AN EXPERT OPINION.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2764, 19 March 1910, Page 4 (Supplement)

AN EXPERT OPINION.

MATRIMONY AND LONG LIFE. Marry if you want- to reach a good old age. Such is the advice which Dr. .Jacques Bortillion, who is an acknowledged authority, gives to persons of both, sexes, and he confirms it with an appeal to statistics. A married man and woman has, he says, thrice as much chance of a good long run as a bachelor or a. spinster. In further illustration of his contention that the wedded life is the best for men, he shows that the mortality among widowers is greater than the average among married men, so he recommends them to look out for a new partner; that is. at- any rate, if they are- under sixty years of age. Nor is this peculiar to France. Dr. Bertillon explains that his father went thoroughly into this interesting question, and obtained statistics from- other countries: Germany, Austria, Italy, Sweden, Holland, and Belgium, which completely support this opinion while he himself has studied later ones in France. So his advice, to young men runs: — “Man- • you will do well, even from a selfish standpoint. But watch carefully over your wife’s health, as even from this egotistical point of- view her loss will be- a terrible misfortune, for your life depends in a great measure on her own.” Let the ladies take lieed, too. “And tc you. mademoiselle, I give the counsel to marry in your most selfish interest, as married women have less mortality than spinsters of the same age, at least after the age of twenty. But the difference is less for women than for men. The mortality amongst spinsters is much .greater than among married women, but it is not twice as great, as in the case of men.” ■ How about the merry widow? 'Well, Dr. Bertillon, at .any rate does not take a happy view of her lot. “The mortality amongst widows is dist-inctlv much greater than among married women of the same ago._‘The sweet state of widowhood’ is, on the contrary, fatal to young 'widows. Their death rate from twenty to twenty-five years of age is twice that of married women at the corresponding age.”

Yet. as he gallantly nuts it, women l»"vo less need of us than we have of t!What are the relative positions of ’rv-ves in these statistics? The det-h-■vote is generally less among women than with men of the same age and station. What is the reason? Sirrml— that they are steadier, and it is no doubt for the same reason that matrimony conduces to longevity. Thus does Dr. Bertillon point the moral. In the French statistics of one year which he- lias selected' the deaths per 1000 men among bachelors between 35 and 40 were- nineteen, while tlio*e of the married men were only eight. Between 55 and 60 tlie figure was forty-one- for the former and twenty-three for the latter. With "women- of the same ages the mortality was correspondingly twelve and eight between 35 and 40, and twontv-four and eislite-on l)ofr\ve6Ti 55 and 60. Tlio do at illrates among widows and divorcees were respectively twelve and twenty-one per 1000 women.