SCIENTIFIC TEMPERANCE. 347 



it seems that text-books must do so, for nowhere else in the world 

 can this kind of knowledge be obtained. 



What is " scientific temperance " ? What it is not we know 

 from the above quotation from the ill-fated Indiana physiology. 

 A strong statement of the reasons for abstinence from the use of 

 stimulants and na'rcotics evidently does not suffice. Whatever of 

 science or temperance may be in the Indiana series, it is clearly 

 not "scientific temperance," else these years of agitation have 

 been in vain. 



To decide what " scientific temperance " is we must do as the 

 children do. We must turn the leaves of our text-books till we 

 find the answer ; for <s scientific temperance," like " Christian sci- 

 ence " or " manly art," is not an expression which defines itself. 

 To find a definition we must go to the source of information. 

 Let us, then, select a series of physiologies approved by the leaders 

 in the movement -for "scientific temperance" books in undis- 

 turbed use in States more fortunate than Indiana. 



Our Bodies and How we Live is one of the best written books 

 of the class in question. We learn from its preface that " the 

 author and publishers are under deep obligations to Mrs. Mary 

 H. Hunt, the Superintendent of the Department of Scientific In- 

 struction of the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union, 

 who has carefully revised the book." There is therefore no ques- 

 tion that we have the right book for comparison with the Indiana 

 series. 



That which first impresses us is the strange new censorship 

 which is imposed on scientific teaching. We find, to quote from 

 the unpublished letter of a friend, that 



" A small group of people who have no scientific education or 

 training in general, and not the slightest training in the specific 

 science of physiology, one of the most complex and difficult of 

 sciences, manages to become the dictators of both the matter and 

 methods of teaching of this science in almost all the States of the 

 Union. They do not profess to control this teaching for the sake 

 of advancing the science of physiology or of the intellectual ad- 

 vancement of the student, but for tha^ promulgation of a specific 

 reform. This reform is no more naturally connected with physi- 

 ology than it is with history. The effects of alcoholic drinks on 

 the history of the country could be traced with more clearness 

 and more reason than its effects on the bones. How is it that his- 

 tory has escaped ? " 



In this case physiology is used as the name under which at- 

 tacks on the use of alcohol are brought into the schools. There 

 is a science of physiology, a science which treats of the life action 

 of cells and organs, but this science has scarcely found its way 

 into our system of education. It has been obscured by the igno- 



