Mr. Hiram S. Cronk of Oneida County, New York, was one hundred and five years old in April, 1905, and died May thirteenth, 1905. He was the most distinguished centenarian in the country, not because of his great age, for there are others who were his seniors, but because he was the only survivor of the War of 1812. He fought with his father and two brothers at Sackett's Harbor, New York, May twenty-ninth, 1813, when the Americans repulsed an attack by the British.

A curious fact which has drawn much public attention to Mr. Cronk is that the Board of Aldermen of New York adopted a resolution which gave him a public funeral.

Mr. Cronk lived on the same farm seventy-five years. I am unable to obtain direct information concerning his mode of life except that his habits were temperate and that he had been exceedingly active in taking personal management of the farm up to the time he had rounded out a century of life.

He voted at twenty successive presidential elections, beginning with John Quincy Adams in 1824, and had he been at home he would have voted for President Roosevelt in 1904. This time-worn veteran spent his last days in great peace, and being quite a philosophical man, he must have felt highly honored that when life's long journey ended, his burial would be an imposing public occasion. Mr. Cronk was a devout Christian. His heart was tuneful to the end and he was able to carry the tunes of the old, familiar hymns in a fairly good voice.

Men of four-score years must seem young to the Hon. David Wark, LL.D., of Fredericton, New Brunswick. It was last year that he became one hundred and one years old, and it was in prime health that he celebrated the gladsome event. The pleasure of the occasion was heightened by a congratulatory message from King Edward.

Mr. Wark was born in Belfast, Ireland.

Most of his life has been spent in the Dominion. He has been a member of the Senate since 1867, and has not been absent from any session of that body during the thirty-seven years of his official life. He has been longer in public service than any other legislator of the present day, having devoted more than sixty-two years to politics. Still an active Senator, he is a leader in many reforms. In 1903, Sir Wilfred Laurier offered to place a government car at the disposal of the Senator that he might travel with comfort from his home in Fredericton to Ottawa, the capital, but Mr. Wark declined, preferring to make the journey in an ordinary coach.

The habits of persons who have reached great age, particularly centenarians, is always a matter of common interest. Mr. Wark says: "I made it a rule to eat nothing that disagrees with my digestion, no matter how palatable the food may be. This is why I discarded beef, mutton, and pork. My diet is simple, and I live much out of doors."

It was by no extraordinarily good luck, nor an inborn quality of endurance, that enabled Dr. Du Boisy of Hanover, Prussia, to celebrate his one hundred and fifth birthday. From the beginning of his professional career his chief am bition was to enjoy good health that he might render successful service to the sick. As late as 1897, at one hundred and three years of age, the doctor was able to make his daily rounds among his patients.

William Reynolds Salmon of Cambridge, Glamorganshire, Wales, died in March, 1897. He was the oldest known individual of indisputably authenticated age, the oldest physician, the oldest member of the Royal College of Surgeons, and the oldest Free Mason in the world. Dr. Salmon's creed was that life should not be measured by years, but rather by the amount of time devoted to worthy pursuits. His habits were of such a character that even in his last years physical nature hardly ever suggested to him that he was growing old, and his spiritual nature was so full of fervor and hope that he ever felt he was going onward and upward.

One of the most distinguished centenarians of Europe is Professor Manuel Garcia of London. He rounded out a century of life on March seventeenth, 1905. For a long time he was professor of vocal music in the University of London. Three events of his life are noteworthy: He made his debut in Italian opera in New York City, eighty years ago; he was the voice teacher of Jenny Lind; and he is the inventor of the laryngoscope.

His one hundredth birthday was celebrated in a manner befitting the professor's character and service. He was received by King Edward at Buckingham Palace, who bestowed on him the Commandership of the Victorian Order. Later Professor Garcia attended a reception held under the auspices of the Laryngological Society, where he received an enthusiastic welcome, and the Spanish Charge d'Affaires invested him in behalf of King Alfonso with the Royal Order of Alfonso XII., while Professor Fraenkel of Berlin, representing Emperor William, presented to him the Gold Medal for Science. He was also the recipient of many congratulatory addresses, one of which came from the New York Academy of Medicine and another from McGill University of Montreal.

These special honors were not bestowed on Professor Garcia simply because he had lived a hundred years. They were inspired by the fact that in old age as well as in younger manhood, he had been of service to mankind. He had never been unmindful of the laws which strengthen both body and mind; and to this is largely attributable his remarkably good health at the close of a hundred years on earth.

Dr. J. M. French says in The Medical Examiner, that of five hundred and eighty centenarians interviewed by newspapers in the United States during the two years previous to 1903, all gave the same rules for long life, namely these: First, regular habits; second, work; third, plenty of exercise in open air; fourth, simple food; fifth, marriage; sixth, the avoidance of worry. But Dr. French offers the opinion that heredity is one of the most important elements in extreme individual longevity, while a high average longevity is promoted mainly by favorable environments, good mode of life, better hygiene in health, and proper care when sick.

As to the conditions which promote a high average longevity, referred to by Dr. French, Peter Cooper, the celebrated inventor, manufacturer, and philanthropist of New York, is an encouraging example. He did not inherit a strong constitution, and in his case as in many others, the fact that he reached a ripe old age (ninety-two) can be ascribed only to his careful mode of living. He subjected himself to no influences or exposures which cut off the great mass of men in civilized countries from living out their natural lives.