of them young, beautiful women, by whom he had forty-nine sons and daughters, whom he educated with the utmost tenderness, and was constantly with them, as much as his business would permit. He was never sick. His sight, hearing, memory, and activity were amazing. He walked every day about eight miles; his hair, which was long and graceful, became white by the time that he was four-score, but turned black at 100, as did his eyebrows and beard at 112. At 110 he lost all his teeth, but the year before he died he cut two large ones with great pain. His food was generally a few spoonfuls of broth, after which he ate some little thing roasted; his breakfast and supper, bread and fruit; his constant drink, distilled water, without any addition of wine or other strong liquor to the very last. He was a man of strict honor, of great abilities, of a free, pleasant, and sprightly temper, as we are told by many travellers, who were all struck with the good sense and good humor of this polite old man.”

“In the same country (as Thomas Parr) lived the famous Countess of Desmond. From deeds, settlements, and other indisputable testimonies it appeared clearly that she was upwards of 140, according to the computation of the great Lord Bacon, who knew her personally, and remarks this particularity about her, that she thrice changed her teeth.”

The stern scepticism of the medical profession and especially among its leaders has borne so heavily against all cheerful views of life and longevity, that at the risk of becoming monotonous I again refer to this subject and present examples of longevity which cannot be denied, in addition to the list previously given. Medical collegiate scepticism can deny anything. Ultra sceptics deny centenarian life, as they also denied the existence of hydrophobia, while those who admitted its existence denied its curability.

Connecticut alone furnishes a good supply of centenarians. Three years ago Mr. Frederick Nash, of Westport, Conn, published a pamphlet giving the old people living in Connecticut, including twenty-three centenarians, whom he described. The names of twelve of these were as follows:

• Edmund R. Kidder, of Berlin, Aug. 17, 1784.
• Jeremiah Austin, Coventry, Feb. 10, 1783.
• Mrs. Lucy Luther, Hadlyme, Jan. 6, 1784.
• Walter Pease, Enfield, March 29, 1784.
• Egbert Cowles, Farmington, April 4, 1785.
• Mrs. Eunice Hollister, Glastonbury, Aug. 9, 1784.
• Mrs. Elsie Chittenden, Guilford, April 24, 1784.
• Miss Eunice Saxton, Colchester, Sept. 6, 1784.
• Marvin Smith, Montville, Nov. 18, 1784.
• Mrs. Phebe Briggs, Sherman, Nov. 16, 1784.
• Mrs. Elizabeth Buck, Wethersfield, Jan. 10, 1784.
• Mrs. Clarissa D. Raymond, Milton, April 22, 1782.

The others are either of foreign birth or former slaves, whose precise ages cannot be established.

In addition to this list the newspapers gave us Mrs. Abigail Ford of Washington, born in 1780, Mr. Darby Green of Reading, born in 1779, Tryphena Jackson, colored, born in 1782, and Wm. Hamilton, Irish, also in 1782; and an old sailor in New Haven town house claims to have been born in 1778.

The very careful investigation of Connecticut by Mr. Nash shows that “the duration of human life in this State is greater than it was a generation ago. Then only one person in 500 lived to see 80 years. Now one per cent of the population live to that age. The average age of 6,223 persons is 83 years. The number of ages ranging from 84 to 89 years is large, and those who are 90 and over number 651; nine are 99, thirteen are 98, and eleven are 97. No age of less than 80 years has been recorded.

“It may be pleasing to our grandmothers to know that in this list of more than 6,000, more than 4,000 are women, and that only eight of the twenty centenarians are men. The list adds strength to what has already been held as true, that married people always live longer than single, and it also shows that two spinsters have begun their second century. They are accompanied on the list by two sturdy bachelors.”

In a sketch of centenarians published in November, 1884, are given the names of Nathaniel H. Cole of Greenwich, R. I., born in 1783, Royal C. Jameson, Papakating, N. J., born in 1784, Wm. Jovel of New Jersey, and Luther Catlin of Bridgewater, Pa., born in 1784. The last three took an active part in the last presidential election.

In Maine were reported Mrs. Sally Powers, Augusta, believed to be born in 1778, Mrs. Thankful Donnel of West Bath, 101, Mrs. Betsy Moody, 102, Mrs. Philip Pervear of Sedgwick, 105, Jotham Johnson of Durham, 100, Mrs. Small of Bowdoinham, 100. If alive to-day, they are three years older.

In Vermont, from 1881 to 1884, sixteen centenarians died; and in the last census of the United States there were 322.

In looking over my records I find so many other examples of centenarian life that I shall not weary the reader by their repetition, but examples running for over a century may be worth mentioning. Madame Lacene, one of the most brilliant women of France, died a few years ago at Lyons in her 104th year. Her will was under contest on account of her extreme age, but the court was fully satisfied of her intellectual competence. In the olden time she had often entertained Mme. de Stael, Mme. Recamier, and Benj. Constant.

The oldest person in France, perhaps in the world, is said to be a woman who lives in the village of Auberive, in Royans. She was born March 16, 1761, and is therefore 125 years old. The authentic record of her birth is to be found in the parish register of St. Just de Claix, in the department of the Isere.—Scientific American.

“Among the professors at German universities there were no fewer than 157 between the ages of seventy and ninety, of whom 122 still deliver lectures, seven of these being between eighty-five and eighty-nine years of age. The oldest, Von Ranke, was in active service in his 90th year. Elennich, of Breslau, only thirty-nine days younger, still shows energy in anything he puts his hands to.”

Mrs. Henry Alphonse of Concord, Mo., over 105, retained her memory and eyesight without glasses till after 104. Mr. Charles Crowley died at Suncook, N. H. over 104. Frank Bogkin, a colored man of Montgomery, Ala., was believed to be 115 at his death recently. When he was about 60 years old, he earned money and purchased his freedom. Tony Morgan, a blind negro, was recently living at Mobile, 105 years old. Pompey Graham of Montgomery, N. Y., lately died at 119, and retained his faculties. Phebe Jenkins of Beaufort County, South Carolina, was believed to be 120 years old when she died about a year ago. Mrs. Louisa Elgin of Seymour, Indiana, whose mother lived to be 115, was recently living at 105.

“Jennie White, a colored woman, died in St. Joseph, Mo., Monday last, aged 122 years. She was born in the eastern part of Georgia, and when twenty years of age was taken to Tennessee, where she remained for ninety-six years. She had lived in St. Joseph about ten years. She was a cook for Captain Waterfall, of George Washington’s staff, during the war of the Revolution. She remembered the death of Washington well, and used to tell a number of interesting stories about early times. She died in full possession of all her mental faculties, but was a cripple and helpless.”

Males and Females.—In the first number of the Journal it was stated that although women were from two to six per cent more numerous in population, more males were born by four to sixteen per cent. This was a typographical error; it should have been from four to six per cent, generally four. The greatest excess of males is in illegitimate births. The reversal of proportions in the progress of life shows that the male mortality is much greater