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    930 THE LEADER. [Saturday ,

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    BOOKS ON OUR TABLE. The Poultry Book. ' ...

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    LIFE: ITS DANGERS AND DURATION. The Decl...

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  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

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    Some Signs Of Literary Activity In Franc...

    We conclude this gossip with mention of the fact that Gervinus has published a small brochure on his political convictions—Meine Politische Ueberzungen , which will be interesting to our German readers .

    930 The Leader. [Saturday ,

    930 THE LEADER . [ Saturday

    Books On Our Table. The Poultry Book. ' ...

    BOOKS ON OUR TABLE . The Poultry Book . ' " W . S . Orr and Co . Tliree Original Plays . By John Wynne . .. ' . . T . Bosworfch . India : its History , Climate ,, Productions , and Field Sports . By J . H . Stocqueler . Q- . Routledge . Macphail's Edinburgh Ecclesiastical Journal . Simpkin , Marshall , and Co . The Scottish Educational and Literary Review . James Hogg , An Inquiry into the Evidence to be found in Human Nature of a Future State . By Q . O . Vincent . W . Tweedie . Chapman ' s Library for the People . —The Artist's Married IAfe . Chapman ' s Quarterly Series . —1 . Theism , Sfc . By Theodore Parker . . . Chapman ' s Quarterly Series . —2 . History of the Hebrew Monarchy . By F . W . Newman . John Chapman . The Pantropheon ; or , History of Food . By A . Soyer . Simpkin , Marshall , and Co . The Calcutta Review . Smith , Elder , and Co . The Physiology of Temperance and Total Abstinence . By W . B . Carpenter , M . D . H . G . Bohn , Bohn ' s Antiquarian Library . —Egypt , Ethiopia , and Sinai . H . G . Bohn . Bohn ' s Classical Library . —Aristophanes , Literally Translated . H . G . Bohn . Bohn ' s Standard Library . —Hiss Bremer't Works . By Mary Howitt , H . G . Boha . The Universal Library . Ingram , Cooke , and Co . The Rhine . By Victor Hugo . Ingram , Cooke ^ and Co . Fitz Alwyn , the First Lord Mayor . By Miss E . M . Stewart . Ingram , Cooke , and Co . The Life of Edmund Burke . By Peter Burke , Esq . Ingram , Cooke , and Co . Handbook of Foliage and Foreground . Drawings by G . Barnard . Ingram , Cooke , and Co . The Alain Family . Translated from the French of Alphonse Karr , by K . B . Brough . Ingram , Cooke , and Co . The Three Presidencies of India . By John Capper . Ingram , Cooke , and Co . History of France . By Emile De Bonneehose . Translated by W . Eobson . G . Eoutledge and Co . Elements of Psychological Medicine . By Daniel Noble , F . R . C . S . John Churchill . Homozopathy Fairly Represented : in reply to Dr . Simpson ' s Homoeopathy Misrepresented . By "W . Henderson , M . D . T . Constable and Co . The Bushrangers . By Charles Harpur . W . R . Piddington . Why are you a Christian ? Aylott and Co . The Gentleman's Magazine . J . B . Nichols and Son . Percy Effingham ; or , the Germ of 'the World ' s Esteem . By H . Cockton . 2 vols . G . Eoutledge . Sports and Adventures in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland . By W . H . Maxwell . G . Routled f e . Mark Sutherland ; . or , Power and Principle . By E . D . E . N .. Southworth .. John Cassell . Old Neighbourhoods and New Settlements . By Mrs . Southworth . Clarke , Beeton , and Co . Raymond De Monthault , the Lord Marcher . By Rev . E . W . Morgan . 3 vols . R . Bentley . The Napoleon Dynasty ; or , History of the Bonaparte Family . Clarke , Beeton , and Co .

    Life: Its Dangers And Duration. The Decl...

    LIFE : ITS DANGERS AND DURATION . The Decline of Life in Health and Disease ; being an attempt to investigate the causes of Longevity , and the best means of attaining a healthful old age . 3 Jy Barnard Van Oven , M . D . Churchill . Hufeland' s Art of Prolonging Life . Edited by Erasmus Wilson , F . H . S . Churchill . Healthy Skin : A Popular Treatise on the Shin and Hair , their Preservation and Management . By Erasmus Wilson , F . R . S . Fourth Edition , Churchill . " The man who is his own doctor Las a fool for his physician : " so runs the popular adage ; and certainly , to any one having even the most superficial knowledge of the complexity of his frame , there will appear considerable justice in the adage . Ignorant of horology , no man attempts to " set his watch to rights" when it has ceased to go ; ignorant of mechanics , no man thinks of mending his own steam engine ; but ignorant of physiology and of pharmacy , many men prefer to trust their disordered frames to their own ignorance , rather than to the knowledge , inrperfect though it be , of physicians .

    But although it is obvious in theory , and confirmed in daily practice , that to meddle with our own diseases is an 'absurdity ; yet nothing can be more unquestionable than the wisdom and desirableness of our having some general knowledge of the laws of health , the observance of which may ward oil'disease . We can , in a great measure , keep ourselves healthy ; for that we need no physician . We can learn general principles which will prevent our machinery from accidents . Theso principles are not difficult of acquisition and obedience . And surely , if anything in this life bo of importance , health is eminently so ? No commendation can be too emphatic for good works on such a subject , addressed to the general public : no reprobation too severe for the ignorant and quackish . We have , according to our wont , respected the exigencies of space , and brought together three books on this subject , that we may notify their existence and qualities .

    Dr . Van Oven has earned a title to respectful hoaring by thirty-fivo years of practice in an art , of all others the moat delicate and difficult ; and fitly closes his career by recording its general results , as regards longevity , in a modest and valuable work . We cannot assent to his proposition , that " there is probably no fixed limit to our existence : " a proposition as decisively contradicted by Biology , as by universal Experience . But it is clear that comparatively few attain the limit , few die of old ago , and that the general average of life not onl y i « capable of prolongation ' but has been notably prolonged in modern limes . Lot us , however , note ' the contents of Dr . Van Oven ' s volume .

    The work consists of three parts . 1 st . On the Decline of Life in Health . 2 nd . On Longevity , ' . ivd . On the Decline of Life in Disease ; oi % in other words , on the diseases incident to old age . The first part embraces a rapid , yet luminous , sketch of the progress from Birth to Maturity ,- a description of Maturity and its duration , in which his fundamental proposition is again expressed - . — "I do not h

    and , finally , all tho nignfl and sequences of Decline m Old Age . Tt avjis tersely Haul by tho French physician , that | ' Man eonmieneen in n gclati ' nons , and tenninatcH in an osseous condition : " and J ) r . 'Van Oven Hums up thus : — " Tho k'n'at characteristic of all tho changes which gradually occur from oarly to extreme old ago , [ $ consolidation , a diminiHhod plasticity and mobility of parts , increased ilrmucss of structure , ami diminiHhod hulk : interstitial fat is then cvo . rywhoro absorbed ; tho inuHoleo become stringy and iibroun . and ut tboir torniiniu

    tions ligamentous ; cartilages become bony ; bones lose their internal cancelkvu structure ; those of the cranium their diploe , and become merely solid masse ** whilst the bloodvessels are diminished or obliterated , and hence they becom ' fragile . The coats of the arteries become harder , and lose their tonicit y ; man of the smaller trunks are obliterated , whilst , however , the veins have become larger and more dilateable than they were in early life ; perspiration is nearly at an end , for the skin has become liarsh and dry , wrinkled , and discoloured ; ' and even , as in the vegetable world , plants as they ' grow older become more and more woody , and the sap traverses only the larger vessels , so too in the old man , tho circulation is carried on only by the larger trunks , and hence the whole body

    becomes thinner , firmer , more harsh , more dry , and loses strength and mobility , and the power of repairing injured , or regenerating lost parts . The muscular syst em has become so weak as to he almost useless . The once powerful man , now unable to stand erect , stoops ; the shoulders are raised , and the head falls forward . Itt walking the spine is much curved ; the aid of a strong stick or an able ann is required to keep the body in equilibrium ; the step is tottering and uncertainthe spine is curved even when sitting , and the head hangs forward ; the hands are unable to grasp any object firmly , they tremble in a palsied manner if the attempt be made , and the command over the movements of particular fingers is very uncertain . "

    The second part , devoted to Longevity and its causes , is the most interesting and valuable . Hufeland refers to the fact of so great an age as 150 or 160 years having been attained , and sees no reason why the limit should not be extended to 200 years . But we do not comprehend his reason for stopping there . "Why not say 300 or 400 P Why not , as some have done , believe in the possibility of escaping Death altogether ? As soon as you quit fact and biological laws , there is no reason for assigning a limit . Dr . Van Oven is not so clear on this point as may be wished . He says : — " The tables appended will show above 7000 instances of persons who lived to ages between 100 and 185 years ; and the more that these and other similar collections of examples are examined into , the more will it be found difficult to say to what extent human life may endure . It is unquestionably true that many

    of these instances can only be regarded as exceptions to the general law of mortality , yet they distinctly show that life may extend to a very much longer period than is generaUy the case ; and that if 70 years be at present the usual term of life , and 80 be regarded as an instance of very old age , yet- there is good reason to believe that if the attention of mankind were directed to the subject , the duration of human existence might he greatly prolonged ; and I do not think ifc too much to assert that well made and healthy individuals , the offspring of healthy parents , who have attained maturity in a state of health , and live in such a manner as to avoid disease , ought to regard a high degree of longevity as the ordinary rule of mortality , not as a favourable exception to it . "

    The only way in which we can accept such- a statement is in assuming that , having gradually improved the whole stock of human beings , by breeding only from the healthiest and most long lived , and by entirely changing all the deleterious conditions of climate and civilization , we shall naturally raise the standard of vitality . In this form the proposition is acceptable ; but to bring it into this form , what a thorough disregard of actual conditions !

    In enumerating the causes of longevity , Dr . Van Oven bids us remark , that : —

    " Class of life seems as little to he the cause of advanced age . Most of thonnstances of very long life are to be found amongst the labourer , the pauper , and itinerant beggar ; yet tho lists contain the names of many noble lords and ladies , and of all conditions between the two . Much stress has been laid upon a country life and the free country air ; but I think more than is just . It is true that most of tho instances of great longevity are derived from the country , yet many persons attain a very advanced age in towns . We should regard the habits nnd occupations of the individuals more than their place of residence ; and it is manifest that , generally speaking , they will be simple and more healthful in the country than in cities . The tables contain very many instances of longevity among paupers dying in poor-houses in London .

    " Rejecting then climate , social position , nnd place of residence , we must seek for tho causes of longevity in what concerns the individual , in his original stumina , in tho healthfulness of the parents from whom he sprung , in his habits , avocations , and mode of life ; in his immunity from the attacks of disease s , in equanimity of temper , and freedom from great and frequent excitement . " Ho is thus landed on tho real cause of Longevity — hereditary organization : — " Unless tho physical development of tho infant ho good , it would be absurd to anticipate a vigorous manhood , or a healthful old age . In this respect , unquestionably , ' tho child is father to tho man ; ' but there aro many gradations would

    from a . perfect physical development to that state of imperfection which render tho attainment of an advanced ago impossible . Iteferring again to oar tables , it will bo Been that a tendency to longevity , or , I ought rather to « "V , " capability of attaining old ago , in clearly hereditary . Thus , it is related o Thomas Field , a labourer of Bexford , Herts , who died aged 102 , that hi « fnt » or was aged 104 . years , his brother was 1 ) 5 , lm uncle 9 . ' * , and that scarcely any of li »« family died undor 90 . P . Marion , a Dutch fisherman , died at tho ago of 109 , «« father lived to 107 , and his grandfather to llfi . Tho celebrated Thoina . s Inrr lived to 152 yearn ; his won to 113 ; his ^ rnn drton to 109 ; and his grea t gniml «>» to 124 . Two other grnmlsniifl , by hw danfrlitcrs , lived 127 years each ; and ^ tables will show many other instances , proviii" - that longevity is i » BOin 0 < ttim '

    hereditary . " If tho importance of breeding animals from a healthy stock 1 >« B rnlltt ? V oi ! t mil-prising to observe bow daily in tho world nil regard to tin ' s first J ' ' 1 " , '( M " <() for iiiHuriiiK health , happiness , and longevity m neglected . How dreadful it w ^ observe that in tho selection of wives and husbands this , which should bo tlioj ^ is hut too often tho last , consideration ; that wealth , station , beauty , n <; c 01 " i ) ( . , nientn , aro each in turn sought for and appreciated , without inquiring wll ^ ' , tho needs of gout , consumption , madness , &« ., he also a part of the dowry o ^ bride , or of tho possessions of tho bridegroom . Suroly one would "" W' ?"' (^ ir . whilst thoro is ho much and so laudablo an anxiwty to transmit to otfkp « i ? K , ; . ablo titles and distinctions , and accumulated possessions , ifc would ho also a 1 ^ uonfc dosiro to endow them with bucIi n physical and montal dovolop »» » m

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 24, 1853, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_24091853/page/18/