60 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



life, and finally pronounced the difficulty to be anaemia. He or- 

 dered her to be put to bed and given as many sweets as she would 

 eat. In a short time the child regained her health, and with it 

 her normal attitude toward life. 



It is not probable that all moral disorders could be cured by 

 so simple a prescription as sugar, but it is probable that the re- 

 moval of organic disorders would remove many of their concomi- 

 tants moral disorders. 



We close our eyes to this. The reflected image of our scientific 

 Zeitgeist is faint compared to the deep-set images of a dead time- 

 spirit. These images have their home in the traditions and super- 

 stitions of society. They are the reflection of ignorance, not of 

 knowledge. They belong to a metaphysical rather than to an ex- 

 perimental age. 



What are some of these images ? 



Baffling the clear recognition of cause and effect in the life of 

 the child, there still lingers, and lingers persistently, that mon- 

 strous fiction of a diseased imagination which men call sin. It is 

 the image reflected from a theological as opposed to a religious 

 age. It is an obstacle in very truth, for it turns us away from 

 causal terms to a false nomenclature and a false treatment. We 

 say that a boy is bad when we ought to say that his life conditions 

 are unfavorable ; that his parents and teachers are unwise. It is 

 difficult to search out the true cause of wrong action. It is easy 

 to call it sin. This is a stubborn image. It persists, for it has 

 back of it immense vested interests. We have in our midst a vast 

 organization which rests its whole excuse for being upon the re- 

 ality of sin. Its sole function is to circumvent this enemy, and 

 conduct man to God and heaven. It would be disorganizing to 

 admit that in all this it is fighting a poor human fetich, whose 

 shadow obscures from humanity the gracious face of the Eternal. 

 Yet to abandon this nightmare would simply be to return to the 

 pure teaching of Socrates. The monstrous entity of sin had for 

 him no real existence. He found in the world vast ignorance, and 

 he fought it. Virtue he regarded as the fruit of knowledge, and 

 he cultivated it. 



Another hideous image comes to us from a vulgar and ascetic 

 age. It regards the uncovered human body as an object of 

 shame. With such immodest ideas of modesty we attempt the 

 development of an organism which we keep studiously out of 

 sight. Little Margaret is very picturesque in her quaint gown 

 and big hat. They conceal the fact that her poor little body is 

 stunted and undeveloped, and will but ill withstand the emotions 

 and functions of womanhood. Brother Jack is also a lively fig- 

 ure in bright kilt skirt and velvet jacket. His neck is thin, but 

 it is surrounded by a very broad linen collar. We look at that 



