The Problem of Death: Dr Maurice
Ernest and his Longevity Library
Lucy Evans
The Founder of the Centenarian Club
‘Drugs, bah!
Vegetarianism, poppycock!
Heredity, nonsense!
Soda, far from proved!’1
Maurice Ernest, ‘plump and jaunty’2 at eighty years old in 1952, had strong views on how to
prolong life: he asserted that it was within most people’s capabilities to enjoy a vigorous old
age. It was entirely possible that a determined and knowledgeable approach would one day
increase the average lifespan to one hundred and twenty years. To this end he founded the
Centenarian Club in 1928. Altogether he devoted around fifty years to surveying the whole
subject of longevity, formulating the principles that would keep old age at bay. His esoteric
collection of books and pamphlets that formed the basis of his research is held in the lending
collection of the British Library at Boston Spa.
Longevity was in vogue between the two World Wars. Science made everything seem
possible and there were a variety of attempts at rejuvenation, including the notorious monkey
gland transplants. Ernest prided himself on bringing a trained medical approach to the
debate, identifying the myths and worthless fads whilst developing his own principles.
Even towards the end of his own life (he died in 1955) he was active in his mission for
funding research into longevity but the era was over. The whole subject had become as outdated
as spiritualism. Ernest did not even merit an entry in the Dictionary of National Biography.
Sixty years later the context has changed again: longevity is now a critical concern for
society, with the emphasis on dealing with the consequences of an increasingly elderly
population. Keeping senior citizens active is essential for reducing the care burden. Ernest’s
focus was exactly on achieving not just a long life but an active and useful one:
I call the Longer Life – not merely survival on earth during infinitely more years
than any human has up to now achieved, but such life made worth living by continual
rejuvenation capable of producing physical and mental vigour – far superior to
anything people of advanced years have ever before experienced.3
It is timely to revisit his research and his collection at BL Boston Spa.
1
2
3
1
The Sunday Herald (Sydney) (26 October 1952), p.13 (http://nla.gov.au/nla.newsarticle18504325)
Ibid.
Maurice Ernest, Lives of 300 Years and Continual Rejuvenation (London, 1942), p. 1.
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The Problem of Death: Dr Maurice Ernest and his Longevity Library
Discovering Maurice Ernest and His Collection
Who’s Who 2011 and Who was Who describes Ernest’s recreations as ‘Collecting books on
longevity, old age and rejuvenation’.4 He donated many books and ephemera to the National
Central Library (NCL) in London and after his death the family may have added the
remaining items. Fortunately the items have been placed together, at shelfmarks B.200.a.1
– B.204.b.9, so remaining a coherent group.5 In 1973 the NCL collection moved north (six
hundred tons of humanities and social science material) to join the scientific and technical
stock of the National Lending Library for Science and Technology (NLLST), established
first as the National Lending Library (NLL) at Boston Spa in 1961. Together they formed
part of the new British Library, established by legislation in 1972 and operational in 1973.
The services and collections of what was first called British Library Lending Division
(BLLD) and later the Document Supply Centre (DSC) became internationally famous. The
monographs, including the Ernest collection, were listed in the Union Catalogue of Books
(UCB) phonetic card catalogue as arranged by the Professor Berghoeffer system and adapted
by NCL.6 From the slips inside the items it is apparent that some of Ernest’s donated books
have travelled far on loan.
I first encountered the Ernest collection when I started work at the BLLD in 1973. I was
sorry to lose track of the collection as it shifted around with the various stock moves over the
years. When I revisited it in 2007 I discovered that the scraps of poems and letters, used as
bookmarks, had largely disappeared – presumably having fallen out in transit.
Researching Maurice Ernest
The main sources I have used for Ernest’s life are the digitized newspapers and periodicals,
as he was a popular topic for journalists. Particularly useful are the letters to and from Ernest
which occasionally surface for sale online. The vendor’s descriptions provide more clues on
Ernest’s activities, friendships and status.
An important paper archive is held by the University of Chicago, Special Collections
Research Center. There is valuable information provided on the website, supplemented by a
helpful e-mail correspondence with the curator.7 There is related material on him in the BL
Manuscript collections in London.
Retirement Age
Recent age discrimination and employment legislation has now removed compulsory
retirement. People in their sixties and even seventies are expected to work longer, to volunteer
and to remain active. This is radically different from the contemporary view Ernest described
and then made his business to challenge:
Indeed, after having completed their sixth decade, the great majority of people often
feel that they are nearly worn out. They have generally lost all traces of youthfulness
in bearing, face, and body. They tire after slight physical exertion, and, normally, they
4
5
6
7
2
Who’s Who 2012 & Who Was Who, online edition. OUP (http://www.ukwhoswho/cpm/).
There are other sequences of shelfmarks beginning B, notably the Sir Joseph Banks collection and music
collections.
Graham Nattrass, ‘Confessions of a Germanist Librarian Part One’, German Studies Library Group Newsletter,
xliv (September 2012), pp. 24-33.
http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/scrc/findingaids/view.php?eadid=ICU.SPCL.ERNEST
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have become unfit for arduous and sustained mental effort. Those who have passed
their seventieth birthday, usually feel that they are of no further use to themselves
or others. The exceptional individuals, who in their seventies still hold their own at
none too exacting bodily or mental work, are spoken of with wonderment.8
Biographical Details
Maurice Ernest was born on 21 May 1872 and died on 18 May 1955. The University of
Chicago Library Special Collections Research Center provides a valuable starting point with
a biographical note in the Guide to the Maurice Ernest Papers 1900-1954:
Maurice Ernest was born in Austria9 on May 21, 1872 and was the son of Dr. Louis
Ernst. He received his education in Paris and Vienna, studying first medicine and
then law. From 1897 to 1909 Ernest served as London correspondent for several
Austrian, Swedish, and American dailies. In 1898, he was the Honorable Secretary
of the Foreign Press Association. Since 1909 Ernest devoted himself to biological
study and research. In 1928 he founded the Centenarian Club, the aim of which
was to investigate the means ‘whereby health and vigour may be retained beyond
the century.’10
The Archive reflects Ernest’s lifelong interests, being arranged in four major groups of
biology, disarmament, homeopathy and longevity studies. The list of correspondents shows
him to have moved in influential circles: the list includes several Nobel Prize winners as well
as ‘numerous physicians, scientists, and newspaper editors.’11
In response to my enquiry, the Special Collections Research Center investigated but could
discover no links between Chicago and Ernest. For privacy reasons the donor’s name is not
given so there that particular trail ends.
The online Who’s Who 2012 and Who was Who gives the additional information that Ernest
assisted the late Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1900) in countering Anti-British
propaganda in Europe, raised during Boer War. Resigned (1909) all Press
appointments; has since devoted himself to biological study and research.12
He is described in Who’s Who as a biologist and author, his recreation of collecting books
on longevity is cited, his address is given as New Court, Esher, Surrey, and his telephone
number as Esher 379. Presumably this information was given directly by Ernest and is
therefore particularly useful in revealing his perception of what was significant in his life.
This is the basic information. Further details build an overall picture of a busy promulgator
of strong views, an intellectual who has crossed professions and is armed with expertise, an
assiduous organizer, at home in politics and the media - and possibly a faddist attracted by
campaigns and controversy.
8
9
10
11
12
3
Maurice Ernest, The Longer Life (London, 1938), p. 2.
Austria-Hungary, as he was born in Budapest (see p. 4)
University of Chicago, Special Collections Research Center, Guide to the Maurice Ernest Papers 1900-1954.
Ibid.
Who’s Who 2012 & Who Was Who Online edition.
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Changing Names: The Case of the Homoeopathic Doctor’s Brass Plate
On 9 August 1915 Maurice Ernst changed his name by deed poll to Maurice Ernest, paying
10 shillings stamp duty to do so. This simple act led him to prosecution in the Bow-Street
Police Court on 12 February 1919, on the grounds that he was not a natural born Englishman
and so not entitled to be known under another name. He was convicted and ordered to pay
ten pounds with ten guineas costs.
A further unpleasant persecution of his use of ‘Ernest’ was reported at length in The Times
of 13 August 1919 under the heading ‘From “Ernst” to “Ernest”. Homoeopathic Doctor’s
Brass Plate’:13
At Bow-street Polìce Court yesterday, before Mr Graham Campbell, Dr. MAURICE
ERNST, or ERNEST, of Cromwell-road, South Kensington, was summoned for
that he, not being a natural-born British subject, did use the name of Maurice
Ernest, which was a name other than that by which he was ordinarily known at the
date of the commencing of the war.
Mr. Muskett, who supported the summons, said that the defendant was convicted
at that Court on February 24 of a precisely similar offence and ordered to pay a
fine of £10 and £10 10s, costs. The conviction was afterwards upheld on appeal.
It was now submitted that by continuing to disregard the law the defendant was in
contempt. On June 25 Detective-Sergeant Heath called upon the defendant and told
him that he had been directed to request him to remove the brass plate on his door,
which still bore the name of Maurice Ernest.
Ernest defended himself vigorously and on entirely reasonable grounds :
It is most abominable that a naturalised British subject of non-enemy origin and whose
loyalty is beyond doubt should be persecuted in this way. I have every respect for the
Courts and for the person of the King, but it seems most ludicrous that when his
Majesty, the Royal Family, and their relations changed their names during the war it
was hailed as proof of their attachment to this country, while when I do the same thing
quite openly for the same reasons I am summoned as if I have done a criminal thing.
More details were provided on Ernest’s cosmopolitan background:
Formal evidence was given that the defendant was born at Budapest, in Hungary, his
father being a Slovak and his mother of French origin. He was naturalized in May,
1912, and in August, 1915, he changed his name by deed poll from Ernst to Ernest.14
An eminent journalist and Liberal MP – and someone reputed to be an extremely entertaining
speaker – a Mr Spencer Leigh Hughes was called in his defence. This defence is interesting
as it provides rare evidence of Ernest’s role in supporting the Boer War:
he [Leigh Hughes] was familiar with the defendant’s writings of ten or 15 years
ago. He was one of the few foreign journalists who upheld the English claims at the
time of the Boer War. He had never known him to write anything unfriendly to this
country and regarded him as being as loyal as any natural-born British subject.
13
14
4
The Times Digital Archive 1785-1985 (13 August 1919). (http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itw/infomark/0/1/1/
purl=rc6_TTDA?sw_aep=blibrary)
Ibid.
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Despite Leigh Hughes’s eloquence in support, Ernest was fined by the magistrate and a
further appeal lodged.
It is not surprising that he remained sensitive to the politics of names. Under the heading
‘Names Changed in the War’ The Times of July 4 1919 printed a letter from Ernest sent from
his address 93 Cromwell Road, South Kensington, S.W.7:
In reviewing a publication devoted to surnames changed during the war you quote
from its preface a statement to the effect that ‘a German name invariably betokens
German origin whether remote or recent.’ This statement is untrue. I, for one, had a
German surname, Ernst, before August 1915, when by deed poll I assumed the name
Ernest. Yet I am not of German origin, either recent or remote. My father belongs to
a Slovak family domiciled in Hungary, and the surname Ernst was imposed upon one
of my ancestors in the time of Joseph II, when surnames were first made compulsory
in Hungary. And there are probably many others in the same position.15
Changing Careers: From Medicine to Law, Politics and Journalism
Ernest trained in medicine in Vienna in the 1890s, switched to law, taking the degree LL.D.
and going to the bar,16 then took up journalism, acting as London correspondent for various
continental newspapers. He was Secretary of the Foreign Press Association in 1898. He
returned to medicine in 1909, and practised as a homoeopathic consultant in London during
which time he took his bar examinations in law in 1932. He does not seem to have ever
practised law in England.
Fortunately he has left an explanation of the first switch. The introductions to his works
Oxyuris Vermicularis and The New Homeopathy cover his disillusionment with the traditional
medical training he undertook in Vienna in the 1890s:
When I definitely took up the study of Medicine some twenty years ago, it was in
the belief that I was to be initiated into the science of Healing. Like many another
student, I was soon to be disillusioned; and as I pursued my studies I became more
and more dismayed at the confusion which prevailed in this branch of learning, a
confusion which, curiously enough, is countenanced by its professors.17
The main period of Ernest’s journalistic and political activities is covered by a wide range
of British regional newspapers between 1903 and 1906. He was clearly well known as both
a personality and as a journalist, particularly on the prestigious Neues Wiener Tagblatt, a
Viennese daily. From Dundee to Hull, from Northampton to Gloucester, from Manchester
to Birmingham his busy life can be traced by readers of regional newspapers: here he is
interviewing highly placed diplomats, sending a telegram to the King (and receiving a
favourable reply), translating Balfour’s address for the German chancellor, organizing
committees and events to promote Anglo-Austrian entente. The main themes of his political
interests seem to have been peace, unification of nations, the role of the press and the impact
of events in Germany, Austria and Hungary in the maelstrom of European politics.
15
16
17
5
The Times Digital Archive 1785-1985 (14 July 1919). (http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itw/infomark/0/1/1/
purl=rc6_TTDA?sw_aep=blibrary)
Maurice Ernest, Beware of Harley Street: An Open Letter to the Right Hon. The Lord Sydenham of Combe from
Maurice Ernest LL.D. (London, 1917), p.1.
Maurice Ernest, Oxyuris Vermicularis (the Threadworm): A Treatise on the Parasite and the Disease in Children
and Adults together with Particulars of a Rapid, Harmless and Reliable Cure (Ernst Homœopathic Consulting
Rooms & Dispensary, London, 1910), foreword.
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For example, The Northampton Mercury in October 1903 picks up on Maurice Ernst’s
letter to The Times on a dauntingly sounding topic:
Dr. Maurice Ernst, the London correspondent of the ‘Neues Wiener Tagblatt’ has
shown in an admirable letter to the Times, how instructive the political crisis in
Austria-Hungary is in regard to the Zollverein controversy in England.18
The Gloucester Citizen’s London Letter correspondent writes on 13 August 1906:
I had the pleasure Saturday of looking at the Imperial Austrian Exhibition at Earl’s
Court from the Austrian point of view. By this I mean I went through some of the art
and industrial departments in the informing company of Imperial Councillor Adolph
Schwarz and Dr. Maurice Ernst, the brilliant correspondent of the ‘Neues Wiener
Tagblatt,’ who is chairman of the Journalists’ Committee.19
In June1903, The Dundee Courier, among others, mentions an enterprise in which he was
engaged with other eminent journalist:
Messrs William Hill (Westminster Gazette) Alfred Harmsworth (Daily Mail), and
Maurice Ernst (Neues Wiener) are engaged upon the production of an encyclopaedia
journalism.20
Recent examples of autograph letters offered for sale online confirm Ernest’s position as a
political expert and lobbyist, and suggest he was on terms of friendship with the eminent.
There is a letter to Ernest from Sir Richard Thomas Dyke Acland (Liberal, then Labour
MP, who founded the Commonwealth Party in 1942 with J. B. Priestley).21 There are three
letters from the Labour MP Frederick Seymour Cocks to Ernest, written in the late 1940s.
Seymour Cocks was a campaigner for peace and the liberation of Greece, opposed to British
involvement in WWI and active in foreign affairs. He was clearly a friend of Ernest, hoping
to have lunch with him. There is a letter from Dr Eugene V. Erdeley, the Czech newspaper
correspondent, recalling Ernest’s early membership of the Foreign Press Association and
hoping to meet him. Another letter is from Sir William Job Collins, physician, to Ernest on
disarmament and The Hague conference.22
The vendor of this letter adds further of Ernest: ‘In April 1907 he was polling notable
scientists and public figures for their views’ on disarmament.24 All the sources indicate that
Ernest retained a lifelong and lively interest in international affairs and peace.
Changing Careers: The Return to Medicine
There is nothing to explain why Ernest dropped all his press connections and returned to
medicine in 1909. He was not a registered doctor in Britain as he had never completed his
finals in Vienna but there was no bar then to setting up as a freelance doctor. Ernest was
fiercely critical of some aspects of orthodox medicine and particularly the establishment
resistance to change and alternative treatments which for him were represented by Harley
Street. He nailed his colours firmly to the homoeopathy and therapeutics mast.
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
6
Northampton Mercury (Oct. 1903) (http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk)
Gloucester Citizen (13 August 1906) (http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk)
Dundee Courier ( June 1903) (http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk)
http://www.farahardupre.co.uk/search.php?search=Medicine
http://www.farahardupre.co.uk/search.php?pageNum_Recordset1=152
http://www.farahardupre.co.uk/search.php?pageNum_Recordset1=2&search=Medicine
http://www.farahardupre.co.uk/search.php?pageNum_Recordset1=1&search=subject
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In 1917 in his open letter published in pamphlet form to Lord Sydenham of Combe in
relation to the Royal Commission on Venereal Diseases, he attacks the medical establishment’s
domination of the Commission and their contempt for unregistered practioners, imputing
‘sordid personal motives’ to them: ‘“Harley Street” personifies the exploitation of Medicine
by a narrow professional clique, greedy for power and profit, covetous of honours, dignities,
and cash.’ Ernest declares he is not a poor man, and would treat people for free if necessary.
He is passionate and combative about medicine: “Of all sciences, none belongs so much
to mankind as Medicine, since there is none in which every human being has a more vital
interest. I advocate universal conscription against disease.’ The pamphlet ends with an appeal
to those of like mind to join him in forming ‘THE LEAGUE FOR THE PROTECTION
OF FREEDOM OF THOUGHT AND PRACTICE IN MEDICINE’.25
A robust character, Ernest seems to have taken on death as the ultimate opponent for a doctor.
A lesser spirit, having lived through two World Wars, might have given up on both defying death
and on Anglo-Germanic relations but he seems to have kept his cheerfulness and optimism intact.
The clue to this may be in the inspiring start to his lecture on rejuvenation, delivered in 1942. He
directly confronts the paradox of looking at a longer life in the horrendous context of war:
At a time when Science plays its inglorious part in the destruction of human life on
land, at sea, and in the air – I have tried to find some consolation in what I regard as
an appropriately constructive effort.
My aim is to enable those who survive the present World War, to attain – if they
so desire – the Longer Life. 26
From the 1920s onwards Ernest appears regularly in British, American and Australian
newspapers for his views on longevity. There are advertisements and reviews of his books,
he promotes his views through letters, interviews and events, he challenges myths, he founds
the Centenarian Club and flies to America to assist millionaires who do not wish to die. All
these activities are a gift to journalists. The headlines that accompany his career are always
entertaining. The Australians in particular seem to have always appreciated his robust
attitude to life and death:
By airmail he planned to beat old age
A 78-year-old English physician who drives a car at 60 m.p.h. returns home
from New York this week after arranging to give three wealthy Americans a
correspondence course in perpetual youth.27
Even in the 1950s he still features occasionally: there is an extensive account by a Monsignor
J. Freeman, including a little sketch (fig. 1).
Freeman quotes directly and at length Ernest’s views on prolonging life, including the
glorious ‘Drugs, bah!’ cited at the head of this article. He gives a lovely picture of the jaunty
Maurice Ernest, aged eighty:
He drove me from the railway station in his own car and walked briskly into the
lounge of his two-storey Surrey home.
‘Show me,’ he said, ‘the smallest type you can find in the newspaper over there.’
My choice fell on the clues for the daily crossword puzzle.
Dr. Ernest turned the paper upside down and chanted his way through the clues. He
25
26
27
7
Beware of Harley Street, p. 16.
Maurice Ernest, Lives of 300 Years and Continual Rejuvenation, p. 1.
The Mail (Adelaide) (10 December 1949), p.25 (http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper)
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was not wearing spectacles. Then for good measure he insisted on reading one of the
leading articles – also upside down.
‘You see that,’ he said, showing me the black hair which still grew in his arm in
profusion. ‘All these things will show you why it makes me angry to see people of my
own age looking worn and tired. I mean it is so often unnecessary.’
Fig. 1.
Family History
Genealogical sources, especially the public family trees on Ancestry.co.uk, suggest Maurice
Ernest had two wives or partners and two families. One line is with a Constance Helen De
Rheims, whom he married in 1906 at a Civil Registration, the Strand, London. There were
two daughters, Elizabeth (born 1910) and Johanna (1911). Constance died in 1968 in Surrey.
Confusingly there may be another line with a possible marriage to a Hilda Ivy Everett in
Quebec in 1900 and two or three children, Maurice Ernest (born 1918), Yvonne Cecile Julliett
Ernest (1922) and maybe a Madeleine. There is also an entry for a son, Louis Ernest, born
1900 with mother unknown. This all needs investigating further but there is more evidence
from the collection at Boston Spa to indicate this is not just a confusion of family history
records with names and identities muddled.28
28
29
8
The Sunday Herald (Sydney) ( 26 Oct. 1952) (http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper)
H. Barnes (ed), A Book of Essays (London, 1930).
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There are three books in the Ernest collection at Boston Spa that look as if they belonged to
children. One is A Book of Essays29 with untidy annotations in a child’s hand and the signature
of Maurice Ernest, another is E. Nesbit’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream30 – the illustrations
charmingly coloured in by a young hand – and the third is Senior English Test, inscribed
‘Madeleine Ernest, New Court New Road Esher Kingston Technical College.’31 I also found
two letters used as bookmarks that confirm Maurice and Yvonne as Ernest’s children. The two
letters are in German. One is dated May 20, 1931, addressed to ‘Lieber Pater’, and refers to his
father’s birthday (Maurice was born on 18 May) and is signed ‘Maurice Ernest’ (fig. 2).
The other letter is undated, sent from the same address, on similar paper and addressed to
‘Liebe Vater’. This again refers to a birthday and is signed from a daughter ‘Yvonne Ernest’
(fig. 3).
Ulrike Wray, who provided the following translation, notes that the first letter is in typically
Austrian handwriting and the second written by a school child in quite bad German. As she
commented, the letters are quite sweet.
Letter One
Cologne, Braunsfeld, Kirchburgerstrasse 247, undated
Dear Pater
I wish you a happy birthday and many things. How is Otto is he poorly or no [sic].
Our Erliesenbeth [sic] I do not like. She cut off her hair and now looks really bad.
Last Thursday Maurice went to Düsseldorf. Today, the doctor came to school and
looked at us. When it was my turn, he said I looked so pale and as I was finished with
the doctor, I had to go and see a woman, and she did something on my tummy and it
hurt. When I was finished, I put my clothes back on and went into break. Then the
other children were examined and then when they finished, the break was over and
we went back inside.
Love and kisses
From your Yvonne Ernest
xxxxxxxx
Letter Two
Cologne, Braunsfeld, Kirchburgerstr. 247, 20 May 1931
Dear Pater
How are you? I am well.
All the best for your birthday. On Thursday I went with my friend to the
‘Drachenfels’ but not with the train but on my bike. We left at 10 and we arrived at 1
pm and then rode back home. We cycled approximately 65 kilometres. I had a bottle
with lemon water with me and when the bottle was empty, my friend put it in the
middle of the road and the cars went around it left and right. No one drove over it.
We had a lot of fun. When I came (home), I was very tired.
Best wishes
Maurice Ernest
PS: Has your birthday packet arrived?’
30
31
9
E. Nesbit, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (London, 1907).
E. E. Reynolds, Senior English Tests (London, 1929).
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Fig. 2.
Fig. 3.
10
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Judging by these letters, whatever the family complications, Ernest was an affectionate father
to whom children confided their escapades and sent kisses.
An obituary note describes a Dr Maurice Ernest who died in Toronto in April 2012.32 Born
in England in 1918, he graduated at St Barts London in 1943 and then took up his career in
Canada. This is likely the author of the letter and owner of A Book of Essays. He is survived
by a sister, Madeleine Magnus – perhaps Senior English Tests was once hers.
The Writer
Ernest was a prolific writer. His first work in German (in rather archaic language), published
in Dresden in 1895, has come to be known as Slaves of Love though the fully translated title
is Slaves of Love. A Poetic Prose. By a Man. History of the Development of a Man of our Time,
etc.33
English summaries of sections of this work, provided by Ulrike Wray, reveal a passionate,
flowery effusion of love – linked to the seasons and to a dialogue between a boy and an old
man. Devils, angels, ecstasy, despair, bright forest paths, dark rooms, ghosts and children, all
pour out as a passionate and overwhelming dream. Whatever the young Ernest was about he
certainly had an appetite for life.
Fig. 4.
32
33
11
Maurice Ernest MBBS, F.R. C.Path, F.R. C.P.S Born Oxford, England February 27th 1918 - Died Toronto April
23rd 2012 (Globeandmail.com : Maurice Ernest <BR> MBSS).
Maurice Ernest, Sclaven der Liebe. Eine Dichtung in Prosa von einem Manne. Entwicklungsgeschichte eines Mannes
unserer Zeit (Dresden, 1895).
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His next work, on wireless telegraphy, published in London in 1903 was a total change
of subject.34 Wireless communication did attract curious minds. In 1905 he produced
the authorized translation into German of Balfour’s Today’s View of the World – published
in Leipzig.35
On his return to medicine he produces both popular works for the layman which run to several
editions such as Everyday Chronic Maladies,36 The New Homoeopathy, The XXth century Physician
for Everyone,37 as well as a specialist treatise on Oxyuris Vermicularis (the Threadworm)38. The
New Homoeopathy has an intricate cover that cites the famous names of medical history (fig. 5).
A clever advertisement39 placed in 1916 directs those troubled by neurasthenia, nervous
depression, nervous terrors, hysteria and melancholia to the sixth edition of Everyday Chronic
Maladies. The target must have been the traumatized soldiers of the First World War.
He wrote two major studies of longevity, encompassing every aspect from the history of
medicine and biological research to fraudulent claims, from monkey gland treatment to the
‘deathless infusoria’, the everlasting amoeba who still occasionally crops up in popular science.
The Longer Life: A Critical Survey of Many Claims to Abnormal Longevity, of Various Theories
on Duration of Life and Old Age, and of Divers Attempts at Rejuvenation was published in 1938
and lists an impressive number of eminent sources who have been consulted. It ran into several
editions.
The second work was published in 1942, Lives of 300 Years and Continual Rejuvenation:
The Philosophy, Theory and Practice of the Longer Life. This is the text of a lecture delivered
at Grosvenor House, London on 30 September 1942 and like The Longer Life adopts a very
personal tone and line of argument.
These works are all in addition to his newspaper articles and later on to the stream of
published open letters which tend to be mainly on the centenarian issue.
Festina Lente: The Centenarian Club
The Centenarian Club’s motto on taking things slowly and its symbol of a tortoise is not
at first glance very inspirational. They are puzzling in view of Ernest’s energetic drive for
people to enjoy and be active in their advanced years. On closer examination it all fits –
‘Festina Lente’ should be interpreted as doing things properly and carefully, not rushing
them through heedlessly. The tortoise, especially in Eastern cultures, is a symbol of life,
perseverance, longevity and steadfastness. Strength, determination and planning are the key
to robust old age, according to Ernest. He was an exponent of moderation in all things and
this was first rule for the Centenarian Club: members were not expected to give up pleasures
such as alcohol or tobacco. The other rules were that they dealt promptly with illness but ‘not
lightly undergo any drastic treatment, whether of surgery or medicine’.40
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
12
Maurice Ernest, Wireless Telegraphy and Telephony. A Comprehensive Exposition of the Progress Made by Wireless
Telegraphy from Early Beginnings, etc. (London, 1903).
Arthur James Balfour, Earl of Balfour, Unsere heutige Weltanschauung. Einige Bemerkungen zur Modernen Theorie
der Materie ... Autorisirte Übersetzung von Dr. M. Ernst. Zweite durchgesehene Auflag (Leipzig, 1905).
Maurice Ernest, Everyday Chronic Maladies – Their Causes, Course and Cure – Common Complaints of the
Brain, Spinal Cord, Lungs, Heart, Stomach, Liver, Kidneys, Skin, and Other Organs – With an Introduction on
Systematic Homeopathic Treatment (London, 1916).
Maurice Ernest, The New Homœopathy. Cures for All Chronic Maladies (London, 1912).
Maurice Ernest, Oxyuris Vermicularis (The Threadworm): A Treatise on the Parasite and the Disease in Children
and Adults together with Particulars of a Rapid, Harmless and Reliable Cure (London: Ernst Homœopathic
Consulting Rooms & Dispensary, 1910).
The Times Digital Archive (22 February 1916), p. 6. (http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itw/infomark/0/1/1/
purl=rc6_TTDA?sw_aep=blibrary).
Cairns Post (Queensland) (2 February 1938), p. 4. (http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article41840012).
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The Problem of Death: Dr Maurice Ernest and his Longevity Library
Fig. 5.
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The Problem of Death: Dr Maurice Ernest and his Longevity Library
The Centenarian Club was not as might be supposed full of centenarians, though there
were some honorary members of that age and over. Instead the members were predominantly
planners for a robust old age and the preservation of their faculties. Ernest stoutly declared:
‘Every member of the Centenarian Club would be disappointed if it were contended that
they could not live beyond the century.’41 In fact Ernest recognized that not everyone would
have the vigour and drive to prolong their lives usefully, and this was fine as long as the right
people survived:
I readily grant that, in the case of most individuals, the world would be no richer
if their lives were lengthened. But those who have made their mark in Statecraft or
Industry, and those who are in the van of Science or Art, certainly require more time
for the fulfilment of their self-imposed tasks.42
This was reflected in the membership of the Centenarian Club, which consisted as he described
of people ‘mainly from the professional classes – solicitors, business men and even doctors.
There are few women members.’43 This was not through any prejudice. Ernest noted that it
was men who were most interested in prolonging life: he had letters from young men in their
twenties and thirties wanting to know the secret.44 The Centenarian Club was highly successful:
there were apparently around 6000 Club members from many countries in the 1930s.
Longevity
Ernest’s principles of longevity as expressed in his books, articles and letters are all practical
in approach, avoiding fads but persuading that there is no reason not to remain healthy, active
and alert as the years increase. His vision of death itself one day becoming exceptional is
extreme but he knew the value of eye-catching headlines. In fact other eminent intellectuals
were thinking on these lines: George Bernard Shaw shared Ernest’s interest in longevity
and explored it in Back to Methusalah.45 On the eve of his ninetieth birthday Shaw declared
that ‘Death is not to be regarded as natural and inevitable.’46 H. G. Wells endorsed the
advertisement for The Longer Life, ending with: ‘I find myself in complete agreement with
your views […] Senescence is not a necessary normal phase like adolescence […]’47
Ernest was adept at livening up his message with sensational declarations: as a journalist
he knew the impact of headlines on book sales. In 1932 he gave a tantalizing preview of the
new book he was preparing, The Long Life, which would reveal an amazing discovery for
deferring old age:
‘I cannot tell you the results of our findings now,’ Dr. Ernest said lately, ‘but this much
I will say: after innumerable experiments and the careful collation of information on
strictly scientific lines, the root cause of old age has been definitely traced.’48
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
14
The Longreach Leader (5 February 1938), p. 4. (http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper).
Maurice Ernest The Longer Life (London, 1938), p. 1.
Cairns Post (2 February 1938) p.4. (http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article41840012).
The Observer (1 September 1929) (Proquest Historical Newspapers http://search.proquest.com/news).
George Bernard Shaw, Back to Methusalah: A Metabiological Pentateuch (London, 1931); see also Ernest’s
correspondence with Shaw (pp. 23-4).
The Montreal Gazette (26 July 1946) (Google News).
The Times Digital Archive (14 June 1938) (http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itw/infomark/0/1/1/purl=rc6_
TTDA?sw_aep=blibrary).
The Brisbane Courier (31 December 1932) (http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper).
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The Problem of Death: Dr Maurice Ernest and his Longevity Library
In reality (and in the book itself) he shows he was well aware that there was a complex mix
involved: each part of the body and mind needs consideration and the whole is a learning
process rather than a rush from fad to fad. On behalf of the Centenarian Club Ernest explored
treatments such as the horrific monkey glands which were popular in the 1930s but was not
persuaded of the efficacy of any one drastic measure. In a letter published in the Manchester
Guardian, 8 September 1952, he commented in reference to soda treatment for delaying
ageing: ‘Far more than one or even a dozen measures will be needed when we have learnt how
to control man’s maximum expectation of life.’49
In a recent article on ‘Some Health and Life Tips from Deepak Chopra’, Liza Berger gives
a neat summary of Ernest’s principles. The list is credited by Deepak Chopra to Maurice
Ernest (cited by the old name of Ernst):
Ernst researched biographies of centenarians across European cultures back to
ancient times. He concluded that understanding a few physical processes would
extend our lives to 100 to 120 years. Here are his recommendations:
Eat frugally
Exercise and get plenty of fresh air
Choose a congenial occupation
Develop a placid or easygoing personality
Maintain a high level of personal hygiene
Drink wholesome liquids
Abstain from stimulants and sedatives
Get plenty of rest
Have a bowel movement once a day
Live in a temperate climate
Enjoy a reasonable sex life
Get proper medical attention in case of illness.50
In fact Ernest whilst suggesting such sensible provisions, gathered from a myriad of sources,
shows in the conclusion of The Longer Life that his real purpose is to gain funding for
longevity research based on an Experimental Station. In Lives of 300 Years he has moved
towards the idea of adding a Longer Life Centre to the Experimental Station where people
could come from all countries to receive instruction in pleasant surroundings ‘on preventative
and rejuvenating practices’.51
Longevity was a serious study and this explains Ernest’s obsession with debunking the
myths and frauds of longevity, whether amongst humans, elephants or parrots as various
letters to newspapers reveal. The crude approach would be to use such myths to substantiate
the theory that excessive long years are viable. But Ernest was a scientist, a statistician, a
lawyer and he was determined to bring his ‘trained medical eye’, as one reviewer described
it,52 to his studies.
Ernest explores longevity from many perspectives, including social engineering. He has
no doubt that suicide is a useful option both for the individual and for society and should
be decriminalized. But his main principle is that life is to be enjoyed as long as possible, as
illustrated in one of his typical jokes that has now re-emerged on the Internet:
Dr Maurice Ernest of London is the founder of the Centenarian Club; the club
is designed to help people reach the age of 100. Dr. Ernest believes in thoroughly
49
50
51
52
15
The Manchester Guardian (8 September 1952) (Proquest Historical Newspapers http://search.proquest.com/news).
Liz Berger, Some Health and Life Tips from Deepak Chopra (McKnight’s Long Term Care News
http://www.mcknights.com/some-health-and-life-tips-from-deepak-chopra/printarticle/194238/).
Maurice Ernest, Lives of 300 Years and Continual Rejuvenation, p. 45.
The Observer (4 September 1938) (Proquest Historical Newspapers http://search.proquest.com/news).
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The Problem of Death: Dr Maurice Ernest and his Longevity Library
enjoying life. His favorite story is about the man who wanted to be a centenarian and
was advised by his doctor to give up drinking, smoking and women.
‘Will I live to be 100 then?’ asked the patient.
‘No,’ replied the doctor, ‘but it will seem like it.’
Maurice Ernest’s Collection
An interview with Ernest in 1935 details his ‘fine library’ as: ‘the accumulation of some 600
volumes on the subject, from the treatise on old age in Aristotle’s “Parva Naturalia” to such
rare and valuable books as Gayton’s “The Art of Longevity” and others more modern.’54
This library provided the background to his research: The Longer Life is rich in references
from it. It is estimated that around 1000 books were donated to the NCL.55 He gave other
items, such as Slave of Love, directly to the British Museum Library (BML). Others of his
publications were of course received by legal deposit.
Three particularly valuable items within the Ernest collection at Boston Spa are his
bibliographies of ‘interesting books’, as is handwritten on the brown paper cover of one.
These bibliographies, all with the same title and one dated 1932, contain handwritten
annotations, some photographs and mainly printed entries mounted in a copy books.56 From
the bibliographies it is apparent that the collection as donated originally to NCL represents
a large part but not the whole of his library. Not all the items in the shelf sequences have his
name or a bookplate but it is fair to assume from the subject matter they are in the most part
from the original collection.
After Ernest’s death there was an attempt to add to the collection, perhaps continued by
his family. The last works added are published in the 1970s. The run ends sadly with a book
entitled Old and Alone57 – the sociological aspects of prolonged age rather than the vigorous
pursuit of healthy longevity on which Ernest’s collection focuses.
The predominant feel of the run is of a varied mixture of weighty medical tomes, flimsy
pamphlets, many German works on heavy paper in dark Gothic type, dotted with a selection
of curiosities, some bound in tiny volumes, some wrapped in bold 1950s dust jackets. There
are the three books belonging to children already mentioned. Many of the books have the
tortoise bookplate (numbers of tortoises varying from one to five), and the inscription ‘Ex
Libris Mauritii Ernesti’ (fig. 6).
Others have a bookplate identifying the work as a donation: ‘This book is from the library
of Dr. Maurice Ernest Given by him to the National Central Library’. Although the poems
from grateful patients have vanished, there are letters from various correspondents bound
into the books: these Ernest must have considered important. It is from the author’s letter
bound into Fitology58 that a name can be given to the ‘Fitologist’ who wrote it. Inside Modern
Methusalahs; or, Short Biographical Sketches of a Few Advanced Nonagenarians or Actual
Centenarians,59 is an envelope containing press cuttings on centenarians and a note ‘Please
handle enclosed with utmost care & replace in envelope’ (fig. 7).
Ernest was a man who used his books rather than treasured them as physical objects: there
are notations and underlinings in quite a few. The hand and style are as in the amended
bibliography and are clearly Ernest’s. A bus ticket in Oxford, a folded and still slightly greasy
54
55
56
57
58
59
16
The Observer (31 March 1935) (Proquest Historical Newspapers http://search.proquest.com/news).
B. C. Bloomfield (ed.), Directory of Rare Book and Special Collections in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland,
2nd edn (London, 1997), p. 571.
Maurice Ernest, Bibliography on the Subjects of Ageing, Old Age, Diseases of Old Age, Prolongation of Life, Longevity and
Rejuvenation (Three works, one dated 1932).
Jeremy Tunstall, Old and Alone : A Sociological Study of Old People (London, 1966).
J.A. McQueen, Fitology (High Wycombe, 1949).
John Burn Bailey, Modern Methuselahs (London, 1888).
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The Problem of Death: Dr Maurice Ernest and his Longevity Library
Fig. 6.
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The Problem of Death: Dr Maurice Ernest and his Longevity Library
Fig. 7.
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The Problem of Death: Dr Maurice Ernest and his Longevity Library
Lyons sandwich bag, a piece of blotting paper, and a postmarked envelope addressed to
New Court, Esher, fall out of different books, as do the two German letters from the Ernest
children (fig. 8).
Fig. 8.
The collection can be analysed on several levels – by language, date and subject – but really
it is the whole that seems to sum up Ernest’s life and personality. The book spines, clusters
of pamphlets in creaky brown paper covers, little black notebooks and envelopes of cuttings
reveal a world of medical science.
Homoeopathy texts and therapeutic treatments are mixed with seventeenth- and eighteenthcentury texts of the ancient philosophers and physicians, debates on the origins of mankind, the
origins of senility, the laws of nature, accounts of centenarians, innumerable guides to living longer,
botany, advice to mothers and solutions for every condition from stammering to constipation.
Where to start on a coherent analysis? There are so many gems to lead you astray – for
example, one fascinating folder contains the business of the Life Extension Institute, who
apparently were proponents of hygiene and sanitary systems, as well as pieces on O. C. J. G.
L. Overbeck’s rejuvenator and the Theiron School of Life correspondence course.60 A little
book Blakiston’s Sectional Manikins61 reveals pop-up images of anatomy – highly coloured,
unexpected and startling (fig. 9).
There is Ernest’s copy of Goethe’s Faust in English62 – the only literary inclusion but
an unsurprising one given the bargain Faust made for a second spell of youth. Ernest had
commented in 300 Lives that Faust ‘forcibly appeals to us’.63 As a book collector he also had
60
61
62
63
19
What is ‘The Life Extension Institute’? (New York, 192?).
Blakiston’s Sectional Manikins (Philadelphia, 1905).
John Anster (translator), Goethe’s Faust (London, 1886).
Maurice Ernest, Lives of 300 Years and Continual Rejuvenation, p. 8.
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Fig. 9.
pamphlets on type, printers, and booksellers such as Bernard Quaritch. The titles resound –
The Philosophy of Bath,64 Phyllosan: The Most Wonderful Substance in Our World,65 Medical
Priestcraft: A National Peril,66 and Look Younger, Live Longer67 which is actually a little black
notebook of press cuttings about Gayelord Hauser, once famous as a health, diet and sight
expert. The smallest book is The Extraordinary Life and Times of Thomas Parr, 152 Years of
Age: With Remarks on Disease and Health and the Means of Prolonging Life. This carries an
advertisement on the back cover for Parr’s life pills (fig. 10).
Roughly two thirds of the items are in English and the rest mainly in German. The oldest
item is a volume of two pamphlets bound together: Edward Madeira Arrais, Arbor Vitae: or
A Physical Account of the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden and Roger Bacon, The Cure of Old
Age, and Preservation of Youth (both 1683).
64
65
66
67
20
Durham Dunlop, The Philosophy of Bath, with a History of Hydro-therapeutics and of the Hot-air Bath from the Earliest
Age, 3rd edn (London, 1873).
E. Buergi (ed.), Physollan: The Most Wonderful Substance in OurWorld: An Account of Researches Carried Out at
the University of Berne, Switzerland.
John Shaw, Medical Priestcraft: A National Peril (1907).
Bengamin Gayelord Hauser, Look Younger, Live Longer (Cuttings from the Sunday Graphic) (1950).
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The Problem of Death: Dr Maurice Ernest and his Longevity Library
Fig. 10.
By broad subject a third are orthodox medical, a third therapeutic and the rest an assortment
of longevity, centenarians, and all sorts of oddities. However, the oddities do not extend to the
paranormal or spiritualism – Ernest was much more practical in his approaches. One possible
exception is The House of Divinity Treatment by Prayer. This is a slight pamphlet in a brown
paper cover with a handwritten title but not in Ernest’s hand.68 Inside there are leaflets on The
Mother Sanctuary in Leeds and correspondence with the Letari Nursing Home in London
over the treatment (remote by prayer) of a resident at Ernest’s house in Esher – a Hilda Dewar.
The leaflet is signed by a Miss Johanne Ernest, 20.8.45. Was the household of the robust doctor
secretly dipping into the paranormal (figs 11, 12)?
68
21
The House of Divinity: Absent Healing (The Sanctuary Leeds, 1945). Acknowledgements and thanks: Jim
Berklan for permission to quote from McKnight’s Long Term Care News; The Special Collections Research
Center, University of Chicago Library for permission to quote and for information on the Maurice Ernest
papers (Mary Gibbons); Richard Haywood (BL) for information on the Berghoeffer system and the Union
Catalogue of Books; Rachel Stockdale (BL) for investigation of Maurice Ernest items in BL Manuscripts and
permission to use her e-mails; Ulrike Wray for translation of letters, records and titles from the German, for part
translation and summary of Slaves of Love and for her analysis of these items and discovery of internet references.
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The Problem of Death: Dr Maurice Ernest and his Longevity Library
Fig. 11.
Fig. 12.
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The Problem of Death: Dr Maurice Ernest and his Longevity Library
Maurice Ernest items in the BL Manuscripts Collections
Between 4 March and 1 April 1933 Ernest donated Add. MS. 43408:69
SURGEON’S POCKET-BOOK, containing recipes, notes of cures, etc., mostly
copied from William Clowes, A proved practise for all young Chirurgians (first
published 1586) and other English and foreign surgical works published before 1600,
the names of the authorities being noted in the text. English and Latin; some words on
ff. 61-62 are written in Greek letters. The original entries end at f. 62b; the remainder
of the book (mostly in a slightly different hand from that of the original entries,
perhaps a later version of the original compiler’s hand; a third hand begins at f. 86b)
contains similar notes and also a number of personal observations, apparently by a
physician rather than a surgeon, of medicines prescribed, cures recommended, etc. A
few of the compiler’s patients are named, including Lady Fuller, widow, (ff. 77, 79b
[note dated 7 Feb. 1621/2 , 85b), and William Genings of Alcester (f. 80b). A note on
f. 84b is dated 29 July 1622. Lists of books, chiefly medical, in the same hand as the
original entries, are at ff. 1 and (reversed) 93 b, 91b, 90 b and (dated 23 Nov. 1609) 89b.
Lists of drugs are at ff. 2,48, 57b, and 88b (reversed). Paper; ff. i + 95. 145 mm. x 49
mm. Circ. 1609-1622. Sides of wooden boards, sewn together across the back (which is
uncovered) with leather thongs. Presented by Maurice Ernest, LL.D. (bookplate, f. i ).
There are also several letters in Manuscripts Collections:
Add. MS. 50524, ff. 320-323
Letter from George Bernard Shaw, Ayot St Lawrence, Welwyn, Herts, to Dr Maurice
Ernest, New Court, Esher, Surrey; 30 June 1945.
Four folios (rectos only). Typewritten carbon copy with Shaw’s autograph annotations
and two lines in shorthand at the end.
Begins: ‘I am sorry I did not discover The Longer Life when it was published, as we
are on the same tack.’
Shaw says that Ernest gives ‘the physics and facts of the case as far as they are known
or knowable’ in his book, whereas Shaw’s own approach in Back to Methuselah was
‘political and metaphysical, or as I called it, metabiological’.
The rest of the letter develops the themes of health and longevity. At the end, Shaw
recommends that Ernest’s book should be republished in a cheaper edition and asks
permission to send it to the Penguin Press. He mentions the Centenarian Club but
says he is committed to the Three Hundred Club which does not yet exist.70
Add. MS. 50526 A, ff. 152-153
Letter from Dr Maurice Ernest, New Court, Esher, Surrey, to Mr Bernard Shaw; 16
August 1946.
Two folios (rectos only). Typewritten with Ernest’s signature and autograph
annotations.
Ernest refers to his visit to Shaw the week before and confirms the medical advice he
gave him. In the handwritten note at the end, he requests a copy of Back to Methuselah
‘with a few words on the flyleaf ’.
69
70
23
http://searcharchives.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?dscnt=0&frbg=&scp.scps=scope%3A
%28BL%29&tab=local&dstmp=1369995115708&srt=rank&ct=search&mode=Basic&dum=true&indx=1&
vl(freeText0)=add+43408&fn=search&vid=IAMS_VU2. Manuscript Collections, Rough Register of ‘Other
Gifts’ 1926-1946.
Not in Bernard Shaw Collected Letters 1926-1950 ed. Dan H. Laurence (London, 1988) though Maurice
Ernest is mentioned on p. 742 in a letter to the Editor of Strand Magazine.
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Add. MS. 50711 A, f. 132
Printed card filled out in manuscript recording G. Bernard Shaw’s Honorary
Membership of the Centenarian Club, signed by Maurice Ernest as President;
23 July 1945.
The design of the card incorporates the three aims of the Club, the motto ‘Festina
Lente’ and four tortoises like those on Ernest’s bookplate.
Add. MS. 49669, ff. 98-99v
Letter from Maurice Ernst LL.D, at the National Liberal Club, Whitehall, to
The Right Honorable the Lord Avebury P.C.; 16 December 1902.
Autograph letter, signed, 2 pages (ff. 98v and 99 are blank). Headed ‘Urgent’.
Ernest requests for publication in the Neues Wiener Tagblatt of which he is the
representative in Great Britain ‘a few words about the high esteem in which the
personality of my Sovereign, the Emperor Francis Joseph is held in this country
and about his influence in the direction of peace during the last decades’.
Add. MS. 49669, f. 101
Letter from Dr Maurice Ernst, at the National Liberal Club, Whitehall, to The
Right Hon. Lord Avebury P.C.; 30 December 1902.
Autograph letter, signed, 1 page.
Ernest thanks Lord Avebury for his letter and is forwarding a copy of the Neues
Wiener Tagblatt in which it is published.
Conclusion
Contemporary with Ernest there were many other promoters of longevity, but none of his
rivals in the field as far as I know combined such varied interests as Ernest or made a name
in European politics and journalism. His busy life and collections, his correspondence with
influential figures, his founding of the Centenarian Club, his reviews of centuries of longevity
literature and his mission to establish a research centre raise him above other proponents.
On behalf of the human race, he battled the enemy of old age and decrepitude to the end, his
spirited enterprise followed and admired by journalists. The curious collection at BL Boston
Spa is a monument to the doctor who viewed death as a surmountable problem. As such it
merits preservation and study.
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