Part 22 (1/2)

His habits were all remarkable for simplicity and truth, except one. He was greatly licentious; and his licentiousness, at the age of eighty-five, had nearly carried him off. Yet such was the mildness of his temper, and so correct was he in regard to exercise, rest, rising, eating, drinking, etc., that he lived on, to the great age of one hundred and fifteen years, and then died, not of old age, but of disease.

Hupazoli did not entirely abstain from flesh; and yet he used very little, and that was wild game. His living was chiefly on fruits.

Indeed, he ate but little at any time; and his supper was particularly light. His drink was water. He never took any medicine in his whole life, not even tobacco; nor was he so much as ever bled. In fact, till late in life, he was never sick.

MARY CAROLINE HINCKLEY.

This young woman, a resident of Hallowell, in Maine, and somewhat distinguished as a poet, is, from her own conviction and choice both, a vegetable eater. Her story, which I had from her friends, is substantially as follows:

When about eleven years of age she suddenly changed her habits of eating, and steadfastly refused, at the table, all kinds of food which partook of flesh and fish. The family were alarmed, and afraid she was ill. When they made inquiry concerning it, she hesitated to a.s.sign the reasons for her conduct; but, on being pressed closely, she confessed that she abstained for conscience' sake; that she had become fully convinced, from reading and reflection, that she ought not to eat animal food.

It was in vain that the family and neighbors remonstrated with her, and endeavored, in various ways, to induce her to vary from her purpose. She continued to use no fowl, flesh, or fish; and in this habit she continues, as I believe, to this day, a period of some twelve or fifteen years.

JOHN WHITCOMB.

John Whitcomb, of Swansey, N. H., at the age of one hundred and four was in possession of sound mind and memory, and had a fresh countenance; and so good was his health, that he rose and bathed himself in cold water even in mid-winter. His wounds, moreover, would heal like those of a child. And yet this man, for eighty years, refused to drink any thing but water; and for thirty years, at the close of life, confined himself chiefly to bread and milk as his diet.

CAPT. ROSS, OF THE BRITISH NAVY.

It is sometimes said that animal food is indispensably necessary in the polar regions. We have seen, however, in the testimony of Professor Sweetser, that this view of the case is hardly correct. But we have positive testimony on this subject from Capt. Ross himself.

This navigator, with his company, spent the winter of 1830-31 above 70 of north lat.i.tude, without beds, clothing (that is, extra clothing), or animal food, and with no evidence of any suffering from the mere disuse of flesh and fish.

HENRY FRANCISCO.

This individual, who died at Whitehall, N. Y., in the year 1820, at the age of one hundred and twenty-five years, was, during the latter part of his life, quite a Grahamite, as the moderns would call him. His favorite articles of food were tea, bread and b.u.t.ter, and baked apples; and he was even abstemious in the use of these.

PROFESSOR FERGUSON.

Professor Adam Ferguson, an individual not unknown in the literary world, was, till he was fifty years of age, regarded as quite healthy.

Brought up in fas.h.i.+onable society, he was very often invited to fas.h.i.+onable dinners and parties, at which he ate heartily and drank wine--sometimes several bottles. Indeed, he habitually ate and drank freely; and, as he had by nature a very strong const.i.tution, he thought nothing which he ate or drank injured him.

Things went on in this manner, as I have already intimated, till he was fifty years of age. One day, about this time, having made a long journey in the cold, he returned very much fatigued, and in this condition went to dine with a party, where he ate and drank in his usual manner. Soon after dinner, he was seized with a fit of apoplexy, followed by palsy; but by bleeding, and other energetic measures, he was partially restored.

He was now, by the direction of his physician, put upon what was called a low diet. It consisted of vegetable food and milk. For nearly forty years he tasted no meat, drank nothing but water and a little weak tea, and took no suppers. If he ventured, at any time, upon more stimulating food or drink, he soon had a full pulse, and hot, restless nights. His bowels, however, seemed to be much affected by the fit of palsy; and not being inclined, so far as I can learn, to the use of fruit and coa.r.s.e bread, he was sometimes compelled to use laxatives.

When he was about seventy years of age, however, all his paralytic symptoms had disappeared; and his health was so excellent, for a person of his years, as to excite universal admiration. This continued till he was nearly ninety. His mind, up to this time, was almost as entire as in his younger days; none of his bodily functions, except his sight, were much impaired. So perfect, indeed, was the condition of his physical frame, that n.o.body, who had not known his history, would have suspected he had ever been apoplectic or paralytic.

When about ninety years of age, his health began slightly to decline. A little before his death, he began to take a little meat. This, however, did not save him--nature being fairly worn out. On the contrary, it probably hastened his dissolution. His bowels became irregular, his pulse increased, and he fell into a bilious fever, of which he died at the great age of ninety-three.

Probably there are, on record, few cases of longevity more instructive than this. Besides showing the evil tendency of living at the expense of life, it also shows, in a most striking manner, the effects of simple and unstimulating food and drink, even in old age; and the danger of recurring to the use of that which is more stimulating in very advanced life. In this last respect, it confirms the experience of Cornaro, who was made sick by attempting, in his old age, and at the solicitation of kind friends, to return to the use of a more stimulating diet; and of Parr, who was destroyed in the same way, after having attained to more than a hundred and fifty years.

But the fact that living at the expense of life, cuts down, here and there, in the prime of life, or even at the age of fifty, a few individuals, though this of itself is no trivial evil, is not all. Half of what we call the infirmities of old age--and thus charge them upon Him who made the human frame _subject_ to age--have their origin in the same source; I mean in this living too fast, and exhausting prematurely the vital powers. When will the sons of men learn wisdom in this matter?

Never, I fear, till they are taught, as commonly as they now are reading and writing, the principles of physiology.