But the very reverse is the case with pleasure. All such action of the organs as is productive of pleasure is conducive to the perpetuation of life. There is a close connexion between happiness and longevity. Enjoyment is not only the end of life, but it is the only condition of life which is compatible with a protracted term of existence. The happier a human being is, the longer he lives; the more he suffers, the sooner he dies; to add to enjoyment, is to lengthen life; to inflict pain, is to shorten the duration of existence. As there is a point of wretchedness beyond which life is not desirable, so there is a point beyond which it is not maintainable. The man who has reached an advanced age cannot have been, upon the whole, an unhappy being; for the infirmity and suffering which embitter life cut it short. Every document by which the rate of mortality among large numbers of human beings can be correctly ascertained contains in it irresistible evidence of this truth. In every country, the average duration of life, whether for the whole people or for particular classes, is invariably in the direct ratio of their means of felicity; while, on the other hand, the number of years which large portions of the population survive beyond the adult age may be taken as a certain test of the happiness of the community. How clear must have been the perception of this in the mind of the Jewish legislator when he made the promise, THAT THY DAYS MAY BE LONG IN THE LAND WHICH THE LORD THY GOD HATH GIVEN THEE—the sanction of every religious observance, and the motive to every moral duty!