EDITOR'S TABLE, 



553 



EDITOR'S TABLE. 



SCIENCE AND THE TEMPERANCE 

 REFORM. 



THE Legislature of the State of New 

 York has passed a law providing 

 for the instruction of " all pupils in all 

 schools supported by public money, or 

 under State control, in physiology and 

 hygiene, with special reference to the 

 effects of alcoholic drinks, stimulants, 

 and narcotics upon the human system." 

 Other States have passed similar enact- 

 ments, 80 that there seems to be some- 

 thing like a general movement appeal- 

 ing to this new form of influence for the 

 promotion of the cardinal objects of the 

 temperance reform. That movement has 

 relations with various sciences, not only 

 with physiology, but also with sociology, 

 and perhaps some reference to its his- 

 tory will help us to judge of the prom- 

 ise of the new measure. 



The bad effects that flow from the 

 excessive use of spirituous liquors, and 

 the evils of drunkenness, have been 

 recognized and deplored in all times. 

 While every literature has its poetry in 

 praise of the cheering influence of wine, 

 so it has its proverbs showing the evil 

 consequences of devotion to the intox- 

 icating cup. But the first organized 

 movement to check the excessive use of 

 intoxicating liquors belongs not only to 

 modern but to very recent times. The 

 temperance reform was inaugurated but 

 a little over half a century ago. Nu- 

 merous societies were formed, with 

 wide affiliations, to act upon public 

 opinion in the most efficient and persist- 

 ent manner. There rapidly grew up 

 a copious and varied temperance lit- 

 erature, consisting of explanations of 

 the injurious action of alcoholic liquors, 

 of vivid delineations of the results of 

 the inebriating habit, of statistics of 

 the criminality and pauperism that flow 

 from it, of its enormous cost to the 



community at large, of impassioned 

 appeals in sermons and lectures, and of 

 poetry and fiction all combined, for the 

 promotion of the philanthropic objects 

 of the temperance associations. 



The characteristic of the temperance 

 movement at this early stage was the 

 directness of its personal appeals to in- 

 fluence voluntary action. Individuals 

 were plied with facts and arguments, 

 and on grounds of self-respect and so- 

 cial obligation to abstain from the habit 

 which had its root in the selfish appe- 

 tites, and bore the fruits of suffering to 

 the victim, calamity to the family, and 

 grave detriment to society. To give 

 the utmost support to voluntary action, 

 the pledge was introduced, which of- 

 fered the advantage of an explicit writ- 

 ten committal, and a public avowal of 

 the purpose of the individual to abstain 

 from spirituous liquors. In short, the 

 policy was to influence persons, by ev- 

 ery consideration that could be urged, 

 to the practice of restraint and temper- 

 ance in the use of alcoholic beverages. 

 The movement was pushed with fervor 

 and zeal, and every expedient resorted 

 I to, to gain the result. The pledge in 

 favor of the temperate use of spirituous 

 liquors was changed to a pledge against 

 all use of them, on the ground that mod- 

 eration, by the laws of human appetite, 

 rapidly passes to excess. 



Among the means of influence. Sci- 

 ence was, of course, called upon to give 

 its evidence. Prize essays by distin- 

 guished medical men on the physiologi- 

 cal effects of alcohol were multiplied, 

 and tracts stating the results were sown 

 like autumn leaves through the com- 

 munity. One of the most eminent of 

 the reformers, Mr. E. C. Delavan, after 

 laboring long, and devoting great wealth 

 to the promotion of the reform without 

 the full results which he had anticipat- 



