rs
old. In 1830 he weighed but 60 pounds, though 5 feet 4 inches tall. He
was in perfect health and could chop a cord of wood without fatigue; he
was the father of four children.

Salter speaks of a man in 1873 who was thirty-two years of age and only
weighed 49 pounds. He was 4 feet 6 inches tall: his forehead measured
in circumference 20 1/2 inches and his chest 27 inches. His genitals,
both internal and external, were defectively developed. Figure 175
represents the well-known Ohio "living skeleton," J. W. Coffey, who has
been exhibited all over the Continent. His good health and appetite
were proverbial among his acquaintances.

In some instances the so-called "living skeletons" are merely cases of
extreme muscular atrophy. As a prominent example of this class the
exhibitionist, Rosa Lee Plemons at the age of eighteen weighed only 27
pounds. Figure 177 shows another case of extraordinary atrophic
condition of all the tissues of the body associated with
nondevelopment. These persons are always sickly and exhibit all the
symptoms of progressive muscular atrophy, and cannot therefore be
classed with the true examples of thinness, in which the health is but
slightly affected or possibly perfect health is enjoyed.

CHAPTER VIII.

LONGEVITY.

Scope of the Present Article.--The limits of space in this work render
impossible a scientific discussion upon the most interesting subject of
longevity, and the reader is referred to some of the modern works
devoted exclusively to this subject. In reviewing the examples of
extreme age found in the human race it will be our object to lay before
the reader the most remarkable instances of longevity that have been
authentically recorded, to cite the source of the information, when
possible to give explanatory details, and to report any relative points
of value and interest. Throughout the article occasional facts will be
given to show in what degree character, habit, and temperament
influence longevity, and in what state of mind and body and under what
circumstances man has obtained the highest age.

General Opinions.--There have been many learned authorities who
invariably discredit all accounts of extraordinary age, and contend
that there has never been an instance of a man living beyond the
century mark whose age has been substantiated by satisfactory proof.
Such extremists as Sir G. Cornewall Lewis and Thoms contend that since
the Christian era no person of royal or nob