344 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



question of temperance was treated. In other words, the reasons 

 for temperate living were stated as truths of science in the proper 

 relation to other truths. But, as events have proved, this state- 

 ment did not contain the essence of " scientific temperance." It 

 is as sign of condemnation of the series adopted by us that the 

 State of Indiana appears in black on the white charts of the " Na- 

 tional Woman's Christian Temperance Union/' 



Let us, therefore, examine the teachings which are thus placed 

 under ban. On pages 289, 290, and 291 (Advanced Lessons in 

 Human Physiology : Indiana State Series), we read : 



" ALCOHOLIC DRINKS. The most serious and widespread de- 

 rangement of the natural tastes is that caused by alcoholic drinks. 

 Alcohol has been demonstrated to be a poison. Its continued use, 

 even in what are called moderate quantities, will pave the way for 

 many diseases, some of which are sure to overtake those who have 

 the habit of using drinks with alcohol in them. 



" Examples of the effects of the excessive use of alcoholic 

 drinks are numerous and revolting enough in most communities 

 to make the strongest of appeals against their use. 



" When it is seen that by the means of alcohol an intelligent 

 man may act without reason ; that a kind-hearted man may be- 

 come brutal to his most loved friends ; that it may cause an hon- 

 orable man to become a dishonorable one ; that it may make a 

 noble nature become one with the most depraved of tastes ; when 

 its use has over and over again been the cause of bitter disap- 

 pointments, of intense suffering, and of crime, it would seem that 

 vastly stronger reasons existed against its use than that of the 

 mere fact that some slight changes in the tissues occur which 

 might possibly be demonstrated. It is to avoid these most serious 

 results that the use of alcohol is to be shunned, and not simply to 

 avoid a differently shaped liver. 



" The physiological effects of poison are generally much greater 

 than the visible changes which they produce in the tissues would 

 lead us to expect. Indeed, such effects can seldom be detected by 

 the changes seen in the tissue cells. 



" Strychnine produces powerful spasms, which end in death. 

 It acts, it is said, on the spinal cord, but it would be hard to show 

 any changes that it produces in the cells. And a knowledge of 

 the changes it produces in the cells could not make us fear the 

 poison any more than we do who know that it results in suffering 

 and death. 



" THE MODERATE USE OF ALCOHOLIC DRINKS. The most seri- 

 ous results so well known are, of course, from the effects of excess- 

 ive use. But in the moderate use of these drinks there is con- 

 stant danger, as has been demonstrated a countless number of 

 times, that the ' moderate ' may grow into the immoderate use. 



