Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 February 1891 — The Oldest Man on Earth. [ARTICLE]

The Oldest Man on Earth.

The oldest man in the world is a citizen of Bogota, in the republic of San Salvador. This new Methuselah declares that he is *l6O years old, and it would seem he flatters hitnsolf, for his neighbors give the assurance that ho is older than he says he is. He is a half-breed named Michael Solis, whose existence was revealed to Dr. Louis Hernandez by one of the oldest planters in the locality, who as a child know Solis as a centenarian. They have found in 1712 his signature among those pf persons who contributed to the building of a Franciscan convent which exists near San Sebastian. His skin is like parchment, his long hair of the whiteness of snow onve ops i.is head like a turban, and his look is so keen that it made a disag.eeable impression on the Doctor. Interrogated by the Doctor, he answered complaisantly that his great ago was duo to his regular mode of living, and to his never giving up to any excess of any sort whatever. “I never eat but once a day,” said he, “but I never use any but the strongest anti most nourishing foods. My meals last a half hour, for I believe it is impossible to eat more in that time than the body can digest in twenty-four hours. I fast the first and fifteenth day of each month, and on thoso days I drink as much water as I can bear. I always let become cold before I touch it. It is to these things that I attribute my great age. ”