162 ALFEED T. SCHOPIELD^ ESQ.^ M.D.^, M.E.C.S._, ETC., ON 



childreQ in accuracy of speech and not to exaggerate in speaking, 

 ■which is one of our great vices, a child may become very accurate 

 in his language, but be very selfish, and when a temptation comes 

 to him, to serve his own interests and not to speak with accuracy ; 

 will the mere force of accuracy in his training prevent him serving 

 his own interests ? A well trained conscience, it seems to me, is 

 the only power that will enable him to overcome tendencies to 

 wrong. 



The President. — If there is no one else who wishes to speak, 

 I will ask the author to i^eply. 



The Author. — I have to thank my friends for the very lenient 

 way in which they have dealt with my imperfect paper, and I will 

 just run through one or two remarks that have been made. 



I am very pleased to hear the letter from Dr. Hill, corroborating, 

 as it does, so strongly, the view I have taken in attempting to 

 distinguish between moral or mental habit, and habit when it 

 becomes physiological, and T think, perhaps, it is founded on the 

 fact that we are masters of habit up to a certain point; and after 

 that, they become our master ; but even then they can be overcome 

 by a higher power and exercise of will. As to what has been 

 said about children, that is very important. 



I assent to Canon Girdlestone's substitution of the word 

 deliberate for voluntary in most cases though, probably, it would not 

 fit all. With regard to the perpetuation of the Chinese women's 

 feet, we need not go to China, unfortunately. We can refer to the 

 English waist as another instance. Although it has beeri. system- 

 atically compressed for long* centuries, it nevertheless remains at 

 its normal cii'cumference of from 24; to 25 inches ; and I think 

 artificial deformity is never perpetuated, whether it be of the feet 

 or waist, as may be the case with a man who has been born, say, 

 with three fingers. 



I should like to say one word about moral force in connection 

 with truthfulness, in which I yield the palm to no one ; I 

 fully recognise its importance, but it is not the subject of my 

 paper. My idea was rather to throw it ovit for consideration. 

 Every one knows that truth attains its highest value from a moral 

 stand- point, and I simply alluded to it as giving a power where 

 habit would fail ; but the other side of the question, that it can be 

 formed by habit, is, I think, perfectly unknown — at least it 

 dawned on me some yeai-s ago as a comparatively new truth. We 



