Part 64

Authors on Revealed Religion.

Baxter 76 J. Butler 60 Calvin 56 Doddridge 54 J. Knox 67 Luther 63 Melancthon 64 Porteus 77 Sherlock 67 Whitefield 56 Bellarmine 84 Bossuet 77 Chillingworth 43 G. Fox 67 Lowth 77 Massillon 79 Paley 63 Priestley 71 Wesley 88 Wycliffe 61

Authors on Natural Religion.

Annet 55 Cardan 75 Sir W. Drummond 68 N. Freret 61 Lord Herbert 68 St. Pierre 77 Tindal 75 Vannini 34 Bolingbroke 79 Chubb 65 Dupuis 67 Gibbon 58 Spinosa 45 Shaftesbury 42 Toland 53 Volney 66

Medical Authors.

J. Brown 54 Cullen 78 Fordyce 67 Gall 71 Harvey 81 J. Hoffman 83 W. Hunter 66 M. Good 64 Pinel 84 Tissot 70 Corvisart 66 Darwin 72 Fothergill 69 J. Gregory 48 Heberden 92 Hunter 65 Jenner 75 Paracelsus 43 Sydenham 66 T. Willis 54

Philologists.

Bentley 81 Casaubon 55 Hartzheim 70 Heyne 84 Parr 80 Pighius 84 Raphelengius 59 J. J. Scaliger 69 H. Stephens 71 Vossius 73 Burton 64 Cheke 44 J. Harman 77 Lipsius 60 Pauw 61 Porson 50 Salmatius 66 Sigonius 60 Sylburgius 51 Wolfius 64

Artists.

Bandinelle 72 Canova 65 Flaxman 71 Giotto 60 San Sovino 91 A. Caracci 49 David 76 Raphael 37 Salvator Rosa 58 P. Veronese 56 Bernini 82 Donatello 83 Ghiberti 64 M. Angelo 96 Verocchico 56 Claude 82 Guido 67 Reynolds 69 Titian 96 West 82

Musical Composers.

Arne 68 Beethoven 57 Bull 41 Corelli 60 Greby 72 Haydn 77 Kerser 62 Mosart 36 Piccini 71 Scarlatti 78 Bach 66 Burney 88 Cimarosa 41 Gluck 75 Handel 75 Kalkbrenner 51 Martini 78 Paesiello 75 Porpore 78 Weber 40

To this list we may add the following instances of longevity from the late publication of Mr. Farren:

Adling 93 Alcock 91 Bernabel 89 Celdara 90 Canpra 84 Casipini 90 Cervetti 101 Child 90 Creighton 97 Eichole 80 Genimani 96 Gibbons 93 Hasse 90 Hempel 86 Hesse 91 Leveridge 90 Lopez 103 Pittoni 90 Reike 100 Sala 99 Schell 87 Schramm 82 Telleman 86 F. Turner 99 W. Turner 88 Wagennell 98

In regard to the mortality of musicians, we give with much pleasure the following extract from the same work:

"The ages of 468 persons at death, were all that could be obtained from a biography of musicians; of these, 109 born since the year 1740 are excluded, because some of their cotemporaries were yet living at the date of such biography, also 41 more are excluded as having died under 50 years of age. There remain then, the ages at death of 318 persons on which the present observation is made.

"From the ages of 50 years to the end of life, the apparent rate of mortality among musicians, appears very nearly with the lowest known rate, or that which prevails in villages, and it is scarcely probable that such rate should so agree without being the true one. For a musician to belong to the last class of human life, is very credible, when it is considered that eminence can only be attained by close mental devotion to an exalted science, and unremitting application to its practical acquirement, which abstraction would interrupt and intemperance destroy.

"The mean age of musicians, born since 1690, is 67-3/4 years, or two years greater than those born before 1690, from which it might be conveniently concluded, that the moderns were longer lived than the ancients. The case is precisely the reverse, at least for ages above 50, to which alone the materials are applicable. The expectation of life at the age of 60 of the ancients were nearly 15 years, of the modern musicians 13-1/2. The materials (limited as they are) from which these conclusions are drawn, support the doctrine, that the mortality of the moderns is less at middle, but greater at advanced age, than the mortality of the ancients."

Dr. Caspar, of Berlin, in his late very interesting work on the duration of human life, has given the following conclusions:

Medium longevity. Clergymen 65 Merchants 62 Clerks 61 Farmers 61 Military men 59 Lawyers 58 Artists 57 Medical men 56

The results of the other classes, with respect to their united ages, and the average of each, are--

Average. Moral philosophers united ages 1417 70 Sculptors and painters 1412 70 Authors on law and jurisprudence 1394 69 Medical authors united ages 1368 68 Authors on revealed religion 1350 67 Philologists 1323 66 Musical composers 1284 64 Novelists and miscellaneous authors 1257 62-1/2 Dramatists 1249 62 Authors on natural religion 1245 62 Poets 1144 57

This calculation was made most probably in Prussia.

Dr. Caspar's view of longevity are not only highly interesting but, if correct, may lead to many important conclusions. He maintains that--

1. The female sex enjoys, at every period or epoch of life, except at puberty, at which epoch the mortality is greater among young females--a greater longevity than the male sex.

2. Pregnancy and labour occasion, indeed, a considerable loss of life, but this loss disappears or is lost in the general mass.

3. The so-called climacteric periods of life do not seem to have any influence on the longevity of either sex.

4. The medium duration of life at this present time (1835), is in Russia, about 21 years; in Prussia, 29; in Switzerland, 34; in France, 35; in Belgium, 36; and in England, 38 years.