men lived uniformly in a healthy climate,
were possessed of strong and vigorous frames, were descended from
healthy parents, were educated in a hardy and active manner, were
possessed of excellent natural dispositions, were placed in
comfortable situations in life, were engaged only in healthy
occupations, were happily connected in marriage, and kept their
passions in due subjection, there would be little occasion for
medical rules."

All this is very excellent and desirable; but, unfortunately for
mankind, unattainable.

1765. More than Man.

Man must be something more than Man to be able to connect the
different links of this harmonious chain--to consolidate this _summum
bonum_ of earthly felicity into one uninterrupted whole; for,
independent of all regularity or irregularity of diet, passions, and
other sublunary circumstances, contingencies, and connections,
relative or absolute, thousands are visited by diseases and
precipitated into the grave, independent of accident, to whom no
particular vice could attach, and with whom the appetite never
overstepped the boundaries of temperance. Do we not hear almost daily
of instances of men living near to and even upwards of a century? We
cannot account for this either; because of such men we know but few
who have lived otherwise than the world around them; and we have known
many who have lived in habitual intemperance for forty or fifty years,
without interruption and with little apparent inconvenience.

1766. No Link to Background.

The assertion has been made by those who have attained a great age
(Parr, and Henry Jenkins, for instance), that they adopted no
particular arts for the preservation of their health; consequently, it
might be inferred that the duration of life has no dependence on
manners or customs, or the qualities of particular food. This,
however, is an error of no common magnitude.

1767. Moderation.

Peasants, labourers, and other hard-working people, more especially
those whose occupations require them to be much in the open air, may
be considered as following a regulated system of moderation; and hence
the higher degree of health which prevails among them and their
families. They also observe rules; and those which it is said were
recommended by Old Parr are remarkable for good sense; namely,

"Keep your head cool by temperance, your feet warm by exer