A complete list of infallible prescriptions for the prolongation
of human life would fill a voluminous book, and would include
some decidedly curious specifics. “To what do you ascribe your
hale old age?” the Emperor Augustus asked a centenarian whom
he found wrestling in the palestra and bandying jokes with the
young athletes. “_Intus mulso, foris oleo_,” said the old
fellow. “Oil for the skin and mead (water and honey) for the
inner man.” Cardanus suggests that old age might be indefinitely
postponed by a semifluid diet warmed (like mother’s milk) to
the exact temperature of the human system; and Voltaire accuses
his rival Maupertuis of having hoped to attain a similar
result by varnishing his hide with a sort of resinous paint
(_un poix resineux_) that would prevent the vital strength
from evaporating by exhalation. Robert Burton recommends “oil
of unaphar and dormouse fat”; Paracelsus rectified spirits
of alcohol; Horace, olives and marshmallows. Dr. Zimmerman,
the medical adviser of Frederick the Great, sums up the “Art
of Longevity” in the following words: “Temperate habits,
outdoor exercise, and steady industry, sweetened by occasional
festivals.”(Text.)--FELIX OSWALD, _Bedford’s
Magazine_.
(1881)