The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 11, 1898, Page 21

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL. SUNDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1898. ] Mo ® John W. Keely, who died in Philadelphia recently, stirred the scien- @ tific world some twenty-five vea 0 with a propostion to revolution- ® ize mechanics by the use of rce called etheric vapor. He an- ® nounced that he had an engine which went of its own accord. He @ called it then a “hydro-pneumatic-pulsating-vacuo engine.” He had a diff r it ever of the 1uent pilgri not, but Keely always had a gr & ing to startle & took Keely seriously enough to raise $100,000 and form a company to ® put his motor on the market. Keely spent $10,000 of this paying his & debts and $60,000 building a worthlless “motor.” - In 1888 he was com- & @ mitted to jail for contempt of court for refusing to explain to a.com- & & mittee of experts the working of his machine. Keely Motor stock, when & % last sold on the market, March 9, 1879, was quoted at 4%5. @ . > POOOOPOOOOOO S S AS John Ernest Worrell Keely of Philadelphia the greatest inventor of all time, or was “e the most remarkable impostor that ever lived? the discoverer of a new nat- or motor more powerful , that can be put to prac- This latter, in brief, was his claim. and the problem has agitated the gub- lic mind for twenty-five years. With the death of Keely last week it appears fart from settlement than ever. Without taking out a single patent or 2 icting one really workable ma- organized the Keely Motor capitalized at $5,000,000. and 00 of other people’s money hine T Comp spent ‘ged discovery was that of thod of Cisintegrating water, by its an means of musical vibrations, into 2000066006668 64 vear, and he made about three thousand same kind. images to Kee Sometimes it “moted” and sometimes it the world, but never did. Some prominent New Yorkers A e il (1 et Engineers, scientific men and cap- Philadelphia laboratory to at tale to tell. He was always go- PO eEOELH OGS and needed engines of unusual strength to confine it within bound The same reason was given for not permitting any one but himself to apparatus, and curious stigators were warned that they isked . their lives if they meddled with it except under his supervision. Edison once offered to give a bond in a..7 amount that could be agreed upon to protect the exposure of Keely's al- effected, and generate a force that could fire a gun or move tons of inertia. He gave experiments of this nature at Sandy Hook Proving Station in 1888 leged secret if he could be permitted to enter the workshop of Keely and assist him jointly in the mechanical development and application of his mysterious force. This offer was re- jected, and the sKkepticism regarding K -ly was not diminished. Keely was an expert in the theory ard art of music. He was a master of the theory of harmony. He was not only an instrumentalist, but a com- power of atomic energy. He said he had pursued the analysis of his theme to the eighth power, where he reached the substance of luminosity, and there, without attempting to theorize further on the origin of things universal. he stopped and put all his skill and mental resources to the task of harnessing the power of atoms to the économy of life. Twelve years ago, about half the period of his experimentation, he aban- doned the molecules of water as the basis of his task and directed his at- tention solely to the molecules of air. He said that in the course of this work he had produced a dynamic energy of 10,000 pounds to the inch in a Torri- cellian vacuum. He said he could ex- haust the air from a tube, getting a vacuum as nearly perfect as could be in the presence of Lieutenant Zalinski, and other students of science, some of whom were profound skeptics and in- sisted on the theory that Keely used nothing but compressed air. Zalinski was then busily engaged in the study of pneumatics, which subse- ,as their attitude of polite good humor that night, gave them the whole show and seemed hugely pleased incredulity gradually yielded to the appearance of utter mystification. Lieutenant Zalinski subsequently ex- pressed the confident belief that the explosive force behind the bullets fired from Keely's little yacht cannon was nothing more nor less than compressed air, and as a recognized, expert Lieu- tenant Zalinski ought to know, but he was polite enough or discreet enough to express no such opinion tluat night in the presence of Keely. Among the other experiments shown that evening was Keely’'s surprising feat of raising a 700-pound weight at the long end of a six-foot lever with a one-inch fulerum. He professed to ac- complish this by simply connecting his generator with a small piston act- ing on the lever. Lieutenant Zalinski, however, looked the lever and the weight over carefully, and then asked Keely whether he thought the force of the etheric vapor would be powerful enough to raise the long arm of the lever with the added weight of the lieutenant's nly form perched upon it. Keely good naturedly thought he could do the trick quite easily. So Zalinski climbed up on the end of the lever, finding a foothold on the great iron weight and teetered there smil- ingly balancing himself in midair. Keely turned a few stopcocks. Then there was a slight sound in the gen- erator and up shot the long arm of the lever with such force as to hurl the lieutenant up among the cobwebs in the rafters almost as promptly as Zalinski's gun now hurls its dreaded earthquakes. The pneumatic expert came down safe- ly and-with his good nature unruffled. As he brushed the dust from his slouch hat he expressed himself as quite con- vinced that there was power under that lever. But he was conservative enough, even then, to express no opin- jon as to the nature of that power. Many investigators, scientific and otherwise, have seen Keely's experi- ments. United States Government ex- perts have witnessed them. Capitalists with millions at their disposal have sought to control his inventions; yet there has always been an unreadiness on the part of the inventor to do any- thing practical. He was always just within reach of the goal, but he never got there. If an imposter, he was certainly an extraordinary one. Few men could have maintained for twenty-five years so successful a game of trickery, not only enlisting the sympathetic interest of such distinguished gentlemen as the 21 Still Shrouds the Inventions of the Late John W. Keely, Though the Stockholders Now Claim\ to Possess All His Records. S=——— — York men of affairs, who took him and his motor so seriously as to invest heavily in various devices. Whichever view one takes of Keely, therefore, warrants more than a pass- ing interest in the man's personality. He was endowed with the physique of a giant and a marvelous energy and vitality. Six feet or more in height, with a herculean frame, he was in ap- pearance, at least, a man born for great things. His swarthy face with its heavy growth of black beard and mus- tache was the very embodiment of an artist’s ideal of self-reliance and great strength of character. And every ounce of this tremendous force and vital ener- gy seemed to be directed toward the achievement of hic purpose. It has been said often that, while Keely's twenty-five years of unkept promises h.ve emptied the pockets of not a few f his followers, he himself has luxuriated at his home in damask furniture and carpets of softest nap. Keely, as a matter of fact, lived fairly well, but neither lavishly nor ostenta- tiously, and he spent far more time during those twenty years in the dingy little shop, with its wires and cylinders and dismantled relics of previous oex- periments, than he did at his own hearthstone. The man’s fingers were the best pos- sible evidence of his unflagging indus- try. The grasp of his hand was like the clutch of a vise. His palms were as hard as bone and usually as iled as those of a coal heaver. His years of strumming at wires and working in iron, copper and steel had developed great callous knobs at the ends of the fingers until the digits of this giant were as hard and twice as thick and broad as those of fingers on the hands of a healthy human being. Keely could not fairly be called a man of culture. His manners were more gruff than suave, and he frequently in conversation murdered the Queen's English outrageously. He maintained considerable interest in church affairs. For years he was a regular attendant, with his wife, at the services of the Memorial Baptist Church, near his home, at Broad and Master streets, Philadelphia. He was a generous giver, too, when the cellection plate was passed, and there were thosé among the skeptics who cited these characteristics as only further proofs of the man’s cunning in playing what they called his gigantic confidence game. Keely withal was a man of sensitive nature. He was keenly alive to the many slings of ridicule of which he was the target, but his whole bearing was that of a man who hopes and expects to live to confound his enemies, and : EXH'BITING Hi s MQTOQ astic supporters ten or fifteen years ago were men who had been skeptics, but who had been won over not less by his dominating personal force than by the seeming miracles that he showed them in his little shop. 3 As a rule he did not hold their con- fidence as readily as he won it. His chronic delays and reiterated excuses wore out their patience finally, and the stock of the so-called Keely Motor Company has been repeatedly unloaded, but only to be taken up by some new and equally sanguine converts. And so this bubble, if bubble it be, has been tossed from hand to hand for twenty- five years, but never quite effectually pricked. No patents were ever secured with devices which Keely invented. Charles B. Collier, a lawyer of New York. was retained by Keely and his comvany in 1896 to apply for letters patent on the Keely inventions. Detailed drawings were made and elaborate provisional specifications were written. The designs were never completed in a form to be submitted to the Patent Office. Some months ago Mr. Collier, observing Keely's failing health, suggested some plan for preserving Keely's secret in the event of death. He proposed that a crucial test of Keely's mechanisms should be made in the presence of him- self, of Lancaster Thomas, a director of the company, and of Geor~e H. How- ard, a patent attorney at Washington. so that they could dismantle. adjust and operate the devices as Keely did. The proposition was submitted to the board of directors on October 8 last, and tabled. Mr. Collier then withdrew from his professional relations with Keely and the company, after having been associated with Keely as his counsel and a director in the organiza- tion for more than ten years. In every respect was Keely a re- markable man. He had been a musi- cian, an Indian fighter on the plains, a circus performer and a sleight of hand artist. He was born in Philadelphia in 1837. His father’s parents were German and French. His mother’s were En lish and Swedish. His grand- father was a composer and a leader of an orchestra in Baden-Baden. His father was an ironworker. His birthplace was a little two-story frame house, which stood until a few years ago at the corner of Jacoby and Cherry streets. Both his parents died before he was ten years old. and he went to live with his grandparents. They thrust him into the world at an early age, and for several years he was a —-nderer. He fought Indians in the West, was wounded and was taken to a hospital. WAS KEELY A GREAT INVENTOR OR GREAT IMPOSTOR? Myvstery and form a company to put his motor on the market. Keelv spent $10,000 of this paying his debts and $60.000 build- ing a worthless “‘motor.” In 1888 he was committed to jail for contempt of court for refusing to explain to a committee of experts the working of his machine. Mrs. Bloomfield Moore, who had liter- ary and scientific tastes, had a faith in Keely bordering on fanaticism, _and spent something like $100,000 on him. All his work was done in the little shop in Twentieth street. Entrance was made from the street through a large door into a room in which was a car- penter’s work bench, some powerful winches and an assortment of tools, and on one side was an immense box, bound with iron bands, with a cover so heavy that tackie was arranged above it for lifting it. It was closed and pad- locked, and was said to contain ma- chinery not in use. A large door led into a room on the same floor at the rear of the first one. A stairway to the second floor led to a landing on which were parts of abandoned machinery. A small room on one side of this con- tained a large desk, with books, instru- ments and’ drawings On the opposite side of the .anding was a room some- what larger, with many expensive look- ing instruments or machines, some of which he exhibited in operation. Whether it was a jealous guardian- ship of some secret, the discovery of which might have pricked the bubble, or merely, as Keely himself said, that he could mnot tolerate any imputation against his honor, he was usuany quick to resent anything like an attempt at pry®g into the mysterles, especially if the investigator seemed to have under- taken the task in a skeptical or cap- tious spirit. I have seen him on one night the embodimen. of courtesy itself, carefully taking to pieces his intricate mechanical structures and apparently with the greatest frankness exposing to view their innermost parts. On the very next night, perhaps, if he had some cynical customer to deal with, and one whose long purse the president and directors of the company hoped to en- . list in their cause, Keely, to the chag- rin of those directors, would fly into a passion at the merest suggestion of chicanery or collusion and would refuse to go on with the performance. The apparatus, plans, manuscripts, etc., which Keely died possessed of are now the property of the Keely Motor Company. The president of the com- pany, 5. L. Ackerman of New York, is confident that Keely had discovered a powerful new force. The inventor's wife claims that he left a manuscript of 2000 pages with her, explaining the whole system and yponent molecules, and of thus de- veloping a vapor of an elasticity and primary element of his alleged discov- the pneumatic dynamite gur ~the type versity of Pennsylvania; George H. bother with their gibes. expansiveness which far exceeded ery. This was a strange relation or of weapon from which the Vesuvius Boker, late Minister of the United It was doubtless this almost superb those of steam. In fact, his excuse for affinity between the forces of nature last summer hurled her earthquakes at States to Turkey, and the late John air of self-reliance which,if notgenuine, not demonstrating practically the and harmonic forces. He went so far Santiago’s forts. Their particular mis- Welch, Minister to the Court of St. was a masterly piece of simulation, availability of his new motive power as to advance the startling proposition sion was to witness the experimental James, but also conjuring thousands that so often enabled him to win the was its excessive intensity, which de- that the rotation of planets in their firing of Keely's so-called vaporic of dollars from the pockets of more or confidence of shrewd, calculating men fied the control of orCinary machinery, orbits was produced by the alternating gun, but Keely, who was in great less hard-headed capitalists and New of business. Some of his most enthusi- 0CO00 AR RCRR R RRCE A AR A A Ah 4 j—iow It 4s Conducted : = by the World's Most ¢ Famous Old Men ¢ @@@@@@@@@; PO OOOOOORLOOOOOO C000OCOOOSOOGO * > HOW TO LIVE LONG. “ “Moderation is the recipz given by nine out of twenty- & three famous old men. Their advice is tabulated below: & & Moderation in eating, drinking, sleeping and working. 9 @ L 4 Abstinence from all intoxicants. ear [ @ ® Moderate use of intoxicants. 3 ® & An active working life.. 5 ® 5 Vigorous outdoor exe cis B A 5 Abstinence from smcking 4 8 @ Moderate smoking... -5 @ & Good inherited constitution BT & Plenty of open air... B ® @ Regularity and system . i, & Recreation canee 3 & & Early retiring ........... 3 > ® Abstinence from hard work o ® @ Freedom from superstition... 1 > ® Activity of mind 15 g ® Regular bathing. RNl ® Care of loving gy @ $P00000000000006000000060000060 Copyright by the 8. 8. McClure Company, 1898. WENTY-THREE of the most famous old men in the world, mostly Anglo-Saxons, have given to The Call their secrets of a long life. They wrote in response to the following quess tions: 1. To what, principally, do you attribute your success in keeping up your strength and the capacity for work beyond the age at which the majority of men have used up their lives? 2. Does your experience show, or do you consider the habitual (though of course moderate) use of alcoholic drinks and of tobacco injurious to health and a menace to longevity? 3. Would you say that constant hard work, mental or physical, is beneficial or otherwise (providing, of course, that proper precau- tions for the preservation of health are observed)? 4. Is there any particular rule—in the matter of regulating work and recreation, food and drink and sleep—that has contributed, in your opinion, to help you in reaching your present seniority? Although the questions submitted were in each case the same, the answers showed a wide divergence. Especially in the response to the second question was there a difference of opinion among the famous seniors of the age: o e A natural fondness 1'0:;1 cmlmdtry life | ROBERT BONN and especially for driving has led me to Oav,‘,,“ Editor. £8 spend a part of almost every day of my | life out of Goors. I believe that has = added to my ye s as I know it has to my happiness, for to-day I get out of life as keen enjoyi.ent as I ever did. . e . [ T T I remember that a minister of my | REV, ROB ERT COLLYER’ acquaintance once reproved an old New York. Scotchman whom he saw smomnxlkteol]l& ing him that it shortened life. T _— fellow looked thoughtful and said: “Yes, dominie, na doot yer right. Here be I only eighty-nine and smokin’ ma pipe for mhir than sixty year. Na doot I might a’ been a hundred ef I hadna smooked.” Here am I, a rather careless fellow about myself, who all my life have eaten what I liked when I wanted it and who through poser, and in that attainment lay the quently resulted in his development of late Professor Joseph Leidy, of the Uni- who in the meanwhile has no time to GROWING OLD AS A BUSINESS. John Sherman, Jules Verne, Ik Marvel, Robert Bonpner, John Burroughs, John I. Blair, Archbishop of Canterbury, Rev. Robert Colyer, Lord Armstrong, Professor Goldwin Smith. forty years of active work never bothered to change my clothes when I got a wetting. I started out in life with a good constitution; I had a good father and a good mother; I was brought up on oatmeal and blue milk and plenty of fresh air. To these things and a merciful Providence I hold that I.owe my present age. oy tes g, I have observed no particular rule of diet except not to eat or drink what I found to disagree with me. I have little doubt that total abstinence from intoxi- T T TR T (Y cating liquors conduces to longevity. As to tobacco I know of nothing for or against its use except that it is an annoyance to those who do not smoke. . o« s Moderation in work and moderation in everything in which I indulge has al- ways been my motto. I early learned not to fret over matters that could not be controlled, and have always endeavored not to borrow useless trouble. I entered the navy at twelve years of age when the service exposed one to many hardships now unknown to naval men. I made it a practice to assume all tasks with cheerful disposition and always to do my level best. When one does this he is never worried over consequences that may follow. 1 cannot say that moderate use of alcoholic drinks and of tobacco is injurious to health or a menace to longevity. I have drunk liquor nearly all my life in a moderate way and for many years have chewed and smoked. [ DR. TEMPLE, ] l Archbishop of Cants buy | | THOMAS O. SELFRIDGE, ] | Re:r Admiral, U. S. N. Moderation in food and drink, regu- larity in work and some recreation is the best recipe for old age that I know of. I think that work, properly regulated, is — an aid to longevity, but some kinds of work, notably that which falls to the lot of a man in public life, is wearing, because of the long-continued strain which it often places upon him. JOHN SHERMAN, Ex-Secretary of State. W ., Let me say that I have no claim to longevity—being only seventy-six; and a gentleman to whom I showed your let- ter playfully said: ‘“You are the young- ——————— est man in the house.” I have been ac- tively engaged in the ministry for fifty-two years, preaching -continu- ally. 1 have never spent a Sunday in bed in my life. Under a kind Providence I owe my vigorous health to a good constitution and a careful observance of the simplest laws of health. My only physician is Dr. Prevention. DR. THEO. L. CUYLER, Brookiyn Preacher. siioa e I am now eighty-three years old, in perfect health, without aches or pains. I have always been a great sleeper, a moderate eater, and have taken much - exercise in the open air. My hearing is still good, teeth sound, but my eyes are dim. My mind is active. L have always had subjects of deep interest for thought and action, #nd am still writing every day and have recently spoken in the open air to a large audience on the question of ‘women's suffrage. An active mind has much to do with health and longevity, and so has the true philosophy of life. T l ELIZABETH C.STANTON, l Woman Suffrage. B Shie I attribute my long tenure of vitality to my good fortune in having had parents both healthy in body and mind. My father, indeed, was a man of immense energy and strength, who, in his early manhood, had fought through the Mahratta wars and led a charge of cavalry at Assaye. I had the further blessing of a happy. childhood, guided by the wisest and tenderest of mothers. Starting so prosper- ously I believe I have maintained my vigor and the high level of my spirits chiefly through my habitual respect for my own healthy in- stincts. I have never despised nature’s little kindly hints that it was time to eat, or drink, or take cxercise, or go to bed. I reply frankly R T W U e ] MISS FRANCES COBB, . English Reformer. Have I found the use.of alcohol beneficial? (though with the dread of indignant temperance friends before my eyes)! So distinctly beneficial have I found it that I am satisfied that I should never have accomplished such little share of work as I hq\'e done in the world had I been converted to teetotalism in my earlier and busier years. Now that my labors are drawing to a close I feel much less need of anything of the kind. AR 1 have never observed any particular rules of diet, except that of general moderation. I have always avoided | working late at night. 1 have always = e taken a good deal of out-door exercise. ‘When young I wandered on the Alps, went out shooting, rode with foxhounds. I perhaps owe something to having been in early boy- hood at school where work was light. In my later years I have owed a great deal to the care of a loving wife. hiet s 1 wore glasses for about fifty years, and then, when I got well into the seventies I thought I had worn them quite long enough, so I left them off. I os 5 can still shave myself and calculate that I have performed that operation altogether about 22,600 times. I keep an interest in all my old friends, and although I cannot get about outside now, like a young mam I know and rejoice over . all their doings and successes. i I!flthere is any secret of doing this it is to live simply, quietly, steaoily. 1PROF. GOLDWIN SMITH, CHARLES SALAMAN, | the Ostogenarian Compaser. | . HE e The question as to how long life is SIMS REEVES, l attained Is not to be answered in a mo- the Great Singer. ment. But I believe the great cause, not 5 | only in my own case, but in nearly every 5 ——— instance, is constitution. The man who has a good, sound constitution, and no functional disorders, is able to bear many strains and even excesses that would quickiy kill another. If you look at the lives of old men you will see that not all were able to live quiet, regular existences; but they were able to ward off pos- sible evil effects by their own inherent strength. P I can but reply to the various ques- tions put to me: Work and temperance. There is the whole motto of life; work always, be temperate in all things. And, R T above all, do not overindulge in sleep. Obey the precept of the school of Salerno, which runs, if I am not mistaken, thus: Six hours of sleep suffice for old and young. Seven for the lazy, eight we grant to none. . ke ! Regularity and system are, I should say, the great essentials for living long and keeping strong. To them I might add out-of-door exercise and country air; and to these—yet again (wherever one lives)—evenness of hours, evenness of work,.evenness of temper and evenness of purpose. |ULES VERNE, Author, IK MARVEL, Author. Inherited health and a boyhood spent largely in the open air gave me a fund of strength and vigor to begin with. I have been careful not to draw too heavily ~——————————— against this valuaktle bank account. As for habits of eating, regularity is the great thing to be observed. I GALUSHA A. GROW, Oldest Congressman. .do know that tobacco works either for or against a man; it is a matter of personal liking. 1 don’t believe that work, merely work, is any foe to long years-—rathsr ax= nld.l should say. Heredity. My father was eighty- three, my grandfather eighty-four. My mother, when she died, was close upon ninety-six. I had a great-grandmother —————————————— who lived to ninety-three. Three genera- tions of our family kept golden weddings in '36, ’64¢ and '98: As regards SIR JOHN MOWBRAY, Father of the House of Commons Coming back to Philadelohia after a life of adventure, Keely became leader of an orchestra. Then he drifted into mechanics. and in 1874 he announced that he had an engine that would go of its own accord. Some prominent Keely seriously enough to raise $100.000 0000000000000 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 the work he has done. The only diffi- culty may_be, as it has been hitherto, that Mr. Keely's explanations do not explain anything. In scientific circles the impression prevails that the last page in the his- tory of the Keely invention has been turned. New Yorkers took EORCRORCRCRORCRCCR R RCRORCRC R AR R X XX & 2 Rules of Famous Octogenarians on Eating, Drinking and Sleeping, R R R R RCRORCRORORCRORCRORRCRC R A S A A A my own habits, moderation in eating and drinking has been every- thing. I take little meat and no beer or tobacco. I have always been used to wine in a reasonable quantity and lately mainly whisky. In younger days I remained at the House of Commons as long as it sat. I never do this now, and rarely return after dinner. I am one of those who require a great deal of sleep, and am always ready to take it. I was a great walker up.to a very recent date. . . COOOOPOOS P90 0060 9 I was born in 1803, during the great imperial war, which lasted till I was twelve years of age. All provisions were very dear, and my early life was spent on very plain food. My father deserted my mother and her children and she had great difficulty to ~ sustain us. So soon as I was able I got to hard work for little pay. I took every opportunity to try to draw, but as I could not get in- struction my work developed slowly. I have been a great worker. At twenty-three years of age I was able to learn drawing at county schools, to which I had to walk a great number of miles. I never was ill, except with infant maladies. At thirty I commenced to try te paint. After I came to reside in London my living was still very simple. I did not taste wine. port or sherry, till T was thirty-five. After I became known and began to receive many commissions for my work I was much invited to the dinners and evening parties of patrons and lovers of art. This and late hours began to try my health, which was not strong, for I had to give up my long walks. For years I was much reduced in health and I fear I should have become a poor invalid. Sc I went back to the country, bought some land and built this house (Vernon Holme, near Canterbury) in 1848. I soon felt the change for the better. . e e 1 I have relied upon temperate habits | in all things to enable me to endure hard work for zll these years. By temperate | habits I mean no tobacco and no alco- e —_— holic stimulants, together with moderate eating and plenty of exercise, especially in the shape of walking, and in walking I would never use a cane. From my earliest years I was always one of the hardest workers, and always believed in hard work. I mever had any system about recreation, but always managed, in connection with my work, to find enough out-of-door exercise to maintain my constitution in good order. Though of good physique I never felt the need of eating much, and never but the plainest of food. I was very fond of coffee, but while enjoying three or four cups of it I never drank it strong. I could sleep anywhere, and rested better on the cars than at home. In fact during the most active years of my life I often spent more nights in a month on the cars than at home. L have never exulted over successes and never mourned over losses, and I have always enjoyed a hearty laugh. SIDNEY COOPER, the Royal Academician. JQHN 1. BLAIR, Millionaire and Philanrhropis R e There are no doubt many factors in the problem you ask me to solve. First I come from good healthy farmer stock and passed my youth and early mans ——————————————— hood on the farm. Then I have lived most of my time in the country, where the wear and tear of life is much less than in cities. And finally I have lived a simple life, ate plain, simple food, taken plenty of exercise, had regular habits, slept seven hours out of the twenty-four, avoided stimulants of all kinds and all undue excitement. These statements ought to answer your first question. As to the second, I believe that as a rule the American suffers from even the moderate use of alcoholic drinks and of tobacco. I am sure alcohol .is poison to me and tobacco I detest. To your third question my answer is, that work, both mental and physical, say three hours per day of each, adds to length of days— hard work that does not reach the point of straining or exhausting. My rule for eating is, meat once a day (noon), fruit every meal, no coffee, tea at breakfast, with one of the cereals, brown bread and an egg. For supper about the same, omitting the egg; in bed at 9, up in the morning at 5 in the summer and at 6 in the winter; two or three hours in the open air each day, rain or shine; charity toward - all, malice toward none. JOHN BURROUGHS, Naturalist.