The Vanishing Dead-Line
By William J. Hart, D.D.
By William J. Hart, D.D., in New York "Christian Advocate" MUCH has been written concerning the activities of youth, until we have sometimes been induced to think that most of the great things of the past have been done by men comparatively young. It came, therefore, as a great surprise to a Chautauqua audience in 1911 to be informed that "the period of greatest productivity of a man's life lies in the decade between his sixtieth and seventieth year." At first there was a disposition to question the assertion thus made by Dr. Earl Barnes, the well-known educator. But he stood on secure ground, for he had based his statements on a book of which few persons had knowledge. This work is entitled "The Age of Mental Virility," and was written by Dr. Dorland. The Chautauquan Daily quotes Dr. Barnes on this subject in the following words: The beginning of the investigation was made in an attempt to disprove the much misunderstood so-called Osler theory, which, by the way, Dr. Osler says was only a banquet joke. The attempt to show the fallacy of the statement made by Dr. Osler was taken up by Dr. William A. N. Dorland, himself a physician and an author of some reputation. He selected the names of four hundred of the most noted men of all time from all lines of activities—statesmen, painters, warriors, poets, writers of history, fiction, and other prose productions. Opposite each name was placed the name of the greatest work of his lifetime—his greatest picture, greatest battle, greatest poem or book—whatever the greatest thing he had done in his lifetime might be. This list was then submitted to a considerable number of competent critics for suggestions. The list was revised and re-revised. Names were added, names were dropped; the list was thoroly gone over time and again, until the majority opinion was that the list as it stood represented the four hundred greatest men of the world's history.15 When the list was completed to the satisfaction of the critics, Dr. Dorland appended to the list of the achievements of the men, the age at which the deed was accomplished. The list was arranged according to decades of age, and the result was startling. It was found that the decade of years between sixty and seventy contained thirty-five per cent of the world's greatest achievements. Between the ages of seventy and eighty, twenty-three per cent of the achievements fell; and in the years after the eightieth, six per cent. In other words, sixty-four per cent of the great things of the world have been accomplished by men who had passed their sixtieth year; the greatest percentage, thirty-five per cent, being in the sixth decade. The figures for the other periods of life are interesting. Between the fiftieth and the sixtieth years are found twenty-five per cent, between forty and fifty, ten per cent. These all totaled together, leave the almost negligible quantity of one per cent to be attributed to the period below the age of forty. Two great classes of work fall below the forty-year limit. These are the deeds which require an extreme physical power and vim, as the conquests of Alexander the Great; and the beautiful expression of the lyric poetry which is typified by the nervous, supersensitive temperament of such men as Shelley or Keats. But, taken as a whole, the figures prove conclusively that the period of the greatest thing in a man's life comes not when he is in his youth, but only with the years of mature manhood.