Garden City, Kan.
Is it a fact that the longevity of our race is on the increase? If so, what are the data from which this conclusion is reached? Is our physical strength on the increase, and what is the evidence? It has been agreed to leave these questions to you. One of the parties to the dispute is an ex-judge of the Supreme Court of one of the greatest States in the Union.
J. W. Holmes, M. D.
Answer.—The above questions having been referred to one of the highest medical authorities in the West, a member of a State Board of Health, he replies as follows:
“It is a fact that the longevity of our race [i. e., the Caucasian or white race] is on the increase. Statistics published by the British Registrar show that during the last 150 years the average length of human life in the British Islands has been increased by nearly one-third. It is also true that the physique of the race is improving. I am sorry that I have not time to look up references for you; but any reasonably well-equipped life-insurance agent should be able to furnish them readily for the first question; and the Journal of Anthropology would supply evidence enough for the second. Dr. Nathan Allen, of Lowell, Mass., has made the subject a special study.”
RAILROADS IN ILLINOIS.
Cooperstown, Ill.
How many companies are there owning railroads in Illinois?
E. P. R.