the use of tea, coffee, liquors, and tobacco. He has almost
a perfect set of natural teeth and his sight is excellent. Like most
men who live to a great age, Dr. Baynes has a "fad," to which he
attributes a chief part in prolonging his life. This is the avoidance
of beds, and except when away from home he has not slept on a bed or
even on a mattress for over fifty years. He has an iron reclining
chair, over which he spreads a few blankets and rugs.

The British Medical Journal speaks of Dr. Boisy of Havre, who is one
hundred and three. It is said he goes his rounds every day, his
practice being chiefly among the poor. At one time he practiced in
India. He has taken alcoholic beverages and smoked tobacco since his
youth, although in moderation. His father, it is added, died at the age
of one hundred and eight. Mr. William R. Salmon, living near Cowbridge,
Glamorganshire, recently celebrated his one hundred and sixth birthday.
Mr. Salmon was born at Wickham Market in 1790, and became a member of
the Royal College of Surgeons in 1809, the year in which Gladstone was
born. He died April 11, 1896. In reference to this wonderful old
physician the Journal of the American Medical Association, 1896, page
995, says--

"William Reynold Salmon, M.R.C.S., of Penllyn Court, Cowbridge,
Glamorganshire, South Wales, completed his one hundred and sixth year
on March 16th, and died on the 11th of the present month--at the time
of his death the oldest known individual of indisputably authenticated
age, the oldest physician, the oldest member of the Royal College of
Surgeons, England, and the oldest Freemason in the world. His age does
not rest upon tradition or repute. He was the son of a successful and
esteemed practicing physician of Market Wickham, Suffolk, England, and
there is in the possession of his two surviving relatives, who cared
for his household for many years, his mother's diary, in which is
inscribed in the handwriting of a lady of the eighteenth century, under
the date, Tuesday, March 16, 1790, a prayer of thankfulness to God that
she had passed her 'tryall,' and that a son was born, who she hoped
'would prosper, be a support to his parents, and make virtue his chief
pursuit.' The Royal College of Surgeons verified this record many years
ago, and it was subsequently again authenticated by the authorities of
the Freemasons, who thereupon enshrined his portrait in their gallery
as the oldest living Freemason. The Salmon fam