66o THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



was such a system which maintained the tortures portrayed in 

 the Theresian code, and which, during centuries of supreme con- 

 trol, had sole power to remove the curse, yet never took a step in 

 that direction till driven by outside pressure. 



There is a great work to be written by some student who can 

 relate the decline and fall of that engine of tyranny. Many na- 

 tions successively were freed from its terrors. It was a long and 

 bitter war between the allied powers of kings and priests, and the 

 true lovers of humanity. It was a secret war of ideas, and its 

 weapons were the clandestine publications of daring freethinkers, 

 secretly translated and circulated over Europe at the risk of a 

 lingering death in the torture chamber. 



Such a work would be a history full of joyous reading. One 

 would fain learn everything about Beccaria, the first and greatest 

 successful mover in that holy cause. We would confer all due 

 honor upon Hommel, Voltaire, Howard, and those who helped 

 spread the great Italian's burning words over the continent. Our 

 copy of Theresa's code was printed five years after Beccaria had 

 issued his great work for the abolition of capital punishment and 

 torture. The conflict of the age had begun, but the great empress 

 knew or heeded it not. 



The old system left its marks on our language. Persistent 

 questioning is called " inquisitive," and when one's acts are put 

 under sharp inquiry they are " called in question." People who 

 do not know what the rack was, complain of racking pains. 

 Ladies " suffer excruciatingly," without thinking of the myriads 

 who have really been excruciated, or put to death on the cross. 

 The word torquere, applied by the Latins to the twisting of human 

 limbs, gave us such words as torture, torment, and extortion. 

 Ladies may now be called "bewitching" without being accused 

 of actual dealings with Satan. In short, words once of deadly im- 

 port are now the weakest of hyperbole. 



Since these reforms of ancient abuses became universal, their 

 ideas have been extended in America to an unwise and absurd de- 

 gree. Sentimental mercy has not only destroyed the efficiency of 

 courts of justice, but has impaired national confidence in them. 

 A second reaction takes place, from the false mercy of maudlin 

 sympathy with crime, to the deliberate and lawless fury of mobs 

 and lynchers. The prevention of cruelty to animals is an absorb- 

 ing " fad " with some who would not concern themselves with the 

 heart-breaking tyranny of a drunken husband in the nearest 

 house. 



Yet evolution works steadily on. Whether it be a hundred 

 years hence or a million, the day may come when every mortal in 

 his strength and pride will be too noble to torment the weak or 

 helpless. 



