EDITOR'S TABLE, 



417 



and ^arantee of mental, moral, and 

 physical health. And what we 

 think is not unimportant our point 

 of view exempts us from all tempta- 

 tion to malign the world, which is 

 the theater of our efforts, or to per- 

 form a war dance over the downfall 

 of natural theology. We believe 

 Prof. James could preach a much 

 better and more useful sermon from 

 the verse above quoted than he has 

 done in the essay that has been the 

 subject of our remarks. Or, if he 

 wants a classical authority, let him 

 take the words of Sophocles, who 

 says that, " of those whose lives are 

 kept in the right course, the major- 

 ity are saved through obedience." 

 Here we have the true counter-blast 

 to pessimism in a simple declaration 

 of the law of life : whoso heeds it is 

 wise ; w^hoso heeds it not will not be 

 won to happiness by argument. 



SCIENCE AND TEMPERANCE. 



We commend to the attention 

 of our readers an article in this 

 number of the Monthly, by Presi- 

 dent Jordan, of Stanford University, 

 on the subject of ''Scientific Tem- 

 perance." An organization noted 

 more, perhaps, for its emotional 

 than for its rational impulses has, it 

 seems, taken into its own hands the 

 direction of what shall be taught in 

 the schools of the country regarding 

 the effects of alcohol on the human 

 system. If such teachings were char- 

 acterized by that avoidance of excess 

 which is so desirable where the ap- 

 petite for drink is concerned, there 

 would be little occasion to complain. 

 Indeed, we believe an honest zeal in 

 the cause of temperance is entitled 

 to the highest respect and to a whole- 

 hearted support. There is no deny- 

 ing that much the greater part of the 

 crime and misery with which society 

 is afflicted is caused by the use of al- 

 cohol in one form or another, and it 



VOL. XLVIII.- 30 



has always been the practice of this 

 magazine to aid in the enlightenment 

 of the public on this class of ques- 

 tions whenever the facts warranted 

 such a course. But, on the other 

 hand, we are equally ready to con- 

 demn a kind of teaching that tends 

 to dwarf the truth, or to dress it up 

 in a fictitious garb, no matter how 

 good in itself the object may be that 

 it is sought to promote. 



In the present case, with the de- 

 sire apparently to make the instruc- 

 tion concerning the effects of stimu- 

 lants and narcotics more potent for 

 good, altogether erroneous ideas are 

 conveyed to the pupil regarding the 

 science of the subject. What is ta- 

 citly represented as the established 

 results of scientific research is em- 

 bodied in so-called scientific text- 

 books as a part of the truths of phys- 

 iology, but this so much exceeds 

 the facts that the pupil, if not actu- 

 ally misled, is likely to carry away 

 distorted impressions, or wholly lose 

 sight of the modicum of truth which 

 science has been able to work out of 

 the problem. If it were the science 

 of the matter pure and simple that 

 our reformers were after, the two 

 pages of the Indiana text-book that 

 President Jordan quotes would am- 

 ply cover the ground, and leave 

 space for a few facts that bear the 

 other way, which as a part of the 

 results of research deserve to be im- 

 partially presented. Such a treat- 

 ment might fitly be labeled " scien- 

 tific," and escape the charge of false 

 pretense. On the contrary, to give 

 the subject sixty pages out of four 

 hundred, with its moral and social 

 aspects lugged in, and to call that 

 "human physiology," is a lesson in 

 deceit that should be denied a place 

 in our public schools. No compe- 

 tent physiologist would make such 

 a book, and no conscientious teacher 

 of science, if permitted the right of 

 choice, would place it in the hands of 



