WHO SHALL INHERIT LONG LIFE? ✓ By DR. ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL Reprinted from the NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE, June, 1919 Copyright, 1919, by the National Geographic Society WASHINGTON, D. C. PRESS OF JUDD & DETWEILER, INC. 1919 . ■ -a *A‘, X: - % % V WHO SHALL INHERIT LONG LIFE? On the Existence of a Natural Process at Work Among Human Beings Tending to Improve the Vigor and Vitality of Succeeding Generations By Dr. Alexander Graham Bell Author, in the National Geographic Magazine, oe “Prizes for the Inventor,” “Discovery and Invention,” “Our Heterogeneous System of Weights and Measures,” “Aerial Locomo- tion,” and “A Few Thoughts Concerning Eugenics” M OST people die before reaching middle life, and comparatively few live to be old. This has always been so from the very earliest times ; and, in spite of modern sanitation and the advance of medical sci- ence, remains true today. Only a small proportion of each generation survives the traditional Biblical age of threescore years and ten. Under these circumstances is it not re- markable that so many people should have parents who lived to be old? Seventy is by no means an unusual age for a parent. Examine the history of the people you know and you will find that very few of them had parents who died before sev- enty, while a considerable proportion had parents who lived to be eighty or even much older. An examination of several hundred cases, noted in the Genealogy of the Hyde family 1 , shows that 18.7 per cent of these persons lived to be seventy or older ; but 81.7 per cent had fathers or mothers who lived beyond seventy. About 13 per cent lived to seventy-five ; but 65 per cent, or nearly two-thirds of the whole, had fathers or mothers who lived beyond sev- enty-five. The contrast is still more marked when we consider persons who lived to extreme old age. Only 8.7 per cent lived to be eighty or older; and yet 48.1 per cent, nearly one-half of the whole, had fathers or mothers who lived to be eighty or older. 1 Genealogy of the Hyde Family, by Reuben H. Walworth, LL. D., 1864; a work relating to the descendants of William Hyde, one of the early settlers of Norwich, Conn., who died in 1681. These are the results of an investiga- tion of 1,594 cases in which the ages at death of the persons and of their fathers and mothers were all known. 2 Such results seem to point to the gen- eral conclusion that a very large propor- tion of each generation has sprung from a very small proportion of the preceding generation, namely , from the people who lived to be old. Another inference is that the long-lived people left more descendants behind them in proportion to their numbers than the others, and therefore, on the average, had larger families. Of course, many widowers may have married again when they were well ad- vanced in years and have had families by each marriage, but this explanation does not apply to women. mothers’ ages an index to the size of THEIR FAMILIES We cannot, for example, suppose that mothers who died at fifty would have had more children had they lived to be sixty or eighty or a hundred ; and yet investi- gation shows that the mothers who lived to extreme old age actually had, on the average, larger families than those who died earlier in life. From the Hyde statistics we find that mothers who died before forty had, on the average, only 3.4 children apiece ; and this is intelligible because many of the mothers passed away long before the con- clusion of the reproductive period, and 2 See “The Duration of Life and Conditions Associated with Longevity, A Study of the Hyde Genealogy,” by Alexander Graham Bell ; published by the Genealogical Record Office, 1601 35th Street, Washington, D. C. $1.00. 505 A NEW YORK STATE FAMILY OE SIXTEEN It is the pride of Horseheads, N. Y., that Mr. and Mrs. Oliver D. Eisenhart have fourteen children ranging from one to twenty-four years of age. Thirteen are shown in the picture, which was taken before the eldest son went to France, more than two years ago, as a member of the American Ambulance Corps. Photograph by Gilbert Grosvenor NINE SONS HAVE BEEN CONTRIBUTED TO THE WORLD’S POPULATION BY MR. AND MRS. MORRISON, OE ST. ANN’S, CAPE BRETON, NOVA SCOTIA “The persons whose parents both died before sixty lived, on the average, 32.8 years (the Hyde Genealogy). Those whose parents both lived beyond eighty averaged 52.7 years; and where the parents died at the intermediate age periods the duration of life was intermediate.” 506 Photograph by Corey, supplied by Louise Lacey, Secretary of the Genealogical Record Office ELISHA CLARK PECKHAM, AGED 92, MIDDLETOWN, R. I., WITH MRS. PECKHAM AND THEIR ELEVEN CHILDREN. ONE CHILD DIED AT THE AGE OE TEN YEARS The children of long-lived parents are, on the average, stronger, more vigorous, and longer- lived than the children of others, and there are more of them per family. TLIE CENTENARIAN CLUB OE LOS ANGELES, CALIEORNIA, WHOSE MOTTO IS, “LIVE A HUNDRED YEARS AND GROW OLD GRACEEULLy” Left to right, standing: Dr. J. M. Morrison, Vice-President, 97; Rev. H. Judd, 91; Rev. N. A. Millerd, 90; A. A. Annas, 96; Dr. H. L. Canfield, 90; C. R. Post, 92; J. H. F. Jarchow, Senator C. C. Cole, 94. Left to right, sitting : Dr. A. M. Sherman, 92 ; Dr. J. M. Peebles, S. Selleck, 94; Dr. E. C. Prugh, 95; Mrs. M. K. Bartlett, 92; Mrs. J. F. Howard, 92; Mrs. Offenbach, 90; Mrs. Stevens, 94; Rev. S. H. Taft, President, 92. Mrs. Taft in rear. 507 XI a ^ W to « Ji o 8 CO cl xi ^ 3 rt 5j X M ^ ^ '— P si — D “Jo Jg-s rt b X 4 - 1 i •- i^jc o o x Q, cu u w W w *0 . 4/ £ ='7(«i: o u £ "^ . 2 u £ ~ ► ^”5 o Ji* •“ jy-tb^ £ of sx o k te > o (8 XJ i cu-- o' W ^ "if- 5 XP O J** s§ _ o ~ > *> Sf* mh c >P=3h a+J rt -~ to— ^ 2 ^ c - as| g-aS - 0 xt •§'•5 " JS s_ O - to *" *3 C/3 c '3 <3 — to fcfl c P CJ wr; c >» c G •oiS « " rt c M-i M-i • 5 M ° $P LO -M | X & = J o co (5 ' M " b tnX c * S •§■&* I— > ns a bbffi -3 c g b 3 p o - ^ c rt 3 f* C rt >,„ £§§ «o 2 o ^ Pug X-Ss nS -P *3 *3 CO a b 3 rt «J nJ M-h > O 508 WHO SHALL INHERIT LONG LIFE? 509 might have had more children had they lived longer. Mothers who died between forty and sixtv had 6.2 children ap: e, and we would naturally expect that no further increase in the size of the family would be found in the case of mothers who died at later ages. But, as a matter of fact, the mothers who died between sixty and eighty averaged 6.6 children apiece, and the mothers who lived beyond eighty had average families of 7.2 children. 1 When we remember that in all these cases the children were born before the mothers had passed middle life, it becomes obvious that the mothers who reached old age were inherently more fer- tile than the others. There is thus some correlation between longevity and fecun- dity. The parents who lived the longest had the most children, on the average. But how about the children ? Did they, too, live longer than the others? Yes, upon the average, they did. The average duration of life of the B594 persons referred to above was 40.6 years. Their fathers, on the average, lived 70.9 years, and their mothers 66.0 years. Thus the fathers and mothers, on the average, lived longer than their chil- dren. This is always found to be the case 1 See “The Duration of Life,” etc., by Alex- ander Graham Bell. Table 17, relating to 671 fertile marriages of females resulting in the production of 4,022 children, or 6.0 children per marriage. Photograph by Charles Martin the: oldest human being oe whose birth we have AUTHENTIC RECORD Mrs. Ann Pouder, of Baltimore, Md., photographed on her noth birthday, in the summer of 1917. She died a few months later. when we deal with large numbers and the reason is very obvious ; for, of course, no fathers or mothers died in infancy or childhood, whereas many of the children died young. longevity is an inheritable CHARACTERISTIC Investigation shows that a larger pro- portion of the children of long-lived par- ents lived to be old and a smaller propor- tion died young than in the case of the others. The Hyde statistics afford conclusive 510 THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE evidence that a tendency to longevity is an inheritable characteristic. For ex- ample, divide the 1,594 cases into three groups : 1. Those whose parents, neither of them, lived to be eighty. 2. Those having one parent who lived to be eighty or older, and 3. Those having parents both of whom lived to be eighty or older. Now note the proportion of long-lived persons in each group. Only about 5 per cent of the persons in group one lived to be eighty; about to per cent of the per- sons in group two, and 20 per cent in group three (exact percentages 5.3, 9.8. and 20.6). Few of the persons who did not have long-lived parents behind them lived to be old. The long-lived propor- tion was practically doubled where one parent lived to be old and quadrupled where both parents lived to be old. The evidence indicates that heredity is deeply involved in the production of longevity. If we divide the 1,594 cases into groups arranged according to the ages reached by the parents, and then calculate the average duration of life of all the persons in each group, not simply the proportion who lived to be old, we find that the per- sons constituting the longest-lived group were the offspring of the longest-lived parents, the members of the shortest- lived group came from the shortest-lived parents, with intermediates intermediate. age periods the duration of life was inter- mediate. The figures indicate very clearly that there is a correlation between the dura- tion of life of the individual and the duration of life of his parents; and, con- versely, we may conclude that the longest- lived parents, on the average, had the longest-lived children ; the shortest-lived parents the shortest-lived children ; with intermediates intermediate. We have only to glance around us at the different forms of ani^nal life to find plentiful indications that the duration of life is influenced, and indeed controlled, by heredity. Each species has its own limit of life, and man is no exception. The contrasts are often very great: For example, a horse born the same day as a child. ( dies of old age before the child has reached full maturity. Just think of the differences. The horse may become a parent when the child is only a toddling three-year-old, a grandparent by the time the child is six, and several generations of horses may appear before the child has even reached marriageable age. The duration of life of each species is controlled and limited by heredity, and heredity even establishes different limits for groups of animals within the same species. The long-lived tend to produce long-lived offspring, the short-lived, short- lived offspring, etc. A million people may be born on the Number of Cases Mother’s age at death -60 60-80 80+ 131 206 184 251 328 172 128 120 74 Average Duration of Life Mother’s age at death - 60 60-80 80 + 42.3 45.5 ! 52.7 I 35.8 38.0 45.0 32.8 33.4 36.3 ! The persons whose parents both died before sixty lived, on the average, 32.8 years. Those whose parents both lived beyond eighty averaged 52.7 years ; and where the parents died at the intermediate same day, and we know that multitudes of them will die during the very first year of life. So great is the mortality during infancy and childhood that we may be perfectly certain that the majority of the WHO SHALL INHERIT LONG LIFE? 511 Photograph by W. T. Oxley, from the Collections of the Genealogical Record Office five: GENERATIONS OF WOMEN IN a MINNESOTA HOUSEHOLD Mrs. Karl Melden was 89; her daughter, Mrs. Anne Kastell, 61 ; granddaughter, Mrs. Han- nah Gustafson, 41 ; great-granddaughter, Mrs. Ann Bergernt, 21 ; and great-great-grand- daughter, Mary Valdine, aged 7 months, when this photograph was taken. Note the remark- able inheritance in similarity of the eyes, even in the baby. people will have passed away long before the lapse of fifty years. The extreme limit of human life probably does not ex- tend very far beyond the hundred-year mark, and only very few live to be even eighty or ninety. The few who live to extreme old age are people who have proved themselves to be immune, or at least resistant, to the diseases that have carried off the vast majority of their fellows. They have been exposed to all the diseases and acci- dents of life and have not succumbed. 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