Climates that are moderately cold are more favourable to long life. This
observation equally applies to the vegetable kingdom; and trees that have
scarcely attained their full growth in northern regions are drooping in
the south. There also we find beasts and birds resisting the inclemency of
the weather by the thickness of their coats and plumage, or a layer of
grease; while many animals burrow in the earth to seek a state of torpor
and insensibility, until restored to active life by a more genial
temperature. Dryness of soil is another source of health and life; and the
hardy mountaineer's existence is seldom abridged by the diseases that
visit the inhabitants of damp and swampy regions. Steril plains are more
salubrious than regions covered with a rank and exuberant vegetation, or
highly cultivated grounds, from many obvious reasons. The humid earth is
not turned up, and decayed vegetable substances are not acted upon in a
deleterious manner by the solar heat. When we consider the various causes
of disease that must abound in crowded and corrupt cities, we might
imagine that mortality would be much greater than in the country; yet
observation has not proved this difference to be as material as one might
expect, at least as regards disease, the sad effects of poverty and
starvation not being taken into account. Various reasons may be assigned
for this apparent anomaly. In cities a more regular state of excitement
prevails, and man's constant occupations scarcely give him time to attend
to slight ailments, that, under other circumstances, might be aggravated.
Moreover, intermittent fevers and visceral affections are more frequent in
the country; and cottagers are exposed to more constant damp and severer
revolutions in the atmospheric constitution than citizens. The mortality
amongst men is greater in cities than in women; the latter do not enjoy so
long a life in the country. March and April have been found the most fatal
months. They are periods of atmospheric transition from cold to a higher
temperature, and must therefore prove trying to the weak and the aged. The
end of autumn is also deemed a sickly period; and the equinoxes have ever
been considered critical, the solstices much less injurious. In Great
Britain and the north-westerly regions of Europe, northerly and easterly
winds are more prevalent in March, April, and May, owing, it is supposed,
to the currents established to replace the warmer air, as it rises from
the surface of the Atlantic and more southerly countries. These winds are
generally dry and cold, followed by fogs, and give rise to catarrhs,
bronchial and pulmonary affections. It is calculated that in our climes
pulmonary affections carry off one-fifth of the population, or 191 in
1000.
In regard to the variety of races, it has been observed that those people
who sooner attain pubescence are the shortest-lived. Precocious excitement
must bring on premature old age. Negroes seldom attain an advanced period
of life; and the progress of years is more rapidly descried in their
features and their form than in Europeans who have migrated to their
clime. The negroes of Congo, Mozambique, and Zanguebar, seldom reach their
fiftieth year. In northern latitudes longevity is more frequent: this is
observed in Sweden, Russia, Poland, Norway. Some writers have looked upon
the established religion of a country as influencing the duration of life;
and Toaldo asserted that Christians are shorter-lived than Jews. To this
observation it may be remarked, that Jews are in general a very sober,
industrious, and active race, circumstances that must materially tend to
prolong their days. Moreover, by their legislation they are very careful
in the choice of the meat they consume. In Catholic countries fasting may
be taken into calculation, not from the effects of abstemiousness, which
would be more favourable to health than injurious, but the sudden return
to feasting and gormandizing, by way of revenge, when the fast is over.
Shrove Tuesday and Easter Sunday are noted in red letters in the
gastronomic almanac; and the suppers that follow the midnight masses of
Christmas generally require the apothecary's aid on the following
morning.[46]
In regard to conformation, very tall and spare subjects are seldom
long-lived; and the same observation applies to the stunted and
diminutive. A well-set body, with a broad and deep chest, a neck not
over-long, with well-formed and firm muscles, generally hold forth a fair
prospect of old age.
Children born before the regular period of gestation, those who have been
weaned too early, or given to nurses whose milk was not of a proper
quality, are seldom strong. Too rapid a growth will also shorten the space
of existence.
Our avocations and pursuits materially affect health and the consequent
duration of life; and the nature of the excitement man is submitted to
produces a remarkable effect. It has been calculated in France that one
hundred and fifty-two academicians, whose aggregate years were ten
thousand five hundred and eleven, averaged sixty-nine years and two
months. The following calculation of Madden will further illustrate this
curious subject.