. 
 In stimulating the senses also great care must be taken 
 not to exceed the proper measure ; for the same enjoy- 
 ment which, when used in a moderate degree, is capa- 
 ble of restoring, may, if used too much, consume and 
 exhaust. 
 
 All agreeable stimulants, which can affect us through 
 the sight, hearing, smell, taste, and feeling, may be in- 
 cluded under this head ; and therefore the pleasures of 
 music, painting, and the other imitative arts, poetry, 
 etc., as they can exalt and renew these enjoyments. 
 In the present view, however, it appears to me that 
 Music deserves the preference, because no mental im- 
 
296 MEANS WHICH PROLONG LIFE. 
 
 pression can have so speedy and immediate an effect in 
 tuning, enlivening, and regulating the vital operations. 
 Our whole frame assumes spontaneously the tone and 
 character of the music; the pulse becomes either 
 quicker, or more calm ; the passions are roused, or soft- 
 ened, according to the will of this language of the soul, 
 which, without words, merely through the power of 
 melody and harmony, acts immediately upon our most 
 internal organs, and by these means enchants us often 
 more irresistibly than eloquence itself. It is much to 
 be wished that the study of music in this view were 
 more common, and that it were more employed for 
 such a noble purpose. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Preventing diseases. Judicious treatment of them. Proper use of 
 medicine and physicians. 
 
 DISEASES, as has been already shown, belong for 
 the most part, to those causes which shorten life, and 
 are even capable of breaking the vital thread abruptly. 
 The business of medicine is to guard against these, as 
 well as to cure them : and so far medicine may be 
 considered and employed as a mean for prolonging life. 
 
 But error, here, is too common. Sometimes it is be- 
 lieved that this beneficial art can never be sufficiently 
 employed, and that people can never take too many 
 medicines. Sometimes it is so much abhorred, as some- 
 thing unnatural, that too few are used ; and sometimes 
 the falsest conceptions are formed of medicine, as well 
 as of physicians ; and both are employed in an impro- 
 per manner. To this may be added, in modern times, 
 a multitude of popular books, by which a great deal of 
 crude, undigested information on medical subjects has 
 been diffused among the public ; and hence a greater 
 misapplication of medicine has been occasioned, and the 
 utmost injury to the health of mankind in general. 
 
 It is impossible for every one to be a physician. 
 Physic is a science so extensive and difficult, that it re- 
 quires close and long-continued study, and even a pecu- 
 liar formation of mind and of the higher powers of the 
 
298 MEANS WHICH PROLONG LIFE. 
 
 soul. An acquaintance with the rules and means for 
 curing diseases does not form a physician, as some im- 
 agine. These rules and means are the result of medi- 
 cal experience ; and he only who can perceive the con- 
 nection of them with the causes of disease, and the 
 whole chain of grounds and inferences from which they 
 are deduced, in a word, who can himself discover these 
 means, deserves to be called a physician. From this 
 it appears that the art of medicine never can be known 
 by the generality of the public. 
 
 That branch of the medical art only which teaches 
 an acquaintance with the human body, so far as it 
 may be useful for every man to know, and the method 
 and manner of guarding against diseases and preserv- 
 ing health, both individually and generally, can, or 
 ought to, form a part of that instruction and informa- 
 tion which should be communicated to the public. 
 This is evident from the simple idea of disease, and the 
 helps to be applied. What is meant by administering 
 medicines and curing diseases ? Nothing else than by 
 an unusual impression to produce an unusual change 
 in the human body, by which an unnatural state named 
 disease may be removed. Disease and the operation 
 of medicines are each an unnatural state ; and the ap- 
 plication of medicine is nothing else than exciting an 
 artificial disease, in order to expel one that is natu- 
 ral. This may be seen when a man in good health 
 takes physic, which will always render him ill in a 
 greater or less degree. The use of medicine is, there- 
 fore, of itself prejudicial ; and can be excused and ren- 
 dered healthful only when a more diseased state of the 
 body is thereby removed. This right of making one's 
 
JUDICIOUS APPLICATION OF MEDICINE. 299 
 
 self or others sick artificially, ought never to be exer- 
 cised but by those who are sufficiently able to discover 
 what proportion the disease may bear to the means ; 
 consequently, by physicians ; otherwise it may happen 
 that, when the means perhaps are altogether unneces- 
 sary, one may be rendered ill ; or that the means will 
 not be suited to the disease, and therefore the poor 
 patient must suffer under two maladies instead of hav- 
 ing one ; or that the means may promote and increase 
 the diseased state already existing. In cases of disease 
 it will be far better to use no medicine at all, than to 
 employ that which is not proper. 
 
 As none, therefore, but people regularly bred, ought 
 to be allowed to practise medicine, this important ques- 
 tion arises : How must medicine be used when we wish 
 to employ it as the means of prolonging life ? In order 
 to answer the above question, I shall here give some 
 general rules and definitions. 
 
 But, first, let me be permitted to say a few words on 
 a part of this research, which, though most interesting 
 to the physician, is of too much importance even to 
 others to be passed over in silence. I mean, How does 
 the practice of physic, in general, contribute to the pro- 
 longation of life ? Can one consider it absolutely as a 
 means for prolonging our existence ? Without doubt 
 we can, so far as it cures disorders that might destroy 
 us, but not always in other respects: and I shall 
 here add, for the consideration of my medical brethren, 
 a few observations which may show that to restore 
 health and prolong life are not the same ; and that the 
 point is not merely to cure a disease, but how it is cured. 
 First, it is certain, from what has been said, that medi- 
 
300 MEANS WHICH PROLONG LIFE. 
 
 cine operates by occasioning an artificial illness. Every 
 disease is attended with irritation and a loss of power* 
 If the medicine, therefore, be more powerful than the 
 disease, the patient will be cured ; but he will be more 
 weakened by the process of the cure, and more will be 
 deducted from the duration of his life than would have 
 been taken from it by the disease. This is the case 
 when people, on trifling occasions, employ immediately 
 the most powerful. and the most violent medicines. Se- 
 condly, a disease may be cured by various ways and 
 methods. The difference is, that one leads the crisis 
 sometimes to one part, and sometimes to another ; or 
 that the disorder is removed sooner by one method, and 
 more slowly by another. These different modes of 
 cure may all, however, lead to a restoration of health, 
 but be of very different effect in regard to the prolon- 
 gation of life. The more a cure allows the disease to 
 continue, and to weaken the powers and the organs ; 
 or the more it affects the organs necessary for life, or 
 conducts the disease thither, and consequently impedes 
 afterwards vital restoration (as for example, when the 
 important system of digestion is made the seat of the 
 disease, and weakened by powerful remedies) ; or lastly, 
 the more a cure wastes unnecessarily the vital power in 
 general, as by too profusely bleeding, withdrawing 
 the usual nourishment too incessantly, etc., the more 
 will it weaken the grounds of longevity, even though it 
 may remove the disease. Thirdly, one must never for- 
 get that disease itself may be useful and necessary for 
 prolonging life. There are many diseases which are 
 nothing else than an exertion of Nature to restore equili- 
 brium that has been destroyed, to evacuate corrupted 
 
PREVENTION OF DISEASES. 301 
 
 matter, or to dissipate obstructions. If a physician, 
 therefore, (according to the true Brownonian method,) 
 does nothing more than check the disease from showing 
 itself outwardly, without paying attention to remote 
 causes and consequences, he only destroys the active 
 counteraction of Nature, by which it endeavors to re- 
 move the real disease : he quenches the fire outwardly, 
 but suffers it to burn more violently within. He nour- 
 ishes the germ, the material cause of the evil, which 
 perhaps would have been banished by this process of 
 Nature had it been suffered to be completed, and ren- 
 ders it stronger and more incurable. We have too 
 many instances of patients who believed themselves 
 perfectly cured of a fever or the dysentery, and who 
 afterwards became hectic, or fell into the hypochon- 
 driasis, nervous weakness and the like. No one will 
 deny that such a cure, though it seems for the present 
 to restore the patient to health, may nevertheless 
 shorten the duration of his life. 
 
 I shall now proceed to answer a question which con- 
 cerns those only who are not physicians : By what means 
 can diseases be prevented; how ought those which have 
 already appeared to be treated; and, in particular, how 
 ought physicians and the medical art to be employed in' 
 order to contribute in the highest degree possible to the 
 support and prolongation of 'life ? 
 
 But let me first speak of the means to be used for 
 preventing diseases. As there are two things which 
 belong to the origin of every disease, the cause that 
 excites it, and the capacity of the body for being 
 affected by this cause, there are two ways by which 
 disease may be prevented, either to remove that cause, 
 
302 MEANS WHICH PROLONG LIFE. 
 
 or to destroy the sensibility of the body in regard to it ; 
 and upon this is founded the whole medical dietetic, and 
 all the preventative methods. The first method which 
 has been most commonly pursued, is the most uncer- 
 tain ; for, as long as we are not able to alter our mode 
 of living, it will be impossible to guard against every 
 cause of disease; and the more we deviate from it, 
 the more we shall be affected by them when they 
 attack us. For instance, cold never hurts any one so 
 much as those who, in general, keep themselves ex- 
 ceedingly warm. Far better is the second method, 
 to endeavor to guard against hose causes of disease 
 which can be avoided; and to accustom one's self to 
 the rest, in order that the body may be rendered insen- 
 sible to them. 
 
 The principal causes of disease, which can, -in a great 
 measure, be guarded against, are, intemperance in eat- 
 ing and drinking, immoderate enjoyment of physical 
 love, great heat and cold, or a sudden transition from 
 the one to the other; passions, violent exertion of 
 the mind, too much or too little sleep, checked evacua- 
 tions, and poisons. 
 
 One ought, however, to render the body less sus- 
 ceptible of these causes, or to harden it pathologically ; 
 and for that purpose I recommend the following 
 means : First, the daily enjoyment of free air. In 
 good or bad weather, during rain, wind or snow, the 
 excellent practice of walking or riding for a few hours 
 in the open air, must be continued every day without 
 exception. This will contribute in an incredible degree 
 to harden the constitution, and to promote longevity; 
 and, when done daily, the body will soon become so 
 
PREVENTION OF DISEASES. 303 
 
 strong as to be affected by no kind of weather. It is 
 to be recommended, therefore, in particular, to those 
 who are subject to the gout and the rheumatism. 
 Secondly, to wash daily the whole body with cold 
 water ; not to keep one's self too warm ; and to pre- 
 serve the activity of the body. Never let the body 
 sink into too passive a state, but endeavor, by muscular 
 motion, friction, and gymnastic exercises, to keep up in 
 it a kind of counteraction. The more passive the 
 body is, the more susceptible will it be of disease. 
 Lastly, a certain freedom and immunity from restraint 
 in your way of life ; that is to say, do not bind your- 
 self too rigidly to certain rules and habits, but allow 
 yourself a moderate indulgence. Those who confine 
 themselves with too much severity to order and r ^gi- 
 men, be they ever so good, make themselves thereby 
 more susceptible of disease ; for if they deviate in the 
 least from what is now become to them a second nature, 
 some kind of indisposition will be the consequence. A 
 little irregularity, by the gentle revolutions which it 
 effects in the body, may be of great use in purifying, 
 opening, and dissipating; and even pernicious things 
 lose a great deal of their noxious quality when one is 
 accustomed to them. A little less sleep than usual ; 
 to drink sometimes a glass more than common; to 
 eat a little more food, or substances harder of digestion ; 
 to expose oneself to cold or heat by riding, dancing, 
 and the like ; to take exercise till one is tired, and 
 sometimes to fast a day, are all means, therefore, that 
 contribute to harden the body, and which give more 
 latitude to the health, as they free it from too slavish a 
 
304 MEANS WHICH PROLONG LIFE. 
 
 dependence on the uniformity of habit, to which it is 
 not always possible for us to be confined. 
 
 A grand point in guarding against disease is, that 
 every one should try to discover to what malady he 
 is constitutionally most disposed, in order that this 
 tendency may be destroyed, or at least that all oppor- 
 tunity of its being converted into disease may be re- 
 moved. On this is grounded individual regimen ; and 
 every man ought to observe that which is proper for 
 him, so far as to counteract his particular morbific dis- 
 position. To inquire into and determine this point is 
 indeed the business principally of the medical practi- 
 tioner ; and I am therefore of opinion, that people, on 
 a subject of so much moment, should consult an intelli- 
 gent physician, and allow him to judge what diseases 
 they have the greatest disposition to, and what regi- 
 men may be best suited for them. In this respect the 
 ancients were more prudent than we. They employed 
 the medical art and physicians chiefly for determining 
 their dietetic mode of life ; and even their astrological, 
 chi romantic, and other researches of the like kind, 
 tended, at bottom, to define the moral and physical 
 character of man, and to prescribe for him accordingly 
 a proper mode of living and regimen. They undoubt- 
 edly did much better in thus employing their physi- 
 cians than if they had run to them every week to make 
 them prescribe for them purgatives or emetics. But 
 for this purpose a judicious, prudent, and acute physi- 
 cian is necessary ; while, on the other hand, any em* 
 piric is capable of writing a prescription. These people, 
 at any rate, had a surer means of distinguishing a false 
 from a true prophet. 
 
KNOWLEDGE OP THE CONSTITUTION. 305 
 
 That those unacquainted with the medical art may 
 be enabled, as much as possible, to determine the na- 
 ture of their constitution, and what tendency it has to 
 disease, I shall here give the following rules : 
 
 1st. Examine what disposition to disease you inherit 
 from your parents. There are certain morbific ten- 
 dencies which may be communicated by generation, 
 such as to the gout, indigestion, nervous weakness, and 
 consumption. If these evils have taken root in the 
 parents, there is great reason to suspect a disposition 
 to them in the children. By a proper regimen they 
 can, however, be prevented from attaining to a great 
 height. 
 
 2nd. A disposition to some disorders may be created 
 by the first treatment in infancy ; especially if a child 
 be kept too warm, which excites a tendency to perspi- 
 ration, renders the skin flaccid, and, by these means, 
 disposes the body to rheumatic disorders. Too early 
 application to learning, gives a tendency to nervous 
 weakness, and diseases of the nerves. 
 
 3rd. A tendency to certain diseases is connected 
 with some forms and kinds of bodily structure. Those 
 who are tall and thin, who have a long slender neck y 
 a flat breast, projecting shoulders, and who have grown- 
 up suddenly to a great height, must be on their guard 
 chiefly against consumptions, and in particular as long 
 as they are under the age of thirty. Those who have 
 a short thickset body, a large thick head, with a short 
 neck, so that the head seems to be stuck between the 
 shoulders, show a disposition to apoplexy; and must 
 beware of every thing that may give occasion to that 
 disease. In general, all overgrown people have a ten- 
 20 
 
306 MEANS WHICH PROLONG LIFE. 
 
 deney more or less to consumption and disorders of the 
 breast. 
 
 4th. Every man ought carefully to examine his tem- 
 perament. If it be sanguine or choleric, it gives a 
 tendency to inflammation ; but if phlegmatic or melan- 
 cholic, to chronic diseases and weakness of the nerves. 
 
 5th. The climate also, and the spot in which one 
 lives, may create a tendency to disease. If they are 
 cold and damp, one may rest assured that they will 
 produce a disposition to nervous and bilious fevers, 
 ague, gout, and rheumatism. 
 
 6th. To pay attention, in particular, to one's weakest 
 part is of importance. Every man, in a physical sense, 
 has his weak side ; and all causes of disease are ac- 
 customed, in general, to fix themselves in those parts 
 which are by nature weakest. Those, for example, 
 who have weak lungs, will be affected chiefly in that 
 part ; and every thing almost will give rise to a catarrh 
 or disorder of the chest. If the stomach be weak, it 
 will be acted upon by every slight cause ; and indiges- 
 tion, crudity, and foulness of it will be the consequence. 
 If one is acquainted with these parts, one may contrib- 
 ute very much to the prevention of disease, and the 
 prolongation of life ; partly by guarding them against 
 morbific causes, and partly by strengthening them, and 
 depriving them of their too great sensibility. As much 
 depends, therefore, on acquiring the art how to dis- 
 cover the weakest parts of one's body, I shall give the 
 following signs, which may be understood by those 
 even who are not physicians : Observe on what 
 parts any mental shock, or violent affection, produces 
 the greatest effect; for these are the weakest. If 
 
USES OF THE MEDICAL ART. 307 
 
 these causes immediately excite a cough or uneasy 
 sensation in the chest, the lungs are the part pointed 
 out ; if they occasion a compression of the stomach, 
 flatulency, and the like, one may be assured that the 
 weak part is the stomach. Observe also where the 
 effects of other morbific influences are reflected; as, 
 for example, the effects of a surfeit, a cold, overheating, 
 violent exercise, etc. If the chest be attacked, that 
 may be considered as the weakest part. It is of equal 
 importance to observe which way the blood and juices 
 have the greatest tendency ; what parts are usually the 
 reddest and the hottest, and where perspiration appears 
 in the greatest abundance ; for, there, if the rest of the 
 body do not perspire, will disease most readily fix itself. 
 One may also, in general, conclude that any part wnich 
 one uses violently and immoderately, or which one 
 overstrains, will become weaker : for example, the 
 brain among studious people ; the chest among singers ; 
 the stomach among gluttons, etc. 
 
 I shall now proceed to answer the question, In what 
 manner should a disease which has already taken place 
 be treated, and ivhat use ought to be made of physicians 
 and of the medical art ? The most important part of 
 the answer may be reduced to the following rules : 
 
 1st. Never use medicine without a sufficient cause ; 
 for, who wish to make themselves sick unnecessarily ? 
 The custom, therefore, of purging, bleeding, and the 
 like, at stated periods, merely for the purpose of guard- 
 ing against a possible evil, is highly prejudicial. This 
 practice often gives rise to those disorders which one 
 endeavors to avoid. 
 
 2d. It is much better to prevent diseases than to cure 
 
308 MEANS WHICH PROLONG LIFE. 
 
 them ; for the latter is always connected with a greater 
 loss of the powers, and consequently of vital duration. 
 Let the above means, therefore, for guarding against 
 them be carefully observed. 
 
 3d. As soon, however, as disease makes its appear- 
 ance, the greatest attention ought to be paid to it ; for 
 the most trifling indisposition may conceal under it a 
 very serious malady. This is the case, in particular, 
 with feverish disorders. The commencement of them 
 is shown by the following symptoms : One experi- 
 ences an uncommon lassitude ; the appetite fails, and 
 one has a much greater desire for drinking ; the sleep 
 is interrupted or disturbed by dreams ; the usual ex- 
 cretions are checked, or increased in an unnatural 
 manner ; one has no inclination for labor, and is af- 
 fected by headache, and a greater or less degree of 
 coldness, which is followed by heat. 
 
 4th. As soon as one perceives these symptoms, 
 nothing is so necessary as to lessen one's nourishment, 
 which strengthens the disease, and to follow the benefi- 
 cent instinct of Nature, which every animal, to its great 
 advantage, obeys on such occasions. Let the patient 
 abstain from eating ; for Nature, by rejecting food, 
 shows that she is incapable of digesting it ; and let him 
 drink a little more than usual, but only water, or some 
 other light beverage. One ought also to be kept 
 quiet ; to lie in the best position, for the lassitude suffi- 
 ciently shows that Nature requires her strength for 
 modifying the disease ; and one ought to avoid both 
 heat and cold, consequently should neither go out into 
 the open air, nor be shut up in a warm apartment. 
 These simple means, prescribed to us so clearly by 
 
QUALITIES OF A PHYSICIAN. 309 
 
 Nature herself, are capable, would we only listen to 
 her voice, of checking an infinite number of diseases in 
 their very birth. Old Macklin, that veteran of the 
 London stage, who died in his 99th year, used to say, 
 that, when he found himself ill, during the long course 
 of his life, he always went to bed took nothing but 
 bread and water and that by this regimen he was 
 generally relieved from every slight indisposition. I 
 knew a respectable magistrate of fourscore, who, when 
 indisposed, did nothing else than fast, smoke tobacco, 
 and observe the above rules ; by which means he had 
 never occasion for medicine. 
 
 5th. If one has an opportunity of conversing with a 
 physician, he ought to be consulted, not so much 
 respecting prescriptions, as the state of one's body. 
 Should such an opportunity be wanting, it is much bet- 
 ter to prevent by the negative method an increase of 
 the disease, than to employ any thing positive, which 
 may perhaps do hurt. No medicine, indeed, ought to 
 be considered as a matter of indifference. Purgatives 
 even, if used at an improper time, may be highly pre- 
 judicial. If my readers be desirous of knowing the 
 most harmless, it is a teaspoonful of cream of tartar 
 stirred round in a glass of water; or the following 
 draught, which certainly is one of the most general 
 remedies for feverish disorders : Take half an ounce 
 of cream of tartar, and boil it with six pounds of water, 
 in a new earihen pot, until the powder is wholly dis- 
 solved. After it is taken from the fire, add to it an 
 orange cut into slices, with from an ounce and a half to 
 three ounces of sugar, according to taste, and then put 
 it into bottles for use. This may serve as one's com- 
 mon beverage. 
 
310 MEANS WHICH PROLONG LIFE. 
 
 6th. Be ingenuous with your physician, and give 
 him a true account of your past life, so far as it may 
 relate to the disease ; and forget no unfavorable cir- 
 cumstance, especially when the case is stated in writ- 
 ing. Avoid, in particular, all reasoning on it, which is 
 a common fault, or of giving any representation accord- 
 ing to a preconceived opinion, but relate merely what 
 you have observed in as unprejudiced a manner as 
 possible. 
 
 7th. Make choice of a physician in whom you can 
 place confidence, but none of those who deal in arcana, 
 who are too talkative or inquisitive, who value them- 
 selves above others, or who endeavor to make the con- 
 duct of others appear in a dubious light; for this 
 always betrays ignorance, a bad head, or a bad heart ; 
 in short, none of those who are fond of prescribing 
 strong powerful medicines, or who, according to the 
 common saying, will either cure or kill. 
 
 8th. Avoid in particular a physician whose princi- 
 pal object in his practice is avarice or ambition. A 
 real physician ought to have no objects but the health 
 and preservation of his patients ; any others mislead 
 him from the true path, and may be attended with the 
 most prejudicial consequences to those who employ 
 him. If he happen to be so situated with a case, that 
 either his reputation or his pocket will suffer, if he 
 venture any thing for the relief of his patient, he will 
 certainly rather allow the patient to die than lose his 
 reputation. He will also be interested in the fate of 
 his patients, in proportion to their rank and their 
 riches. 
 
 9th. The best physician is he who is at the same 
 
SELECTION OF A PHYSICIAN. 311 
 
 time a friend. One may be open-hearted with such a 
 man, and place confidence in him. He is acquainted 
 with his patients, and observes them when in a state of 
 health, which is of the utmost importance to enable him 
 to treat them in a proper manner when attacked by 
 disease. In short, he is strongly interested in their 
 condition, and will exert himself with more activity and 
 attention to restore their health, than the physician who 
 acts merely in that capacity. People, therefore, ought 
 to do every thing in their power to unite themselves in 
 the tenderest bonds of friendship with their physician ; 
 and never to dissolve their intimacy by want of confi- 
 dence, peevishness, pride, or any other impropriety of 
 behavior, which is so often shown towards physicians, 
 but always with more injury to the patient. 
 
 10th. Be greatly on your gaurd against any physi- 
 cian who prepares and employs secret medicines ; for 
 he is either an interested man, who values his own 
 advantage far above the lives and health of his patients, 
 or an ignorant impostor ; and no impostor is more 
 destructive than he who deprives you, not only of your 
 money, but also of your health. If a secret be of any 
 value, and useful to mankind, it should be the property 
 of the public, and ought to be made known for the gen- 
 eral benefit ; and he who discloses it is entitled without 
 doubt to immortal honor. Those also who conceal 
 such remedies do injury to thousands ; because people 
 cannot use them properly, not being well enough 
 acquainted with them ; or because they cannot be pro- 
 cured in common, and be employed by a judicious phy- 
 sician. 
 
 llth. Nowhere, in general, ought one to be more 
 
312 MEANS WHICH PROLONG LIFE. 
 
 attentive to morality of character than in the choice of 
 a physician ; for where is it more necessary ? If he to 
 whom you blindly intrust your life, who is subject to 
 no tribunal but that of his conscience, and who, to dis- 
 charge in a complete manner the duty of his calling, 
 must sacrifice all rest and pleasure, nay his own health 
 and life, if this man do not act according to the pure 
 principles of morality, but makes policy, as it is called, 
 his motive, he is a detestable and dangerous character, 
 and ought to be avoided with greater care than the 
 most destructive disease. A physician without morals 
 is not a nonentity he is a monster. 
 
 12th. If people, however, meet with an able and 
 honest physician, they ought to intrust themselves to 
 him with full confidence. This will tend to make the 
 minds of the patients quiet, and be of great service to 
 assist the physician in effecting a cure. Many believe, 
 that the more physicians they collect around them, the 
 more certain they must be of relief ; but this is a gross 
 error. I here speak from experience. One physician 
 is better than two two than three and so on in 
 proportion. In the same ratio as physicians are 
 increased will the probability of cure decrease ; and 
 in my opinion, there is a certain point of medical over- 
 loading, in which a cure is physically impossible. 
 Some cases, indeed, may occur, but very seldom, in 
 which a disorder, by being secret or complex, may 
 require a consultation of several. One, however, 
 ought to call in only those who are known to be 
 judicious men, and who will act in concert ; and to 
 employ such consultations for discovering and defining 
 the disease, and to form a plan of the method to be fol- 
 
SELECTION OF A PHYSICIAN. 313 
 
 lowed in the cure. The application of it should always 
 be permitted to one, and to that practitioner in whom 
 people have the greatest confidence. 
 
 13th. One ought carefully to observe the crises, or 
 helps and means of which Nature seems to be fondest, 
 and which she perhaps may have employed on former 
 occasions, and whether she is accustomed to assist her- 
 self by perspiration, diarrhoea, bleeding at the nose, or 
 otherwise. The same means one must endeavor to 
 promote in every disease of the like kind ; and such 
 information is of great importance to the physician. 
 
 14th. To pay attention to cleanliness is a precept 
 indispensably necessary to be observed in regard to 
 every disease ; for, by means of dirt, any disorder may 
 be converted into one putrid, and far more dangerous. 
 By neglecting this point, therefore, people injure not 
 only their friends and relations, but also the physician, 
 who may thus be deprived of his own health. The 
 patient's linen, on this account, ought to be changed 
 daily, but at the same time with some caution ; the air 
 ought to be renewed in his apartment, and all offensive 
 matters should be speedily conveyed from it. As few 
 people as possible should bfe suffered to continue in it ; 
 and all animals, flowers, remains of food, old clothes, 
 and in short every thing that may produce evaporation, 
 ought to be removed from it. 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Relief in cases where one is exposed to the danger of sudden 
 death. 
 
 THERE are certain causes which, where the health is 
 perfectly sound, and where one has the best capacity for 
 long life, may suddenly interrupt and destroy the vital 
 operation. I here allude to the violent causes of sudden 
 death ; and as to lessen these, or to render them harm- 
 less, is an important part of the art of preserving and 
 prolonging life, I shall lay before my readers what in- 
 formation may be necessary on the subject. 
 
 To this head belong all violent kinds of death, which 
 may be effected either by mechanical injuries, or organic 
 derangement ; and they may all be reduced to three 
 classes. They either render the vital organs unfit for 
 performing their functions ; destroy suddenly the vital 
 power, as lightning, violent passion, and the greater part 
 of poisons ; or they suddenly destroy vital irritability, 
 without the continual agency of which there could be no 
 vital exertion. 
 
 The method of counteracting these is twofold. One 
 can either guard against them or destroy their effect 
 after they have already begun to act. 
 
 I shall first speak of the means by which one can 
 guard against them. It is impossible to keep at a dis- 
 tance all these causes ; for they are so connected with 
 
RELIEF IN CASES OP VIOLENT DEATH. 315 
 
 our life, and in particular with the employment of many, 
 that one must resign life itself in order to avoid them. 
 We can, however, procure to our bodies a great degree 
 of immunity from them, and give it some properties by 
 which it will be put in such a condition as to sustain 
 little or no hurt from them when they approach it. 
 There is, therefore, an objective and a subjective art of 
 guarding against the dangers of death ; and the latter is 
 that in which every one should endeavor to acquire a 
 certain degree of perfection. In my opinion, it is neces- 
 sary for the formation and education of man. The 
 means are exceedingly simple. 
 
 1st. Endeavor to give to the body the utmost possible 
 agility and readiness in all bodily exercises. A suffi- 
 cient cultivation of the corporeal powers, by running, 
 climbing, tumbling, swimming, walking on any narrow 
 ridge, etc. will be a great means of securing one from 
 dangerous accidents ; and were such a part of education 
 more common, fewer people would lose their lives by 
 drowning, falls, and other misfortunes of the like kind. 
 
 2d. The judgment should be formed, and one's 
 knowledge rectified, by the study of natural philosophy, 
 and natural history, in regard to every pernicious pow- 
 er. To this belongs an acquaintance with the nature of 
 poisons ; the properties of lightning, and the means of 
 avoiding it ; the noxious quality and effects of mephitic 
 air, frost, etc. To give sufficient cautions on this sub- 
 ject, it would be necessary for me to write a whole 
 treatise ; and I sincerely wish that some one would 
 undertake such a work, and that it may be introduced 
 into schools. 
 
 3d. Endeavor to render the mind intrepid ; to give it 
 
316 MEANS WHICH PROLONG LIFE. 
 
 strength and philosophical equanimity ; and accustom it 
 to sudden and unexpected events. This will be doubly 
 beneficial. One will thereby guard against the physical 
 injury of sudden and alarming impressions, and will 
 have more presence of mind to pursue the means proper 
 to be used in cases of sudden danger. 
 
 4th. Give to the body a sufficient degree of harden- 
 ing against cold and heat, or any changes of the like 
 kind. Those who possess this property will be able to 
 brave death on many occasions, when others will be 
 obliged to submit to it. 
 
 But, in regard to the danger of death actually existing : 
 What is to be done in cases of drowning, hanging, suffo- 
 cation, poisoning, or being struck with lightning, etc. ? 
 Even here there are means by which persons appar- 
 ently dead have been happily brought again to life ; 
 and this is a part of medicine which every man should 
 understand, for such accidents may occur to every one, 
 and every thing depends on assistance being given 
 speedily. In cases of so much danger, each moment is 
 precious ; and the simplest means employed imme- 
 diately, may effect more than the whole wisdom of an 
 JEsculapius could half an hour later. He who first 
 arrives when an accident has taken place should con- 
 sider it as his duty to apply help instantaneously, and 
 carefully reflect that the life of an unfortunate being 
 may depend on a minute sooner or later. 
 
 The violent kinds of death, in regard to their treat- 
 ment, may be divided into three classes. 
 
 The first class comprehends suffocation by hanging, 
 drowning, or foul air, and death, or the being struck by 
 lightning, with the mode of treatment. The first and 
 
BELIEF IN CASES OF VIOLENT DEATH. 317 
 
 most effectual means in such cases are the follow- 
 ing : 
 
 1st. Be as expeditious as you can to draw the body 
 from the water, or to cut the rope, in a word, to remove 
 the cause of death. This alone is sufficient to save the 
 unfortunate person, if it be done speedily ; but attention 
 to that point is too much neglected. In most places, 
 apparatus is kept for giving relief in such cases ; but 
 people in general are so slow in applying it, that one 
 might believe it intended rather for the funeral cere- 
 mony, than for saving the life of a fellow-creature. I 
 am, therefore, fully convinced, that better machinery 
 for dragging up the bodies of drowned persons would 
 be far more valuable than all the apparatus for restoring 
 suspended animation; and when one sees how unwil- 
 lingly and in how awkward a manner people undertake 
 this business, how averse they are to it, and what pre- 
 judice prevails against it, one will not wonder that so 
 few unfortunate persons should be saved in Germany. 
 I must therefore entreat all governments to endeavor 
 to bring this part of the establishment for restoring life 
 to greater perfection ; and here I include rooting out 
 prejudice,* disputes respecting jurisdiction, the payment 
 of the reward, and the punishment of voluntary delay. 
 
 2d. The body should be immediately stripped, and 
 
 * Of this kind is the shameful dread of the dishonor and dis- 
 grace which attend the touching of such unfortunate people ; tho 
 diabolical superstition of many fishermen, that one must not draw 
 the body of a drowned person from the water before sunset, in 
 order that the fish may not be frightened away ; or that some 
 rivers must have an annual offering ; and other ideas of the like 
 kind, which prevail among the vulgar much more than one might 
 imagine. 
 
318 MEANS WHICH PROLONG LIFE. 
 
 every endeavor should be made, as speedily as possible, 
 to excite in it a general warmth. Heat is the first and 
 most general stimulus of life. The same means which 
 Nature employs to quicken life in the beginning, are 
 also the most powerful to produce life a second time. 
 The best thing for that purpose is the tepid bath ; but 
 if this cannot be had, the patient may be covered with 
 warm sand, ashes, or thick blankets in a bed ; and hot 
 stones should be applied to various parts of the body. 
 Without these means, all others will be of little avail ; 
 and it is much better to warm thoroughly persons ap- 
 parently dead, than to use cupping, friction, or the like, 
 and at the same time to suffer them to become stiff with 
 cold. 
 
 3d. To convey air into the lungs is the next process 
 in point of importance, and may be connected with the 
 excitation of heat. It is, indeed, most beneficial when 
 it is done with oxygen gas by means of a pipe and a 
 pair of bellows. But in urgent cases, and to save pre- 
 cious time, it will be sufficient if one presses on the chest 
 so as to expel the air which it contains, and then, by 
 withdrawing the pressure, allows it to expand by its 
 own elasticity, and thus fill the lungs with air. This 
 should be done with regularity, so as to imitate ordinary 
 breathing. 
 
 4th. Let fall now and then, from a certain height, 
 drops of frigid water or wine on the pit of the stomach. 
 This sometimes has given the first stimulus to restore 
 the motion of the heart. 
 
 5th. Rub with a cloth or flesh-brush the hands and 
 soles of the feet, the belly and the back : irritate the 
 sensible parts of the body, such as the soles of the feet 
 
SUSPENDED ANIMATION. 319 
 
 and hollow of the hands, by friction with stimulating 
 oils ; the nose and throat, by means of a feather, or by 
 holding to the nostrils, and dropping on the tongue, 
 volatile spirit of ammonia, etc. 
 
 6th. Ad soon as signs of life begin to appear, pour a 
 spoonful of good wine into the mouth ; and when the 
 patient swallows it, repeat the same thing often. In 
 cases of necessity brandy may be used, but mixed with 
 two-thirds of water. 
 
 7th. For those who have been struck by lightning, 
 the earth bath is to be recommended. The body may 
 be either laid, with the mouth open, against a spot of 
 earth newly dug up, or fresh earth may be scraped 
 round it up to the neck. 
 
 If these simple means, which every one can anl 
 ought to use in regard to his fellow-citizens, when ex- 
 posed to the danger of sudden death, be speedily em- 
 ployed, they will be of more service than the most com- 
 plete apparatus applied half an hour later ; and at any 
 rate the intermediate time will not be entirely lost, and 
 the feeble vital spark may be prevented from being 
 totally extinguished. 
 
 In the second class is comprehended those who have 
 been frozen. These require a mode of treatment 
 entirely different ; for by warmth they would be des- 
 troyed altogether. Nothing further is to be done than 
 to immerse them in snow up to the head ; or to place 
 them in a bath of the coldest water that can be pro- 
 cured without being frozen. Here life will return of 
 itself; and as soon as any signs of it appear, give the 
 patients a little warm tea with wine, and put them to 
 bed. 
 
320 MEANS WHICH PROLONG LIFE. 
 
 The third class contains those who have been poi- 
 soned. It is here to be observed, that we are in pos- 
 session of two invaluable remedies, proper for any 
 poison, which may be everywhere found, and which 
 require no previous acquaintance with medicine I 
 mean milk and oil. By the help of these only, the most 
 dreadful of all the kinds of poisoning, that by arsenic, 
 has been cured. Both of them answer the principal 
 object, which is to expel the poison, or to destroy its 
 power. Let persons therefore, who have been poi- 
 soned, drink as much milk as they can (if it in part 
 comes up again, so much the better) ; and let them, 
 every quarter of an hour, take a cupful of oil of any 
 sort ; for it is all the same whether it be oil of linseed, 
 almonds, poppies, or common oil. If it be known with 
 certainty that the poison is arsenic, corrosive sublimate, 
 or any other metallic salt, dissolve soap in water, and 
 let the patient swallow it. This will be sufficient till a 
 physician arrive, and will often render his assistance 
 unnecessary. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Old age. Proper treatment of it. 
 
 OLD age, though the natural consequence of living,, 
 and the commencement of death, can itself, on the 
 other hand, be a means for prolonging our existence. 
 It does not, however, increase the power to live, but it 
 retards its being exhausted ; and one may thus affirm, 
 that a man in the last period of life, at the time when 
 his powers are lessened, would, were he not old, finish 
 his career sooner. 
 
 This position, which appears to be somewhat para- 
 doxical, is confirmed by the following explanation : 
 Man, during the period of old age, has a much smaller 
 provision of vital power, and much less capacity for 
 restoration. If he lived with the same activity and 
 vigor as before, this provision would be much sooner 
 exh^isted, and death would soon be the consequence. 
 Now the character of age lessens the natural irritability 
 and sensibility of the body, by which the effects of in- 
 ternal as well as external irritation, and consequently 
 the exertion and wasting of the powers, are also les- 
 sened ; and, on this account, as consumption is less, he 
 can with such a stock of powers hold out much longer. 
 The decrease of the intensity of the vital processes, as 
 age increases, prolongs therefore vital duration. 
 
 Irritability being thus lessened, lessens also the effect 
 21 
 
322 MEANS WHICH PROLONG LIFE. 
 
 of pernicious impressions and morbid causes, such as 
 the passions, overheating, etc.; it preserves likewise 
 much greater quietness and uniformity in the internal 
 economy, and in that manner secures the body from 
 many diseases. It is observed that, for this reason 
 also, old people are much less attacked by infectious 
 disorders than those who are young. 
 
 To this may be added the habit of living, which, 
 without doubt, in the latter period of one's days, con- 
 tributes to the support of life. An animal operation, 
 which one has carried on so long, always in the same 
 order and succession, becomes at last so customary that 
 it continues through habit when the action of other 
 causes ceases. It is often astonishing how the greatest 
 debility of age will hold out, provided every thing 
 remain in its usual order and succession. The spirit- 
 ual man is sometimes actually dead; and yet the 
 vegetative, the man-plant, still continues to live; but 
 for the latter, indeed, much less is necessary. To this 
 habit of life it is owing also that a man, the older he 
 grows, becomes still fonder of existence. 
 
 If old age, therefore, be properly treated and sup- 
 ported, it can be employed, in some measure, . as a 
 means of prolonging life ; but as this requires devia- 
 tions from the general laws, I consider it necessary to 
 give the rules proper to be observed. 
 
 The principal points in this treatment are, that one 
 must always endeavor to lessen and soften the increas- 
 ing dryness and rigidity of the vessels, which at length 
 occasion a complete stoppage- of the whole machine; 
 that nourishment and restoration of what has been lost 
 must be facilitated as much as possible ; that stronger 
 
TREATMENT OF OLD AGE. 323 
 
 irritation must be given to the body, because the natu- 
 ral irritability is so much weakened ; and that one must 
 promote excretion of the corrupted particles, which in 
 old age is so imperfect, and which therefore produces 
 an impurity of the juices, that accelerates death. Upon 
 these are grounded the following rules : 
 
 1st. As the natural heat of the body decreases in old 
 age, one must endeavor to support and increase it ex- 
 ternally as much as possible. Warm clothing, warm 
 apartments and beds, heating nourishment, and, when 
 it can be done, removal to a warmer climate, are all 
 means, therefore, that contribute greatly to the prolon- 
 gation of life. 
 
 2nd. The food must be easy of digestion, rather 
 fluid than solid ; abundant in concentrated nourish- 
 ment ; and at the same time much more stimulating 
 than would be advisable at an earlier period. Warm, 
 strong, and well-seasoned soups, are, therefore, bene- 
 ficial to old age ; and also tender roast meat, nutritive 
 vegetables, good nourishing beer, and, above all, oily 
 generous wine, free from acid, earthy and watery par- 
 ticles, etc., such as Tokay, Spanish, Cyprus, and Cape 
 wines. Wine of this kind is one of the most excellent 
 stimulants of life, and that best suited to old age. It 
 does not inflame, but nourishes and strengthens : it is 
 milk for old people. 
 
 3d. The tepid bath is exceedingly well calculated to 
 increase the natural heat, to promote excretion, partic- 
 ularly of the skin, and to lessen the aridity and stiffness 
 of the whole frame. 
 
 4th. Guard against all violent evacuations, such as 
 letting blood, unless when required by particular cir- 
 
324 MEANS WHICH PROLONG LIFE. 
 
 cumstances; strong purging, exciting perspiration by 
 too much heat, indulging in excesses of any kind. 
 These exhaust the few powers still remaining, and 
 increase aridity. 
 
 People, with increasing years, should accustom them- 
 selves more and more to a certain order in all the vital 
 operations. Eating, drinking, motion, and rest, the 
 evacuations, and employment, must have their deter- 
 mined periods and succession. Such mechanical order 
 and regularity, at this season of life, may contribute 
 greatly to the prolongation of it. 
 
 6th. The body, however, must have exercise, but not 
 violent or exhausting. That which is rather passive 
 will be the best, such as riding in a carriage, and fre- 
 quent friction of the whole skin, for which sweet-scent- 
 ed and strong ointments may be employed with great 
 advantage, in order to lessen the rigidity of the skin, and 
 to preserve it in a state of softness. Violent bodily 
 shocks must in particular be avoided. These, in gene- 
 ral, lay a foundation for the first cause of death. 
 
 7th. A pleasant frame of mind, and agreeable em- 
 ployment for it, are here of uncommon utility ; but vio- 
 lent passions, which might derange it, and which in old 
 age may occasion instant death, ought to be avoided. 
 That serenity and contentment which are excited by 
 domestic felicity, by the pleasant review of a life 
 spent not in vain, and by a consoling prospect of the 
 future even on this side the grave, are the most salu- 
 tary. The frame of mind best fitted and most bene- 
 .ficial to old age, is that produced by intercourse with 
 -children and young people. Their innocent pastime 
 and youthful frolics have something which tend, as it 
 
TREATMENT OF OLD AGE. 325 
 
 were, to renovate and revive. Hope, and extending 
 our views of life, are in particular noble assistants for 
 this purpose. New proposals, new plans and under- 
 takings, which, however, must be attended witn noth- 
 ing dangerous, or that can create uneasiness, in a 
 word the means of continuing life longer in idea, may 
 even contribute something towards the physical pro- 
 longation of it. We find, therefore, that old people are 
 impelled to this as if by internal instinct. They begin 
 to build houses, to lay out gardens, etc. ; and seem, 
 in this little self-deception, by which they imagine they 
 secure life, to find an uncommon degree of pleasure. 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 Cultivation of the mental and bodily powers. 
 
 IT is only by culture that man acquires perfection. 
 If he is desirous of enjoying the preeminence of human 
 nature, his spiritual as well as his physical powers must 
 obtain a certain degree of expansion, refinement, and 
 exaltation. In a rude and uncultivated state he is not a 
 man : he is only a savage animal, who has certain dispo- 
 sitions which fit him for becoming a man ; but as long as 
 these dispositions are not expanded by culture, he is 
 raised, neither physically nor morally, above the other 
 classes of animals in the like situation. The essential 
 part of man which he possesses is his susceptibility of 
 perfection ; and his whole organization is so ordered 
 that he may either become nothing or every thing. 
 
 The influence, therefore, which culture has in bring- 
 ing to perfection the physical man, as well as in pro- 
 longing life, is highly worthy of attention. It is gen- 
 erally believed that all cultivation tends to weaken and 
 to shorten physical existence ; but this is the case only 
 in regard to the extreme, for hyperculture, which makes 
 man too delicate and refined, is as pernicious and un- 
 natural as the other extreme, want of cultivation, when 
 the faculties are not, or have been too little, expanded. 
 33 y both these, the duration of life is shortened. Nei- 
 ther the man, therefore, who by culture has become too 
 
MENTAL AND PHYSICAL CULTIVATION. 327 
 
 tender, or who leads too sensual or too spiritual a life, 
 nor the rude savage, ever attains to that term of life 
 which man is actually capable of reaching. On the 
 other hand, a proper and suitable degree of mental and 
 bodily culture, and, in particular, a harmonic formation 
 of all the powers, is, as has been already shown, abso- 
 lutely requisite, before man can attain to that preemi- 
 nence over animals, in his physical state and vital dura- 
 tion, of which he is really susceptible. 
 
 It is well worth the trouble to examine and explain 
 more accurately the influence which real culture has in 
 prolonging life, and to establish how far it differs from 
 that which is false. In lengthening our existence it acts 
 in the following manner : 
 
 It expands the organs to perfection, and consequently 
 renders life richer as well as fuller of enjoyment ; and 
 occasions more abundant restoration. How many means 
 of restoration, unknown to the savage, has the man who 
 possesses a cultivated mind ! 
 
 It renders the whole texture of the body somewhat 
 softer and tenderer ; consequently lessens that too great 
 hardness which impedes duration of life. 
 
 It secures us against those destructive and life-short- 
 ening causes which deprive many savages of their ex- 
 istence ; such as cold, heat, the influence of the weather, 
 hunger, poisonous and pernicious substances, etc. 
 
 By reason and moral formation, it moderates and 
 regulates the passionate and merely animal part within 
 us ; teaches us to support misfortunes, injuries, and the 
 like ; and, by these means, moderates the too violent 
 and active vital consumption, which would soon destroy 
 us. 
 
328 MEANS WHICH PROLONG LIFE. 
 
 It is the foundation of social and political connections, 
 by which mutual aid laws and police establishments*' 
 become possible ; and these have a mediate effect in 
 prolonging life. 
 
 Lastly, it makes us acquainted with a multitude of 
 convenience and means for rendering life more agree- 
 able ; which are, indeed, less necessary in youth, but 
 which are of the utmost importance in old age. Nour- 
 ishment refined by the art of cookery, exercise made 
 easier by artificial helps, more perfect refreshment and 
 rest, are all advantages by which man in a cultivated 
 state can support life much longer in old age, than man 
 in the rude state of nature. 
 
 From this it already appears what degree and what 
 kind of culture are necessary in order to prolong life 
 those which physically, as well as morally, have for 
 their object the highest possible formation of our powers, 
 but which are always regulated by that supreme moral 
 law, to which every thing, to be good, suited to its end, 
 and really beneficial, must have a relation. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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 and living, and never exaggerated. The most striking feature of his verse is ac- 
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 < Life on the Ocean Wave ' is perfect ; when we read it, we feel the fresh breeze 
 rushing against our cheeks, and the blood starting in our veins, as the ship tri- 
 umphs over the waves." N. Y. TRIBUNE. 
 
8 BOOKS PUBLISHED BY TICKNOR, REED, AND FIELDS. 
 
 HENRY THEODORE TUCKERMAN. 
 
 POEMS. 1 vol. 16mo. 75 cents. 
 "One of the purest writers in America." LONDON LEADER. 
 
 FANNY FORESTER. 
 
 ALDERBROOK. A Collection of Fanny Forester's Village 
 Sketches, Poems, &c. With a fine mezzotinto portrait of the author, en- 
 graved by Sartain. Ninth edition. Enlarged. 2 vols. 12mo. $ 1.75 : gilt, 
 $2.50; extra gilt, $3.00. The same in 1 vol., $1.62: gilt, $2.25: extra 
 gilt, $2.75. 
 
 " This is one of those charming books which well deserve a place in every 
 family library, and which has already won a place in thousands of hearts. The 
 sketches comprised in these beautiful volumes are so full of grace and tenderness, 
 so pure in their style, and so elevated in their tone, that none can read them with- 
 out delight and profit. We hazard little in saying that the touching story of 
 'Grace Linden,' which properly leads the collection, is scarcely surpassed in 
 beauty by any thing in the works of Maria Edgeworth or Mary Russell Mitford. 
 There are a great many other sketches in the volumes that deserve special praise, 
 but we will not deal in particulars when all are so admirable." So. LIT 
 GAZETTE. 
 
 THE SOLITARY OF JUAN FERNANDEZ, or the Real Robin- 
 son Crusoe. By the Author of Picciola. Translated from the French by 
 Anne T. Wilbur. 1 vol. 16mo. 50 cents. 
 
 MEMORY AND HOPE. A beautiful volume, referring to child- 
 hood. 1 vol. 8vo. $2.00. 
 
 LIGHTS AND SHADOWS OF DOMESTIC LIFE, and other 
 Stories. By the authors of " Rose and her Lamb," " Two New Scholars," 
 &c., &c. Contents : Lights and Shadows of Domestic Life; The Secret of 
 Happiness ; Laura Seymour ; The Intimate Friends ; Shadows and Reali- 
 ties - } Sketches of Character, or Who is Free ? 1 vol. 16mo. 62 cents 
 
 CHARLES SUMMER. 
 
 ORATIONS AND SPEECHES. "Another time perhaps shall 
 come, worthier than ours, in which, hatreds being subdued, Truth shall 
 triumph. With me desire this, O reader, and farewell! " LEIBNITZ. 2 
 vols. 16mo. $ 2.50. 
 
 " We have Mr. Sumner's printed discourses before us, and can testify from 
 personal knowledge to their singular merits. They are pregnant with thoughts 
 of profound and universal interest. They are not productions to be laid aside 
 with the occasion that called them forth, but to be preserved for our future in- 
 struction and delight. They derive this quality, in a great measure, from those 
 characteristics of the author's mind his earnestness, the union of moral fear- 
 lessness and intellectual caution in the statement of his opinions, and his rever- 
 ence for original principles in comparison with popular custom or fashionable 
 belief:" NEW YORK TRIBUNE. 
 
FOURTEEN DAY USE 
 
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