Rectification of Cerebral Science.—In the October number the rectification of cerebral science as to psychic functions will be shown by appropriate engravings, showing how far the discoveries and doctrines of Gall and Spurzheim are sustained by positive science. In the further development of the subject, hereafter, the true value and proper position of the discoveries of Ferrier, and the continental vivisectionists will be explained, though but meagre contributions to psychology, they furnish very valuable additional information as to the functions of the brain.

Human Longevity.

Is not longevity in some sense a measure of true civilization or improvement of the race? It is certainly an evidence of conformity to the Divine laws of life and health, which reward right action with happiness, health, and long life. I cannot, therefore, think the study of longevity unimportant. To every one of us it is a vital question, for death is regarded as the greatest calamity, and is the severest penalty of angry enemies, or of outraged laws.

It is our duty as well as privilege to perfect our constitution, and see that it does not wear out too soon, that we are not prematurely called away from our duties. And I bring it as serious charge against modern systems of education, that they tend to degenerate mankind, to impair the constitution and to shorten life. That we should not submit to this, but should all aspire to live a century or longer, if we have a fair opportunity, I seriously maintain, and that my readers may be inspired with a like determination, I take pleasure in quoting examples.

In Dr. Cohausen’s Hermippus Redivivus republished in 1744, I find the following statements: “It is very remarkable, that not only the sacred writers, but all the ancient Chaldean, Egyptian, and Chinese authors speak of the great ages of such as lived in early times, and this with such confidence that Xenophon, Pliny, and other judicious persons receive their testimony without scruple. But to come down to later times, Attila, King of the Huns, who reigned in the fifth century, lived to 124, and then died of excess, the first night of his second nuptials with one of the most beautiful princesses of that age. Piastus, King of Poland, who from the rank of a peasant was raised to that of a prince, in the year 824, lived to be 120, and governed his subjects with such ability to the very last, that his name is still in the highest veneration amongst his countrymen. Marcus Valerius Corvinus, a Roman Consul, was celebrated as a true patriot and a most excellent person in private life, by the elder Cato, and yet Corvinus was then upwards of a hundred. Hippocrates, the best of physicians lived to an 104, but Asclepiades, a Persian physician, reached 150. Galen lived in undisturbed health to 104; Sophocles, the tragic poet, lived to 130; Democritus, the philosopher, lived to 104; and Euphranor taught his scholars at upward of 100; and yet what are these to Epiminedes of Crete, who, according to Theopompus, an unblemished historian, lived to upwards of 157. I mention these, because, if there be any truth or security in history, we may rely as firmly on the facts recorded of them as on any facts whatever. Pliny gives an account that in the city of Parma, there were two of 130 years of age, three of 120, at a certain taxation, or rather visitation, and in many cities of Italy, people much older, particularly at Ariminium, one Marcus Apponius, who was 150. Vincent Coquelin, a clergyman, died at Paris in 1664, at 112. Lawrence Hutland, lived in the Orkneys to 170. James Sands, an Englishman, towards the latter end of the last century, died at 140, and his wife at 120. In Sweden, it is a common thing to meet with people above 100, and Rudbekius affirms from bills of mortality signed by his brother, who was a bishop, that in the small extent of twelve parishes, there died in the space of thirty-seven years, 232 men, between 100 and 140 years of age, which is the more credible, since in the diet assembled by the late Queen of Sweden, in 1713, the oldest and best speaker among the deputies from the order of Peasants was considerably above 100. These accounts, however, are far short of what might be produced from Africa and North America, that I confine myself to such accounts as are truly authentic.” All of these instances the doctor sustains by reference to his authorities.

To the foregoing he adds the examples of teachers and persons who associate with the young, to which he ascribes great value in promoting longevity. Thus, “Gorgias, the master of Isocrates, and many other eminent persons, lived to be 108. His scholar, Isocrates, in the 94th year of his age published a book, and survived the publication four years, in all which time he betrayed not the least failure, either in memory or in judgment; he died with the reputation of being the most eloquent man in Greece. Xenophilus, an eminent Pythagorean philosopher, taught a numerous train of students till he arrived at the age of 105, and even then enjoyed a very perfect health, and left this world before his abilities left him. Platerus tells us that his grandfather, who exercised the office of a preceptor to some young nobleman, married a woman of thirty when he was in the 100th year of his age. His son by this marriage did not stay like his father, but took him a wife when he was twenty; the old man was in full health and spirits at the wedding, and lived six years afterward. Francis Secordo Horigi, usually distinguished by the name of Huppazoli, was consul for the State of Venice in the island of Scio, where he died in the beginning of 1702, when he was very near 115. He married in Scio when he was young, and being much addicted to the fair sex, he had in all five wives, and fifteen or twenty concubines, all