It is almost axiomatic to say that he lives longest who lives best and accomplishes the most.

"Upon reviewing nearly two thousand well authenticated cases of persons who lived more than a century," says Dr. Evans, "we generally find some peculiarity of diet or habits to account for their longevity; we find some were living in the most abject poverty, begging their bread." Some lived entirely upon fruits and vegetables; some led active lives, others sedentary and retired lives; some worked with their brains, others with their hands.

Some ate but one meal a day, and that principally of grains and fruits, while others ate animal food to some extent. Yet we find one or two prominent causes accounting for the majority of cases of longevity, and these: moderation in the quantity of food and equanimity of temper.

Consider the following cases selected from Dr. Evans:

Thomas Parr, of Shropshire, England, died in 1635, aged 152 years. At the age of 88 he married, appearing to be no more than 40. He lived very abstemiously; but upon being brought to London by the Earl of Arundel to see King Charles II., and being fed rich foods, as well as given costly wines, with the excitement of the city, he soon died. Upon a post mortem examination by Dr. Harvey the body was found to be in a most perfect state. The cartileges were not even ossified, as is the case in most old people, and the only cause to which death could be attributed was a mere plethora brought on by luxurious living in London. He was married a second time at the age of 121, and could perform the work of an ordinary laborer and run in foot races when 145 years old.

Judith Bannister, of Cowes, Isle of Wight, died in 1754, aged 108. She lived the last 60 years of her life upon biscuit, milk and apples.

John Michaelstone, a grandson of Thomas Parr, died in 1763, aged 127 years. He attained this great age through extreme temperance.

Elizabeth Macpherson, living in the county of Caithness, Scotland, died 1765, aged 117. Her chief diet for many years was bread, buttermilk and greens. She retained all of her senses till within three months of her death.

Francis Confit, of Burythorpe, Yorkshire, England, lived to be 150 years old. He was pleasant in disposition, temperate in his living, which, together with occasionally eating a raw egg, enabled him to attain such an extraordinary age.

Philip Loutier, originally from France, died in London at 105. He ate but two meals a day, mostly vegetables, and drank nothing but water.

Joseph Elkins, of Coombe, Berkshire, England, a day laborer, died in 1780, aged 103. He was never ill a day in his life, and for years previous to his death he subsisted entirely upon bread, milk and vegetables.

John Wilson, of Sussex, England, died in 1782, aged 116. For the last 45 years of his life his suppers were made mostly of roasted turnips. He was of temperate and sober habits, rising early in the morning.

R. Bouman, of Irthrington, near Carlisle, England, lived to see 118 years. He never used tea or coffee; his principle diet was bread, potatoes, hasty pudding, broth and, occasionally, a little flesh meat; his drink was equal parts of milk and water.

Ephraim Pratt, born in Sudbury, Mass., died in 1803, aged 116. The Rev. Dr. Dwight stated at the funeral that throughout his life he had been very temperate, both in diet and habits. He took very little animal food, milk being his common article of diet.

Henry Jenkins, of Ellerton, Yorkshire, England, lived to the age of 169. The registers of the Chan eery and other Courts prove that he gave evidence and had an oath administered to him 140 years before his death. Sir Tancred Robinson, who knew him well, states that "in the last century of his life he was a fisherman." When 90 years of age a child was born to him, and when 160 he walked to London to have an audience with Charles II. His diet was coarse and plain, and he made it a point to rise before the sun each morning.

John Weeks, of New London, Conn., died at the age of 114. When he was 106 he married a girl of 16, at which time his gray hairs had fallen off and were renewed by "a dark head of hair," and several new teeth also made their appearance. He was a hard toiler, regular in his habits, and lived largely upon Indian corn bread and baked beans.

Plutarch states that the ancient Britons "only began to grow old at 120 years." And Boadicea, Queen of the ancient Britons, "in a speech to her army, when about to engage the degenerate Romans, said: 'The great advantage we have over them is, that they cannot, like us, bear hunger, thirst, heat or cold; they must have fine bread, wines and warm houses; to us every herb and root are food, every juice is an oil, and every stream of water our wine.' Their arms, legs and thighs were naked, and their food consisted almost exclusively of acorns, berries and wild fruits."

It will be observed that in all these cases of great longevity that we have mentioned, the individuals lived orderly and abstemiously, rigidly avoiding late hours, excitements, tobacco and alcoholic stimulants. That some few people have lived a century who used stimulants is admitted; but they lived the century in spite of them rather than because of them.

The admirers of or toilers in certain crafts, trades and professions have contended that this or that calling was the most conducive to health and long life. That there is something in the occupation is not to be denied; but more in the atmosphere breathed, the foods eaten and the amount and kind of exercise. There is no healthier occupation than outdoor farm life. Nearly all men who lived to a very old age were fond of communing with nature. Some were practical botanists and mineralogists. Gardeners are generally very long-lived. Hippocrates and Hahnemann, celebrated physicians, lived to a very great age. Popes and especially poets die young. This was the case with the English poets, Keats, Shelley and Byron, and even Shakespeare lived but 52 years; and yet if quality is of more account than quantity they lived to be aged.

The distinguished mathematician, Sylvester, has claimed that men of his own craft were famous for longevity, and cited in proof, Leibnitz, who lived to be 70; Eurler, 76; Lagrange, 77; Laplace, 78; Plato, 82; Newton, 85; Archimides, 75; Pythagoras, 90; but Laplace, Leibnitz, Plato and Pythagoras were more than mere mathematicians, they were philosophers.