It is always difficult to determine the natural duration of life, or the
death-rate for any locality or any class of people, since the range of
circumstances that affect the health of men and animals is so vast, that
it requires great research, powers of analysis and comparison; so
extensive a knowledge of the phenomena and the laws of life, that few men
have the courage to attack, or the ability to comprehend and solve the
complex problem.
In our estimations we must consider what is due to the agencies of the
natural world, such as geology, meteorology, and the like, as well as to
age, constitution, temperament, anterior professions, and morbid
predispositions, also the exaltation and demoralization of moral action.
"We see," says Buffon, "that man perishes at all ages, while animals
appear to pass through the period of life with firm and steady pace." The
great naturalist shows how the passions, with their attendant evils,
exercise great influence upon the health, and derange the principles
which sustain us; how often men lead a nervous and contentious life, and
that most of them die of disappointment. Buffon is right, and the English
statistics show us that the duration of life is generally in proportion to
its happiness and regularity, and that miserable lives are soon
extinguished.
Hope sometimes forsakes the stoutest hearts, and with hope disappears the
mainspring of earthly life.