EDITOR'S TABLE. 



845 



diabolic possession represented as hav- 

 ing deliberately and voluntarily given 

 themselves into the power of the fiends ? 

 By no means. They are represented 

 rather as the helpless victims of the 

 Evil One; and when the devils have 

 left them, they are in as sound a moral 

 condition (for aught that is hinted to 

 the contrary) as if they had never been 

 possessed. Tiiey are not told to go and 

 sin no more, as was the woman taken in 

 adultery. They are not warned, as Dr. 

 Abbott warns his readers, against putting 

 themselves, of their own free will, in the 

 power of the fiend. Had their subjec- 

 tion to evil been gradual and voluntary, 

 how could their corrupted and debased 

 moral natures have been transformed in 

 a moment by a word addressed not to 

 them, but to the indwelling devils ? The 

 fact that on one occasion the devils were 

 gratified by being allowed to enter into 

 a herd of swine would seem to sliow that 

 personal merit or demerit had nothing to 

 do with their choice of an abode. It is 

 not to be supposed that tLiose particular 

 swine were sinners above all the swine 

 that dwelt on the shores of Gennesaret. 

 If Dr. Abbott will therefore consider the 

 matter candidly, he will see that his the- 

 ory has the double fault of scandalizing 

 reason and opposing Scri'pture. Surely 

 it is time that, for men as intelligent and 

 with as liberal instincts as Dr. Abbott, 

 the bands of authority were broken in 

 matters of this kind. What do we 

 want with devils in nineteenth-century 

 thought? Can any honest man say that 

 we need them as a working hypothesis 

 for scientific purposes? Would not such 

 a hypothesis rather prove an obstacle to 

 scientific investigation by drawing atten- 

 tion away from the natural antecedents 

 of crime and insanity ? What misery has 

 been wrought by this doctrine in past 

 ages Dr. White has well shown. To-day 

 it is a mere wretched survival from ages 

 of ignorance, and one which a wise man, 

 if he can not afford openly to combat, 

 should at least studiously and conscien- 

 tiously ignore. 



LEABKINO TO TBIKK. 



In every-day life no fact is more no- 

 ticeable than the inability of many per- 

 sons to do their own thinking, even in 

 matters and upon lines wholly within 

 the range of their intelligence. They 

 will see a point that is suggested to 

 them, and will at once understand its 

 bearing on some matter in hand; but 

 they do not seem to have the faculty or 

 art of raising points for themselves, and 

 consequently their action is not as in- 

 telligent as it might be. If given a rule 

 to work by, they will apply it, not only 

 in season but out of season, and will 

 look amazed if one suggests that, under 

 special circumstances, they should have 

 varied their usual procedure. Every 

 employer and overseer of labor knows 

 to what an extent this is the case. It is 

 the exceptional workman who really 

 thinks, and who can therefore be trusted 

 to suit his action to circumstances. And 

 so in nearly every sphere of life ; a kind 

 of automatism seems to be the rule, and 

 intelligent self-direction, in the light of 

 present facts, more or less the exception. 



One is, therefore, tempted to ask 

 whether, in connection with our sys- 

 tems of education, some gymnastic 

 might not be devised for the special 

 purpose of teaching the rising genera- 

 tion to think. The mere introduction 

 of the natural sciences into school and 

 college courses will not suffice; for, as 

 was shown in a report published in 

 these columns a few years ago, the 

 sciences may be taught with very little 

 intellectual result. What is needed is 

 to form the habit of thought in connec- 

 tion with everything ; and, without as- 

 suming to speak with authority, we can 

 not help inclining to the opinion that 

 this might be done by presenting every 

 object of thought as something not com- 

 plete in itself, but as requiring, for its 

 proper comprehension, to be considered 

 in its relations to other things. Nearly 

 every act of stupidity committed in 

 daily life arises from disregarding the 



