Abstract
THE conclusion that the intellectual giants of the race are favoured by an abundance of years on the scene of their heroic activity, and are thus further differentiated from their more common fellow-men, seems natural, and has been accepted upon evidence which, in a less pleasing conclusion, would be considered ridiculously insufficient, and even false. The usual method of attempting to answer the question whether great men are longer-lived than others, is to prepare a list of the ages, at death, of a number of eminent men, take the average age, and compare it with a similar average of a number of ordinary men, or even with the average lifetime of the race, and in this way to make the results speak decidedly in favour of the superior longevity of great men. All that such a method can prove (and this it does prove) is that it takes long to become great. It neglects to consider that a select class of men is dealt with, and that, to be even potentially included in this class, one must have lived a certain number of years.
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JASTROW, J. The Longevity of Great Men 1 . Nature 35, 10 (1886). https://doi.org/10.1038/035010a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/035010a0